1. Cassini
  2. Instruments and Data
  3. CIRS

Finding the Data You Want

1. Search Options

  • Use our search engine, OPUS to search for specific Cassini CIRS data products using a wide range of criteria.

    • Search results include data files, tables of associated metadata, and footprint diagrams for each observation. User selected data files can be bundled as tar.gz files for easy downloading.

  • The Access Re-formatted Data tab, provides a link to each volume and gives the time interval covered by the volume.

  • As you develop your personal search strategies, you may wish to refer to the TUTORIAL.TXT file which contains the definitive documentation on the contents and structure of the re-formatted CIRS data.

2. Using Indices

Volume specific index files are located in the INDEX subdirectory on each volume. You can use the index files to refine a search within the volume. Index files have PDS labels, and those labels refer to .FMT files in the same directory that describe the column structure in each index.

  • The master index file INDEX/INDEX.TAB contains the general information about every data file on the volume (one data file per line). One keyword reported in the INDEX.TAB files is OBSERVATION_ID which contains the unique CIMS request ID associated with a given file. For information about how to interpret the CIMS ID, see section 3. Introduction to the Cassini Timeline under the About Re-formtted Data tab.

  • Supplemental index files INDEX/RININDEX.TAB, INDEX/POIINDEX.TAB and INDEX/ISPMINDEX.TAB contain tables of these additional parameters. They can be used for identifying, for example, which observation captured a particular latitude, longitude and incidence angle on the surface of Enceladus.

  • More detailed searches can be conducted by reading the metadata files row by row, which will enable you to identify the specific detectors that captured a target under the desired circumstances.

3. Directory and File Names

  • Another option is to use the VOLUME_ID, coupled with subdirectory and file names and browse the data directories. See the Naming Conventions: Re-formtted Data tab for insights into the naming structures for the re-formatted data set.

4. Where to go next

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