The CSDSweb control interface is shown in the figure below. Clicking on the plot will take you to a description of a particular control.
The pull down menu allows you to select the plot type to be displayed. More information on each of the currently available plot types is given on the Quicklook Plot Descriptions page. The change will take place the next time the Submit or one of the selection buttons is pressed. Only a single plot type can be selected for display at a time but it is possible to have several browser windows each showing different plot types.
Back to InterfaceThis control will select and request the next plot type (equivalent to using the pull down menu and then pressing Submit). Under normal conditions the cycle control will loop through groups of plots, so for example the six-hour quicklook plots will cycle through; Overview, Fields and Waves, Particles and then back to the six-hour Overview.
The situation is slightly different if the auto-latest mode is active (See 'Latest' under advanced features). In this case the plots will cycle through; latest 6 hr Overview, latest whole Orbit Overview, latest 6 hr Fields and Waves, latest whole orbit field and waves, latest 6 hr particles, latest whole orbit particles, predicted position and then back to 6 hr Overview.
Back to InterfaceOnce changes have been made to the Plot Type, Number of Plots etc. The Submit button can be used to apply these changes and request the required plot from the server.
Back to InterfaceUse the Year, Month and Day pull down menus to select the date of the plot being requested. You must use the Submit button to apply the changes and request the new plot.
Back to InterfaceUse the Period pull down menu to select the six hour period to be displayed. This option is only relevant to those plot types for which there is more than one plot per day (six hour quicklook and CSDS summary plots).
Back to InterfaceThis will display the earliest plot available for the currently selected type
Back to InterfaceThese controls are used to select the previous plot. Normally only the standard (<) control is displayed which will step back one plot. Please note that in this context the previous plot is in terms of the time sequence and not the plots that have previously been displayed. You can use your browsers 'Back' button to look at previously displayed plots.
The block previous (<<) control will only be shown when the number of plots setting (see Advanced Features) is greater than one. In this case the standard (<) control will just shuffle the plots back by one, adding one new plot at the start and dropping the last plot from the bottom. The (<<) control will rewind by the number of plots on the page so that the last plot on the new page will correspond to the plot just prior to the first plot on the current page.
Back to InterfaceThese controls are used to select the next plot. Normally only the standard (>) control is displayed which will step forward one plot.
The block next (>>) control will only be shown when the number of plots setting (see Advanced Features) is greater than one. In this case the standard (>) control will just shuffle the plots forward by one, adding one new plot at the end and dropping the first plot from the top. The (>>) control will go forward by the number of plots on the page so that the first plot on the new page will correspond to the plot just after the last plot on the current page.
Back to InterfaceThis will display the latest plot available for the currently selected type except in the case of the predicted position plot, where the plot corresponding to the most recent quicklook data will be shown. The forward and date controls can be used to look at the predicted position beyond this date. See also 'Latest' under advanced features.
Back to InterfaceThe Reset control returns the plot number and size settings to their default values and selects the latest 6-hour Overview plot.
Back to InterfaceBy default a single plot is displayed at a time and the date selection or forward/backward controls are used to select a different plot period. By typing a number between 2 and 50 a sequential set of plots will be displayed as a single document (note that all plots will be of the same plot type).
When the number of plots is greater than one, two additional buttons will be displayed ( <<, >> ). These can be used for navigating blocks of plots.
Back to InterfaceThis option can be used to vary the relative plot size and can take a value between 0.01 and 4.0. This can be used in conjunction with the Number of Plots option to fit more plots on a page or if you are comparing with data from another source in order to get the scales to match. Please note that this works by changing the HTML <IMG> WIDTH attribute, which means that the re-scaling of the image is done within the client browser. Setting the size value much below 1.0 results in considerable degradation of the plot quality (though this is regained when the page is actually printed). There is no transfer time advantage of reducing the plot size since the full size image is always transferred over the network.
