Learn How to View .he5 Files Easily | NASA NOAA Ozone Data Guide

  • Thread starter Thread starter Astroman
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    File
Click For Summary
SUMMARY

This discussion focuses on how to view .he5 files, specifically those containing ozone data from NASA's NOAA website. The user successfully downloaded the file MLS-Aura_L2GP-O3_v02-23-c01_2008d158.SUB.he5 and discovered that HDFView is a suitable tool for reading these files. The .he5 format, part of the Hierarchical Data Format for Earth Observing System, is utilized by NASA for managing large datasets efficiently. The user expressed frustration with the opaque nature of the file format but ultimately found a solution to access the data.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of .he5 file format and its applications
  • Familiarity with NASA's data access protocols
  • Basic knowledge of FTP commands for file downloads
  • Experience with HDFView software for data visualization
NEXT STEPS
  • Research how to use HDFView for advanced data analysis
  • Learn about the Hierarchical Data Format (HDF) specifications
  • Explore NASA's data access tools and resources for Earth science data
  • Investigate alternative software for viewing .he5 files, such as Panoply
USEFUL FOR

Researchers, data scientists, and environmental scientists who need to access and analyze NASA's Earth observation data, particularly those working with ozone data in .he5 format.

Astroman
Messages
13
Reaction score
0
How to view .he5 file??

Not sure if this is the right place in the forum to ask this question. If it isn't, feel free to move it to the appropriate section.

I am trying to obtain some data from the NASA NOAA website for a project I am working on, namely some ozone data from this page:

http://daac.gsfc.nasa.gov/daac-bin/whom/mk_page_cgi.pl?PATH=datapool/MLS_DP/Level2.002/ML2O3/2008/06/06

I checked where it said 'select' in the data file box, then narrrowed down my spatial setting to the region where I needed the data. After clicking the 'submit subset request' I reach a page that has this:

Subsetted Data Download Instructions:

Single file download: click on the file: MLS-Aura_L2GP-O3_v02-23-c01_2008d158.SUB.he5

Multiple file download:
Download the FTP_script: order_21205.txt
On SGI or Linux machine, run: ftp -p -n acdisc.gsfc.nasa.gov < order_21205.txt
On DOS, SunOS or Windows/Mac platforms, run: ftp -n acdisc.gsfc.nasa.gov < order_21205.txt

My question is, how does one view a .he5 file?? I have never seen this before. Additionally, this page attempts to offer assitance but I have no idea what it is telling me to do:

http://daac.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/datapool/HELP/DATAPOOL/A_access_data.shtml


Can anyone offer any help as to how to extract and view this data?? Or if possible, can someone just extract it and paste it here? Thanks for any help you can give me, this is sort of important.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Computer science news on Phys.org


The page just describes how to downloadthe files from ftp - useful advice for 1990 but less so now.

googling ".he5 file" the first two hits gives papers describing the file format, it looks like you will have to write something to extract the data.
Odd that they should use such an opaque binary file format when there are already NASA standards like FITS for this sort of thing.
 


Thanks. Managed to download a program called HDFView that reads those kinds of files directly. I guess the latest creation of the Hierarchical Data Format for Earth Observing System related data, or the so-called "he5" data file, is used by NASA in instances where there is a lot of data that would otherwise create a prohibitively large sized file. Who knows, who really cares. Just glad I found a program to read it.
 


Moved to "computers" since I think it fits best here.