Documentation of the processing level of the data is required metadata for archival and data distribution of NASA data.
The various levels of data referred to in this document are identical to those defined by EOSDIS Data Panel in its report, and are consistent with the Committee on Data Management, Archiving and Computing (CODMAC) definitions. For some instruments, there will be no Level 1B product that is distinct from Level 1A product. In these cases, the reference to Level 1B data can be assumed to refer to Level 1A data.
Level 0 |
Reconstructed, unprocessed instrument/payload data at full resolution; any and all communications artifacts, e.g., synchronization frames, communications headers, duplicate data removed.
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Level 1A |
Reconstructed, unprocessed instrument data at full resolution, time-referenced, and annotated with ancillary information, including radiometric and geometric calibration coefficients and georeferencing parameters, e.g., platform ephemeris, computed and appended but not applied to the Level 0 data.
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Level 1B |
Level 1A data that have been processed to sensor units (not all instruments will have a Level 1B equivalent).
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Level 2 |
Derived geophysical variables at the same resolution and location as the Level 1 source data.
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Level 3 |
Variables mapped on uniform space-time grid scales, usually with some completeness and consistency.
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Level 4 |
Model output or results from analyses of lower level data, e.g., variables derived from multiple measurements.
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