Data Circulation Presentation Overview

1. Data Circulation Presentation Overview • Rehearsal summary • RA-2/MWR data circulation during commissioning phase • RA-2/MWR data circulation requirements • Envisat products distribution • Other products distribution • Readiness

2. Rehearsal : RA-2/MWR CCVT rehearsal results • RA-2/MWR CCVT participation to the 2nd Envisat rehearsal campaign - based on reports received by the RA-2/MWR CCVT coordinator: • 11 participants out of about 26 Pis, including RA-2 Absolute Cal. Team • USF interactive functions performance evaluation results: • All participating members have tried out USF functions • Evaluation expressed as Poor/Average/Good • An overall average evaluation rating may be collocated between Poor and Average. • USF batch function (Perl I/F) performance evaluation results: • The batch Perl I/F has been tested by two team members • The rating is Good.

3. Rehearsal : Frequently reported issues • No RA-2/MWR Level 2 products were available, making the rehearsal less interesting for most RA-2/MWR CCVT members. • The system is poorly designed and too complex for accessing RA-2/MWR data. • The USF GUI has been generally found requiring too many operations to perform simple RA-2/MWR product orders. • Many transitory glitches have been encountered, slowing down the rehearsal run. The system looked sometimes overloaded. • Number of FTP downloads could be reduced by including several files in one transfer session. • USF client doesn’t run on Apple/Mac platforms. • An easy-to-access FTP archive is suggested by many users for straight forward data access.

4. Rehearsal : Non Envisat data circulation • A data circulation exercise has been carried out by few RA-2/MWR CCVT members for non-Envisat data, namely data needed for Cal/Val activities from ERS-2 satellite, other satellites and in-situ measurements. • The exercise has run in parallel to the rehearsal, and has been mainly focused to test the circulation of data as OPR01 and WAP01. • Circulation of OPR01 products takes places since long and is originated from the F-PAF on-line on a FTP server . Some new user new to this could test the access successfully. • The WAP01 product is specifically though for the Envisat commissioning phase, and is not yet available. • The circulation of non-Envisat data has been run successfully.

5. Rehearsal : Conclusions • The rehearsal experience highlighted the fact that today the USF is not fully suitable for RA-2/MWR CCVT data circulation requirements. • The USF is considered poorly designed for RA-2/MWR users needs, a simpler FTP archive distribution mechanism is often indicated as preferred to the USF. • RA-2/MWR CCVT members typically need standing orders over a long period of time, resulting in a great number of items hard to handle with the USF at present. • The alternate USF “Subscription” mechanism currently under implementation will better fulfill RA-2/MWR data distribution requirements.

6. Data Circulation During Commissioning Phase • In parallel to the USF another data distribution mechanism will be set-up in a “subscription” fashion for “standing” data distribution. This mechanism allow products to be distributed to a list of subscribers as soon as they are available. • The USF will be available, and may be used by RA-2/MWR CCVT members orders on request. • Orders via the USF shall be executed from a single user acting as coordinator for the whole CCVTeam. • CCVT members who plan to order through the USF shall send requests to the data circulation coordinator who will actually enter the order to the USF.

7. Data Circulation During Commissioning Phase Subscription-mode distribution of Envisat RA-2/MWR products will take place through: • Satellite broadcast (DDS) • DDS distribution is planned for RA2 Level 0 and Level 1b products. Receiving equipment is needed, existing receiving station will be used. • FTP transfer • MWR Level 0, NRT RA-2/MWR (FDGDR, FDMAR), DORIS products are planned to be disseminated through FTP archives accessible on the Internet to a list of subscribers on a daily basis. Users will get requested data initiating the transfer from their FTP client.

8. Data Circulation During Commissioning Phase • Physical media distribution • Off-Line RA-2/MWR products (IMAR, IGDR, GDR, SGDR) are planned to be distributed according to product subscription lists. The delivery delay is expected to be of 3-5 days for IGDR and IMAR, and less than 50 days for GDR and SGDR. Products will be delivered on CD-ROM, as resulting the preferred medium for CCVT members. CCVT members shall expect one CD-ROM per day, or at least two for those receiving SGDR.

9. RA-2/MWR CCVT data circulation requirements • Subscription lists are provided according to CCVT member data requirements. • Envisat standard products distribution:

10. RA-2/MWR CCVT data circulation requirements • Other products distribution: • ERS-2 products: • OPR01: This is the ERS-2 OPR product built from preliminary orbits instead of precise ones, as to reduce its latency to about 4 weeks. Circulation of OPR01 products takes places since long and is originated from the F-PAF on-line on a FTP server. Availability of the service to interested CCVT members has been tested as part of the rehearsal. • WAP01: This is the ERS-2 WAP product built from preliminary orbits instead of precise ones, as to reduce its latency to about 6 weeks. Circulation of WAP01 products is not yet set-up as it is designed specifically for RA-2/MWR CCVT needs. It will be originated from the UK-PAF and made available on a FTP server.

11. OPR01 authorized users list: BENVENISTE jerome MOORE philip COTTON david SHUM ck SCHAROO remko LILLIBRIDGE john QUEFFEULOU pierre DORANDEU Joel To be added: W.BOSCH, L. FENOGLIO-MARC, C. REIGBER WAP01 potential users list: BENVENISTE jerome BERRY Philippa BRENNER Anita/ZWALLY Jay LAXON Seymour/ BAKER Steven RA-2/MWR CCVT data circulation requirements

12. RA-2/MWR CCVT data circulation requirements • ERS-2 products: • Standard ERS-2 products: ERS-2 products are available as usual. It is assumed that CCVT members which plan to make use of ERS-2 products at commissioning phase have already access. • BUFR formatted products: • BUFR formatted products will be distributed from LRAC and will be available on a FTP server. Interested users will receive access information as username and password to log on and get data as available. • Software to decode BUFR exists.

13. RA-2/MWR CCVT data circulation requirements • Envisat non-standard products for passive calibration: • The passive calibration activity requires some products to be further processed and distributed in a non-standard state, under the responsibility of the IECF. The distribution to the interested CCVT member (Pierdicca at Univ. of Rome) will be done through the CCVT web site and/or FTP server.

14. Readiness • Open issues: • A new rehearsal will take place before launch as soon as the USF is open again. The rehearsal will be conducted by the data circulation coordinator only. • Distribution paths based on the subscription mechanism are to be open before launch. • WAP01 distribution path to be open before launch. • BUFR distribution path to be open before launch. • Freeze of RA-2/MWR CCVT data requirement: • RA-2/MWR CCVTeam data requirements are considered “frozen” as they are presented in this meeting.