Common Data Format (CDF) and Coordinated Data Analysis Web (CDAWeb)

Abstract

The Coordinated Data Analysis Web (CDAWeb) <http://cdaweb.gsfc.nasa.gov> data browsing system provides plotting, listing and open access v ia FTP, HTTP, and web services (REST, SOAP, OPeNDAP) for data from mo st NASA Heliophysics missions and is heavily used by the community. C ombining data from many instruments and missions enables broad resear ch analysis and correlation and coordination with other experiments a nd missions. Crucial to its effectiveness is the use of a standard se lf-describing data format, in this case, the Common Data Format (CDF) <http://cdf.gsfc.nasa.gov>, also developed at the Space Physics Data facility <http://spdf.gsfc.nasa.gov> , and the use of metadata standa rds (easily edited with SKTeditor <http://sscweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/skteditor/>). CDAweb is based on a set of IDL routines, CDAWlib <http://spd f.gsfc.nasa.gov/CDAWlib.html>. . The CDF project also maintains soft ware and services for translating between many standard formats (CDF. netCDF, HDF, FITS, XML) <!<http://cdf.gsfc.nasa.gov/html/dtws.html>