Using the NASA Earthdata Search Client Graphical User Interface

Author(s): Samuel Ayers (UAH)

Date: July 27, 2020

Description: A guide detailing how to use NASA’s Earthdata Search client graphical user interface (GUI).

Additional Resources

About the Earthdata Search Client (EDSC)

The EDSC allows users to search, preview, download, and access EOSDIS Earth observation data. NASA’s EDSC is located at https://search.earthdata.nasa.gov. ESDC provides a GUI for NASA’s Common Metadata Repository (CMR) to ease the process of discovering data.

Earthdata Search Client GUI (Image of the NASA EDSC GUI)

Using the Earthdata Search Client

We can use the searchbar to search for a term (example: GEDI) to narrow the resulting collections. The search can be further refined by picking a temporal range from the calendar using the Temporal Temporal button and setting spatial boundaries using the Spatial Spatial button. Additionally, using the Advanced search Advanced search lets you search by the HUC ID or region (more information about hydrological units may be found here). You can use the Clear Search Clear Filters button to undo any filters that have been set. The sidebar to the left allows you to further refine your search by selecting one of the available facets. These include Features, Keywords, Platforms, Instruments, Organizations, Projects, Processing levels, Date Format, Tiling System, Horizontal Data Resolution, and Latency.

We can also use the tools with the background map to refine our search. We can search spatially using Search by spatial polygon Search by spatial polygon, Search by spatial rectangle Search by spatial rectangle, Search by spatial circle Search by spatial circle, and Search by spatial coordinate Search by spatial coordinate. Layers may be edited using the Edit layers Edit layers button and deleted using the Delete layers Delete layers buttons. There are also options for North Polar Stereographic North Polar Stereographic, Geographic (Equirectangular) Geographic (Equirectangular), and South Polar Stereographic South Polar Stereographic projections. There are options to Zoom in Zoom in, Zoom home Zoom home, and Zoom out Zoom out. Finally, we can change the basemap by selecting the Map layers Map layers button.

The results of the search are displayed in the Matching Collections section. Collection names and summaries for each result are shown here. The View collection details View collection details button may be used to view related URLs and additional information about the selected collection. Also, collections may be added to a project using the Add collection to the current project Add collection to the current project button. Clicking anywhere else on a result allows you to see the granules within the collection available for download.

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