The Science Processing Support Office (SPSO) at the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) has released a report entitled Earth Observing System Output Data Products, Processes, and Input Requirements - Version 4.0. The SPSO report, consisting of three volumes, is based on the latest input provided by the EOS instrument teams. It provides information on EOS output data products, input requirements and production processes for the EOS instruments. It also provides information on the input and output data products of the Interdisciplinary Science (IDS) investigation teams. All the information presented in the SPSO report is also available from the SPSO Homepage. Its URL is "http://spsosun.gsfc.nasa.gov/spsohomepage.html."

The highlights of this release are:

• revised payload information, reflecting the "reshaped" EOS mission profile, dated January 16, 1996;

• revised product type information based on the ATBD reviews by the EOS Project Science Office;

• revised and expanded process information from the AIRS, GLAS, and SAGE III instruments;

• updated material for ASTER, CERES, DFA, MISR, MODIS, MOPITT, and SWS, as well as for DAS. Non-EOS input requirements have also been updated;

• detailed data file and process information and the interdependencies among data products and processes; and

• material on two NMC datasets relevant to EOS.

The first version of the SPSO report, released in August 1991, listed the data products then expected from EOS. Subsequent versions have followed the evolution of EOS through a variety of program re-definitions. The current version includes the revisions, based on input from instrument teams through the Ad Hoc Working Group on Production (AHWGP) in February 1996, and provides new information such as data files and processes on an instrument-by-instrument basis. The main information in the report is divided into three parts: high-level summary tables for EOSDIS resource requirements, detailed information on EOS data products and processes, and information on input and output products of the EOS IDS teams.

Volume I contains introductory and background material, a discussion of various definitions and conventions, and a paragraph or two describing each appendix in the succeeding two volumes. The first volume also contains several summary tables: daily data volumes in GB per day for each processing level (0 to 4) by instrument and platform; processing loads in MFLOPS, again by level, instrument and platform; and data traffic in GB per day among the DAACs for Level 1B and for Levels 2 and 3 combined.

Volume II consists of detailed data product/parameter and process/file information in a total of eight appendices. Data product material is presented in the first three, for both EOS and related non-EOS data. Peak volume and processing figures are given, along with production center, archival center, product type, production mode, and related descriptive material. Two appendices contain information on the resolution and accuracy of the parameters corresponding to each product, where available. Finally, a set of three interrelated appendices describes the files and processes that underlie the EOS data products: a process appendix that gives the volume per process, the number of process runs per day, the number of operations per process and the processing load; a file appendix, giving file size, time coverage and disposition (archival, permanent, or temporary), along with the processing and archival centers; and an appendix that clearly displays the input and output files for each process. This last appendix allows one to trace out the detailed dependencies among all the EOS products and processes.

Volume III contains information on NMC and IDS products. The first set of appendices, which gives information on two NMC datasets (Model Output and Observational Data), is included because of the importance and popularity of the datasets as input data for EOS investigators. The NMC Observational Data are used as input by the GSFC Data Assimilation Office. The second set of appendices presents the IDS output products, the input requirements, and an analysis of which of those requirements can be met by the projected EOS data products.

The SPSO homepage, developed as the version 4.0 material was being incorporated into the SPSO database, has been specifically tailored to make that material easily accessible. You can search for data products or data production processes using search criteria such as platform, instrument, or processing center, etc. The search will return detailed information on products, parameters, processes, and files. You can also specify a particular process and see a listing of all the input and output files associated with that process. Hypertext links allow you to move among the detailed descriptions, clicking your way from a data product description, for example, to the process that generates that product, then on to the related input/output files for that process. This detailed information can also be accessed through two "quick" routes that allow you to select from a table of possible criteria. There is also a set of high-level summary tables, similar to those in Volume I of the hard copy. In addition, the report itself is also available on-line either for browsing or downloading.

The SPSO Homepage offers an on-line comment capability in case you have any questions or would like to make suggestions. It also offers a set of links to other related EOS homepages, such as those of the EOS Project Science Office and the ESDIS Project.

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