Back to InterfaceWhen the (>|) control is activated, the latest plot of the current type is displayed. The button will change to (>]) to indicate that it is now in auto-latest mode. In this mode the browser will automatically re-request the latest plot every 10 minutes. If while in this mode you select the cycle (^) control, the button will change to (>^]) to indicate that it is both in auto-latest and auto-cycle mode). You can stop either of the auto modes by clicking on the submit button.
IMPORTANT: By default your browser probably does not check for updated content
every time you access a page. This will mean that the plot that is displayed
is read from your local cache even if a newer version is available on the server
(e.g. because new data has arrived). You can normally change this. For example
in Internet Explorer select 'Internet Options->Temporary Files [Settings]'
and change the 'Check for new versions' to 'Every visit'. Your browser will
now ask the server if a newer version of the file is available and, if there
is, will then fetch it. Alternatively you can manulally reload using the refresh
or
Please note that the auto-latest and auto-cycle modes have been disabled. They were intended to provide dynamic displays for use in presentation areas but were not being widely used and the activation via the >| button was causing some confusion.
Back to InterfaceThe 6-hour and whole orbit quicklook plots are inter-linked. This means that clicking inside the plot will automatically take you to the same plot type at the alternative resolution. Similarly, clicking inside the panels on the predicted position day plots will take you to the corresponding 6-hour Overview plot. In both the above cases the links are only active when a single plot is displayed and size information is not currently retained. In the case of multi-plot pages, clicking anywhere on a plot displays just that plot.
Back to InterfaceJust below the plot panel are a series of active links. These are set-up to point to other data resources that may be of interest to a Cluster investigator. Where possible date information is passed from the quicklook system to the remote resource so that data for the corresponding period. In some cases the links will not be shown or will be shown in italics if data for the requested period is not available.
Near Real Time: Solar
Images from SEC | ACE Solar Wind | DST
from WDC-C2
SPOF KP Survey Plots: IMAGE orbit | Polar data | Geotail |
IMP 8 | Wind | Wind 27 day
Ground-Based: GBDC Summary Plots | Satellite Situation
Centre: Graphics | Tabular | Query
Also from Cluster: Summary Parameters | SPP
| Prime Parameters (needs password) | Orbit
Plot (click then wait)
Solar images are received in near real time by the Space Environment Centre provided by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
This is another near real time service provided by SEC. In this case solar wind data taken from the ACE spacecraft located at the L1 position is available in plots with time scales ranging from two hours to seven days. Links are provided to other ACE web sites from which browse products and level 2 data can be obtained.
This link takes you to the Dst service provided by the WDC-C2 for Geomagnetism at Kyoto. This service provides near real time, provisional and final sets of the Dst index.
Key parameter and orbit plots from a number of current ISTP missions are available from the NASA Science Planning and Operation Facility (Goddard Space Flight Centre).
The Cluster Ground Based Data Centre provides a portal to a large number of on-line plots provided by ground based instruments located around the world. The GBDC portal automatically resizes and positions the plots so that the time scales line up when viewed in a browser.
This is another service provided by the NASA/SPOF. It provides an extensive range of facilities for generating orbit plots, ground track information and field line tracing. Orbit information is included for all current ISTP missions and the Query option can be used to look for conjunctions between two or more of these spacecraft (plus groundbased instrumentation).
A link to the UK Cluster Data Center - Summary Parameter selection page. If data for the current day has not yet been received then the link will be shown in italics. The predicted orbit parameters provided by JSOC will still be accessible via this link even if there are no SP products.
This link will only be available if the Summary Parameter Plot file for the selected day is available. Clicking on the link will download the Zip compressed postscript plot file. For a description of the Summary Parameter Plot file please refer to the CSDS Users Guide.
A link to the UK Cluster Data Center - Prime Parameter selection page. If data for the current day has not yet been received then the link will be shown in italics. The predicted orbit parameters provided by JSOC will still be accessible via this link even if there are no PP products.
This will use the JSOC predicted orbit information to generate an orbit plot for the selected time period. The plot takes a few seconds to generate so please wait after clicking on the link.