File Search Help

Using The Form

The search page will locate publicly available files within the Ocean Data Processing System (ODPS). It will return a list of file names that match the search criteria in a format similar to this:

T2003122090500.L1A_LAC.R0000032134_21N_17N_160W_152W.hdf
T2003122090500.L1A_LAC.bz2


There are four main ways to search through the files, with each requiring a start and end date.

  • Mission: Select a satellite instrument from the "Mission" drop down menu, choose a data type, and enter a date range. Some data types may have additional options to select.
  • Ancillary: Select an instrument from the "Mission" drop down list and choose an ancillary data type and date range.
  • Subscription: Enter a Subscription ID and a date range to list the file names associated with that subscription.
  • Advanced: This mode contains the same basic data as the "Mission" search, however, the "Mission" drop down contains additional, less popular mission types as well as a text field for narrowing down a search by file name. A few examples of how to do this are listed in the table below, but for more information, please see our revised File Naming Convention page for instructions and examples.
Pattern Entered What It Does
AUQA_MODIS.20220515* Queries all files from May 15, 2022 for the AQUA MODIS instrument.
SNPP_VIIRS.20190101T123600.L1A* Locate a specific file
NOAA20_VIIRS.201912[0-9]*GEO.nc Queries all files from days 120-129 for the year 2019 for the NOAA20 VIIRS instrument. (Note: This type of search may run slowly.)

Special Characters for Searching:
'*' Match any string, including the null string
'?' Match any single character
'[...]' Match any one of the enclosed characters


Additional Options

The "Additional Options" checkboxes allow further customization of the output.

  • Display results as text, one file name per line: This will print each file name on its own line. It will generate a list like this:
    T2003122090500.L1A_LAC.R0000032134_21N_17N_160W_152W.hdf
    T2003122090500.L1A_LAC.bz2
    • Also include full URL path: This will prepend the file name with the full URL location of the file.
      https://oceandata.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi/getfile/T2003122090500.L1A_LAC.R0000032134_21N_17N_160W_152W.hdf
  • Include checksum with file name: Show the checksum before the file name.
    76cea78f6f859cfb73df3091c609087dd4659650 T2003122090500.L1A_LAC.R0000032134_21N_17N_160W_152W.hdf

Using the API

OB.DAAC has a file search utility that is accessible through command line interface (CLI).

Available options:

  • sensor_id - mission identifier (numerical)
    • valid options:
      • 0 - GLOBAL
      • 6 - SeaWiFS
      • 7 - Aqua-MODIS
      • 8 - Terra-MODIS
      • 9 - OCTS
      • 11 - CZCS
      • 14 - SNPP-VIIRS
      • 19 - MERIS
      • 21 - OCM2
      • 25 - HICO
      • 27 - GOCI
      • 28 - L8OLI
      • 29 - S3A-OLCI
      • 32 - OCIA
      • 33 - NOAA20-VIIRS
      • 35 - SE1-Hawkeye
      • 36 - S3B-OLCI
      • 39 - Merged-S3-CYAN
      • 41 - PACE_SPEXONE
      • 42 - PACE_OCI
      • 43 - NOAA21-VIIRS
      • 44 - MERIS-ILW
      • 46 - S3A-ILW
      • 47 - S3B-ILW
      • 49 - Merged-S3-ILW
    • sdate - start date and time of desired data (format YYYY-MM-DD 00:00:00)
    • edate - end date and time of desired data (format YYYY-MM-DD 00:00:00)
    • psdate - when file processing began (format YYYY-MM-DD 00:00:00)
    • pedate - when file processing completed (format YYYY-MM-DD 00:00:00)
    • dtid - data type identifier (i.e. level). This is a dynamically populated listing.
    • addurl - include full url in search result (boolean, 1=yes, 0=no)
    • results_as_file - return results as a test file listing (boolean, 1=yes; 0=no, returning an HTML page)
    • search - text string search
    • subID - subscription ID to search
    • subType - subscription type
      • valid options: 1 (non-extracted, default), 2 (extracted)
    • std_only - restrict results to standard products (i.e. ignore extracts, regional processings, etc.; boolean)
    • cksum - return a checksum file for search results (boolean; sha1sums except for Aquarius soil moisture products which are md5sums; forces results_as_file; ignores addurl)
    • format - file is returned in format specified.
      • valid options: txt, json, html

    Here is an example using the file search utility to find and download OCTS daily L3 binned chlorophyll data from November 1, 1996 through December 31, 1999.

