Giovanni-3 Online Users Manual: 1. Introduction

The original Giovanni system (Giovanni-2) provides a World Wide Web (WWW) interface that enables access to global data sets from NASA Earth remote-sensing missions and other environmental data sets. Giovanni-2 has additional capabilities to allow users to perform basic analytical operations on these data sets. Giovanni-2 utilizes the Grid Analysis and Display System (GrADS) to perform most of its basic statistical operations.

Giovanni-3 is based on the new Giovanni system architecture. Giovanni-3 utilizes a variety of software packages (such as IDL, GrADS, Python) and analytical functions authored by the GES DISC software development and engineering staff. Links and a description are provided below to each of these instances.

Supported Web Browsers:

Tested:
PC: Firefox (v1.0 through latest), IE (v6.0.x through latest)
Mac: Firefox (v 1.0 through latest), IE v5.2, Safari 2/3

Supported:
PC: Firefox v2.0.0.x, IE v7.0.x
Mac: Firefox v2.0.0.x

Other Web browsers may work, but they have not been tested with Giovanni and are not supported.

"Supported" means that DISC staff will work to fix problems that users find while running Giovanni-3 processes. Please contact our Help Desk to report such problems.

Giovanni Usage Guidelines and Acknowledgment Statement

The Web page linked below describes how to acknowledge Giovanni in research works, and provides guidellines for co-authorship consideration.

Giovanni-News Mailing List

Subscribe to the Giovanni-News email mailing list for news about our Giovanni development and related scientific and educational topics.

Here are the instructions:

The email address is "majordomo@listserv.gsfc.nasa.gov"
Put anything you want (or nothing) in the "Subject:" line
The body of the message should just say "Subscribe giovanni-news" .
Nothing else is required; send the message. You will receive an automatically-generated message confirming your subscription.

Data Quality Considerations

Giovanni is a useful tool for data exploration and research using remote-sensing data. When performing research with Giovanni, however, the characteristics of the data in Giovanni must be considered, especially if the goal of research is publication of scientific results. We suggest reading our short discussion of data characteristics and data quality issues on our "Using Giovanni - Data Quality Considerations" page.

Listed below are the current Giovanni-3 instances (list updated on 06/25/2008):

1.1 A-Train (Cloudsat, CALIPSO, MODIS-Aqua, and AIRS data)
1.2 MOVAS Daily (atmospheric parameters from MODIS)
1.3 Northern Eurasian Earth Science Partnership Initiative (NEESPI)
1.4 Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) Daily
1.5 Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) Daily
1.6 Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS)
1.7 Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS)
1.8 Oceans Monthly
1.9 High Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder (HIRDLS)
1.10 Multi-Angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR)
1.11 Air Quality

1.1 A-Train Giovanni-3

The A-Train Giovanni-3 instance has MODIS Aqua and CloudSat data with curtain plot visualizations along the CloudSat track.

As the A-Train of satellites circles Earth, about 8 minutes pass between the time the first satellite (Aqua) and the last (Aura) passes over any given spot. Overall the string of satellites stretches across 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) in space, with each traveling about 7 kilometers per second (4.3 miles per second). The CloudSat radar trails Aqua by an average of about 60 seconds. CloudSat flies approximately 460 kilometers (286 miles) behind Aqua and much closer in front of CALIPSO, only around 93.8 kilometers (58.3 statute miles) away. This distance corresponds to an average delay of only 12.5 seconds between lidar and radar measurements.

Also see Formation Flying (Take the A-Train).

1.2 MOVAS Daily Giovanni-3

The MODIS Visualization and Analysis System (MOVAS) Giovanni-3 instance displays atmospheric parameters from the MODIS instruments on both the Terra and Aqua satellites. Links below describe Terra, Aqua, and MODIS.

Terra
Aqua
MODIS

1.3 NEESPI Giovanni-3

The NEESPI Giovanni-3 instance supports the Northern Eurasia Earth Science Partnership Initiative, a currently active and strategically evolving program of internationally-supported Earth systems science research, which has as its foci issues in northern Eurasia that are relevant to regional and global scientific and decision-making communities.

NEESPI Project Home Page

1.4 Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) Daily Giovanni-3

The Giovanni-3 instance for the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) encompasses daily observational data covering the long and famous history of this pioneering instrument. This instance features data from three different TOMS missions: Nimbus-7 (1978-1993), Meteor-3 (1991-1994), and Earth Probe (1996-2005). Note that EP-TOMS data after 2001 are not recommended for trend analysis. The data consist of daily level 3 global 1.0° x 1.25° gridded products.

TOMS Home Page (NASA GSFC Ozone Processing Team)

1.5 Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) Daily Giovanni-3

The successor to TOMS is the Ozone Monitoring Instrument on the EOS Aura satellite. The OMI Giovanni-3 instance provides data from this instrument, commencing in August 2004 and continuing to present. OMI data in Giovanni-3 consist of daily level 3 global gridded ozone products at two spatial resolutions: high-resolution 0.25° x 0.25° (OMTO3E), and TOMS-like 1.0° x 1.25° (OMTO3D).

OMI and EOS-Aura Mission Objectives (KNMI)

1.6 Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) Giovanni-3

The data in this Giovanni-3 instance is from the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) on the EOS Aura satellite. An earlier MLS instrument was flown on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS). The MLS provides atmospheric profile data of the atmospheric concentrations of many different chemical species.

Microwave Limb Sounder

1.7 Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) Giovanni-3

The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder on the Aqua satellite provides data in both map and profile form for primary atmospheric variables, including temperature, pressure, cloud parameters, water vapor and liquid water. AIRS data is useful for investigations of meteorological phenomena and climate.

Atmospheric Infrared Sounder

1.8 Oceans Monthly Giovanni-3

The Oceans Monthly Giovanni-3 instance provides monthly Level 3 data from SeaWiFS and MODIS-Aqua, including sea surface temperature and derived optical products. The primary ocean data products in this instance are provided by the Ocean Biology Processing Group (OBPG) at NASA GSFC.

Ocean Biology Processing Group (Ocean Color Web)

1.9 High Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder (HIRDLS) Giovanni-3

The High Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder (HIRDLS) is a joint mission of the United States and the United Kingdom (UK). HIRDLS is on the Aura satellite. HIRDLS provides atmospheric profile concentration data for several chemical species. New HIRDLS data products will be added to this instance as they become available.

High Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder

1.10 Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR)

The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer is carried on the Terra satellite, and is a Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) sensor mission. MISR's cameras provide nine different viewing angles of the Earth's atmosphere and surface. MISR data can thus provide information about atmospheric aerosols, clouds, and land surface cover.

Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer

1.11 Air Quality

The Giovanni Air Quality instance combines global atmospheric aerosol and cloud data from MODIS, global atmospheric aerosol data from OMI, and ground-based Fine Particulate Matter data for the continental United States to allow investigation of air quality events and data for air quality monitoring. The Fine Particulate Matter data is from the AIRNow program.