Mercury for SAFARI 2000 A Tutorial on Data Searching Using Mercury

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Mercury for SAFARI 2000A Tutorial on Data
Searching Using Mercury

• Robert Cook and Les Hook
• Oak Ridge National Laboratory
• Distributed Active Archive Center
• August 2001

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Goals of this Tutorial

• Provide an introduction to Mercury, the SAFARI
  2000 metadata search and data retrieval system
• Provide information on how to search for data
  sets using Mercury

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1. Background on MERCURY
Investigator uses the Metadata Editor to document
data
Investigators Computer connected to the Internet
The metadata are saved to the OME server at ORNL
or South Africa links are provided to data
and documentation placed on computers connected
to the Internet
OME Server
PI Server
DOC.xml
Data.1
Data.2
Data.3
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Mercury in Brief
1. The data provider uses the Metadata Editor to
create a metadata file containing links to the
data, documentation, and ancillary files.
ORNL DAAC
Metadata Index
2. Mercury harvests the metadata and builds an
index of the metadata.
Data and documentation
5. User links to data providers server
6. Data and documentation are downloaded
directly from the data provider
3. Users query the index
4. Metadata report is returned to the user,
including links to the data provider
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2. Using Mercury to search for data

• A demonstration of how Mercury can search for
  data
• Search using specific descriptors, spatial
  search, temporal search, or combinations of these
  three
• http//mercury.ornl.gov/safari2k/
• Two examples will be shown of how to use search
  for data sets

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The Mercury Search Page
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1. Descriptor Search (using picklists
for Project, Site, PI, Parameter, etc.)
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2. Spatial Search
Use Gazetteer to select Country
Or enter specific coordinates
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Or use Map to chose area
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3. Temporal Search
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Two examples of Mercury search

• Search for data sets for the Skukuza study site
• Search for regional data for southern Africa

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Select a Topic
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Select a value for the topic
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Mercury searches for data from this site
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14 data sets are available from two sources
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Click here for details and a link to Data
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Link to Download Data from the DAAC
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Data for Skukuza contained on FTP subdirectory at
ORNL DAAC
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Select southern Africa
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There are 20 data sets for southern Africa
Click here to view metadata for the 20 data
sets
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A brief description of the data set
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Link to Download Dataset
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Documentation file, with images of the data.
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Additional Information

• SAFARI 2000 Data and Information
• http//mercury.ornl.gov/safari2k/
• Data Search using Mercury
• http//mercury.ornl.gov/safari2k/search.html
• Send comments on this tutorial or Mercury to
  editor_at_daacs.esd.ornl.gov