    Wget:

          wget -q --post-data="results_as_file=1&sensor_id=9&dtid=1142&suite_id=CHL&sdate=1997-11-01 00:00:00&edate=2022-01-01 23:59:59&subID=1001&subType=1&period=DAY" -O - https://oceandatadev401.domain.pub/api/file_search

    cURL:

    curl -d "sensor=octs&am;sdate=1996-11-01&edate=1997-01-01&dtype=L3b&addurl=1&results_as_file=1&search=*DAY_CHL*" https://oceandata.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/api/file_search |grep getfile | cut -d "'" -f 2 | head -1 | xargs -n 1 curl -LJO -n -c ~/.urs_cookies -b ~/.urs_cookies

Using the API

OB.DAAC provides an API for use through a command line interface (CLI) or programming language.

Posting Information

Method: HTTP GET
Base URL: https://oceandata.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/api/file_search

Submission Field List

Searching by Subscription
Name Submission Field Name Mandatory Format Values Notes
Subscription ID subID REQUIRED int(10) Ex. 5325 Subscription ID to search
Note: If no start date is supplied, the default start date will be set three days prior to today's date.
Subscription Type subType OPTIONAL int(1) Acceptable Values Subscription Type
1 Non-Extracted
2 Extracted

Default: 1
File Processing Start Date psdate OPTIONAL date(YYYY-MM-DD 00:00:00) Ex. 2022-08-27 00:00:00 Default: 3 days ago
File Processing End Date pedate OPTIONAL date(YYYY-MM-DD 00:00:00) Ex. 2022-08-27 23:59:59 Default: Today's date


Searching OB.DAAC Data
Name Submission Field Name Mandatory Format Values Notes
Sensor ID sensor_id REQUIRED int(2) Acceptable Values
Show/hide sensor list
0 Global (All Sensors)
6 SeaWiFS
7 Aqua-MODIS
8 Terra-MODIS
9 OCTS
11 CZCS
14 SNPP-VIIRS
19 MERIS
21 OCM2
25 HICO
27 GOCI
28 L8OLI
29 S3A-OLCI
32 OCIA
33 NOAA20-VIIRS
35 SE1-Hawkeye
36 S3B-OLCI
39 Merged-S3-CYAN
41 PACE_SPEXONE
42 PACE_OCI
43 NOAA21-VIIRS
44 MERIS-ILW
46 S3A-ILW
47 S3B-ILW
49 Merged-S3-ILW
Data Class dtype REQUIRED varchar(30) Acceptable Values The data type or level of the product
Show/hide data class list
L0 Level 0
L1 Level 1
L2 Level 2
L3b Level 3 Binned data
L3m Level 3 Mapped data
MET Ancillary data
misc Sundry products
Data Type ID dtid REQUIRED int(10) Ex. 1115 A dynamically-populated data type identifier.
Start Date sdate CONDITIONAL date(YYYY-MM-DD 00:00:00) Ex. 2022-08-27 00:00:00 One of the following is required:
  • Start and end dates
  • File processing start and end dates
Use either start/end dates or processing start/end dates, not both.
End Date edate CONDITIONAL date(YYYY-MM-DD 00:00:00) Ex. 2022-08-27 23:59:59
File Processing Start Date psdate CONDITIONAL date(YYYY-MM-DD 00:00:00) Ex. 2022-08-27 00:00:00 One of the following is required:
  • File processing start and end dates
  • Start and end dates
Use either start/end dates or processing start/end dates, not both.
File Processing End Date pedate CONDITIONAL date(YYYY-MM-DD 00:00:00) Ex. 2022-08-27 23:59:59
Include Full URL addurl OPTIONAL boolean Acceptable Values If a '1' is set, this will prepend the fully qualified domain name to the beginning of the file name.
Default: '0'
Search String search OPTIONAL varchar(255) Ex. *DAY.CHL*
(This would match files like AQUA_MODIS.20130115.L3b.DAY.CHL.nc) 		File name pattern search.
Special Characters for Searching:
'*' Match any string, including the null string
'?' Match any single character
'[...]' Match any one of the enclosed characters

Note: A minimum of four characters are required.
Default: Empty string
Display a checksum hash cksum OPTIONAL boolean Acceptable Values If a '1' is set, a checksum hash will be dispalyed alongside the filenames returned in the search results.
Note:
  • Checksums are SHA1 hashes
  • This option forces `results_as_file` to 1
  • This option forces `addurl` to 0

Default: 0
Return Results as a File results_as_file OPTIONAL boolean Acceptable Values If a '1' is set, results will be returned as a text file listing, otherwise an HTML page will be returned
Default: 0
Results Format format OPTIONAL varchar(4) Acceptable Values The format the results will be returned in.
Default: 'txt'

Bulk Data Downloads: Users who want to download a large number of files will need to use a non-interactive method of pulling the data from the server. Please use the following link for data download methods.