Welcome to the Space Physics Data Facility (SPDF) <//spdf.gsfc.nasa.gov> and 
Coordinated Data Analysis (Workshop) Web (CDAWeb) <//cdaweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/>
Archive !

Please report any problems, discrepancies, comments and suggestions to us at 
gsfc-spdf-support@lists.nasa.gov.  Your input is vital for improving our 
services.

Approving NASA Official: Robert M. Candey 
(Robert.M.Candey@nasa.gov, 301-286-6707)
Head, Space Physics Data Facility, Code 670
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt MD 20771 USA

Technical contact: tamara.j.kovalick@nasa.gov; 1-301-286-9422

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Relocation of Directories on SPDF/CDAWeb and NSSDCFTP Services:
On 2012 September 24-26, SPDF re-named and re-structured its FTP and HTTP 
accessible directories to create a unified structure that merged in the legacy 
heliophysics data holdings previously served by the National Space Science Data 
Center (NSSDC) on nssdcftp.gsfc.nasa.gov.  The responsibility for the final 
archiving of heliophysics data has been transferred from NSSDC to SPDF (for 
non-solar instruments) and to Solar Data Analysis Center (SDAC) (for solar 
instruments).  SPDF will also serve some legacy solar instrument data for awhile.

All heliophysics data and other files previously accessible separately from 
NSSDCftp or CDAWeb are accessible from any of the addresses
    <https://spdf.gsfc.nasa.gov/pub>, <https://spdf.gsfc.nasa.gov/pub>,
    <https://cdaweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/pub> and <https://cdaweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/pub>.
Other SPDF services are unchanged.  FTP access is now only available through 
FTPS <https://spdf.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ftps_readme.html>.

A preliminary list of directories moved (current and new locations) is posted at 
<https://spdf.gsfc.nasa.gov/combined_spdf.txt>.  The list does not entirely 
reflect all of the final moves.  Changes to CDAWeb data are listed first and 
the move from NSSDCftp is listed second.

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General ReadMe for the CDAWeb data directories:

DATA FILES:

Mission data are located in pub/data directories for each mission, with 
subdirectories for specific spacecraft and instruments, followed by dataset 
directories for each instrument, and finally yearly or day of year (doy) 
directories containing data files that are mostly in Common Data Format (CDF) 
<https://cdf.gsfc.nasa.gov>.

METADATA:

Many of these individual data files have incomplete internal descriptions of 
the physical meaning of their parameters.  Better metadata can usually be found 
in what we call "master CDFs".  Master CDFs are CDF files that contain only the
metadata attributes for a given dataset and its variables; these metadata 
improve on and generally over-ride the metadata in the data files.  All public
CDAWeb master CDFs can be downloaded from 
<https://cdaweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/pub/software/cdawlib/0MASTERS>
or their corresponding skeleton files
<https://cdaweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/pub/software/cdawlib/0SKELTABLES>

PLOT/LIST/SUBSET DATA FILES:

All CDF files can be opened and read with the CDF distribution software found 
at <https://cdf.gsfc.nasa.gov>.  The content of these data files joined with the 
master CDF metadata is best accessed (plot, list in ASCII, file download of 
selected variables and times) using the CDAWeb user interface at 
<https://cdaweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/>.  These functions are also available via web 
services <https://cdaweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/WebServices/>.

IDL USERS:

IDL users may also find useful the CDAWlib software library at
<https://spdf.gsfc.nasa.gov/CDAWlib.html> and the CDFX display and
listing tool at <https://cdaweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/cdaweb/cdfx/>.

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Page last updated 2019 July 17