MY NASA DATA Lesson Plans

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LAS INTRODUCTION
What is LAS?
A Live Access Server (LAS) is much like a server in a restaurant, where the customer can request different menu items, chosen by reading the descriptions of the food selections, and then the server brings the food to the table.
For the MY NASA DATA LAS, the customer (you) can select items (microsets of data) from the menu (list of datasets) using descriptions (parameters and time frames) of the items.
The Live Access Server (LAS) software allows access to scientific data referenced by latitude, longitude, and time. This is referred to as geo-referenced data.
LAS can: show visualizations (color plots and graphs) of the data as requested provide subsets of the specific parameters in a choice of file formats present the numerical data collected
What is available?
NASA scientists select parameters to study that will increase their understanding of humanity's impact on the atmosphere and how this impact might affect our climate. These parameters also assist in the understanding of natural climate variability. The parameters served by the LAS are a selected portion of the atmospheric data collected by NASA, which is stored primarily at the Atmospheric Science Data Center.
Where can I find the descriptions?
The descriptions of the parameters can be found by clicking on the link to the Live Access Server here or on the Data Access page and then clicking on one of the major dataset categories (Atmosphere, Snow and Ice, or Surface). Further information about a description (parameter) is available by clicking the info icon (blue circle with the letter i in it) and then clicking the '(MY NASA DATA Information...)' link. The Science Glossary link will also provide information on parameters. Below is a list of introductory pages of parameters. Radiation Budget Aerosols Clouds Land Mask Leaf Area Index (LAI) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) New Images of Global Vegetation (NDVI)
What time period is covered?
The parameters in the LAS cover extended periods of time to identify trends or illustrate educational concepts. Click here for the Time Coverage at a Glance chart. For individual parameter details, click on the information icon (blue circle with i in it) next to a parameter. This will display a page with latitude (X range), longitude (Y range), time period covered (T range), and units of measurement (Units).
How are parameters named?
The parameters have been named using the following convention: <TIME INTERVAL> <PLACE> <PARAMETER> (<PRODUCT>)
<TIME INTERVAL> describes the time resolution of the measurement: Monthly, Daily, Seasonal, etc
<PLACE> tells where the measurement applies: Top of Atmosphere, Surface, Cloud, Tropopause, Column, Near-Surface, Stratosphere, Pressure Levels, High cloud, etc
<PARAMETER> name of the variable: Aerosol Optical Depth, Temperature, Cloud Fraction, etc
Radiation parameters are further defined as: <PARAMETER>=<Sky Condition> <Wavelength> <Direction><Parameter> <Sky Condition> All-sky, Clear-sky <Wavelength> Longwave (LW), Shortwave (SW), Photosynthically Active Radiation (PAR), etc <Direction> Upward, Downward, Net <Parameter>Ex: Flux, Albedo, etc
<PRODUCT> reference information identifying the data source: CERES, ISCCP, MISR, etc Examples: Monthly TOA Clear-Sky LW Upward Flux (CERES) Monthly Column Ozone (SAGE III)
Where do these parameters come from? (Explaining the <PRODUCT> tag)
The parameters in the LAS are measured by instruments on a variety of different Earth-observing satellites. These are identified by the <PRODUCT> in parentheses at the end of the parameter name.
More Information about our Data Sources			How to Explore LAS Data (PowerPoint)
Go to the LAS \| Visit our Units page

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