Comprehensive Examples

This page provides comprehensive examples on how to access and visualize various NASA HDF/HDF-EOS files using IDL ^®, MATLAB^® and NCL. Other tools and programming languages examples can be found here.

Please read this special note first before you proceed further.

For a list of examples for the different data centers, click on the examples in the table below.

NASA Data Centers Product Examples using different tools GESDISC GESDISC Product Type File Codes Plots Note AIRS more examples Swath AIRS.2002.12.31.001.L2.CC_H.v4.0.21.0.G06100185050.hdf NCL MATLAB IDL IDL(p) NCL MATLAB IDL IDL(p) NCL plots 4 different channels. Others show only one channel. Grid AIRS.2002.08.01.L3.RetStd_H031.v4.0.21.0.G06104133732.hdf NCL MATLAB IDL NCL MATLAB IDL Field: Temperature MW A NCL MATLAB IDL NCL MATLAB IDL Field: Relative Humid A TRMM more examples Swath 1B21.071022.56609.6.HDF NCL MATLAB IDL NCL MATLAB IDL 1B21_CSI.990906.10217.KORA.6.HDF NCL MATLAB MATLAB(z) IDL IDL(z) NCL MATLAB MATLAB(z) IDL IDL(z) NCL generates global view and zoom view in the same plot. Others generate separately. 2A12.100402.70512.6.HDF NCL MATLAB IDL NCL MATLAB IDL 2A25_CSI.990804.9692.KORA.6.HDF NCL MATLAB MATLAB(z) IDL IDL(z) NCL MATLAB MATLAB(z) IDL IDL(z) NCL generates global view and zoom view in the same plot. Others generate separately. 2B31_CSI.990911.10296.KORA.6.HDF NCL MATLAB MATLAB(z) IDL IDL(z) NCL MATLAB MATLAB(z) IDL IDL(z) NCL generates global view and zoom view in the same plot. Others generate separately. Grid 3B42.100331.21.6A.HDF NCL MATLAB IDL NCL MATLAB IDL Values for lat/lon are obtained using the formula from NASA website. 3B43.070901.6A.HDF NCL MATLAB IDL NCL MATLAB IDL 3A46.080101.2.HDF NCL MATLAB IDL NCL MATLAB IDL   MERRA more examples Grid MERRA300.prod.assim.inst3_3d_chm_Ne.20021201.hdf NCL MATLAB IDL NCL MATLAB IDL   MERRA300.prod.assim.tavg3_3d_chm_Nv.20021201.hdf NCL MATLAB IDL NCL MATLAB IDL   TOMS more examples Grid TOMS-EP_L3-TOMSEPL3_2000m0101_v8.HDF NCL MATLAB IDL NCL MATLAB IDL OMI Swath OMI-Aura_L2-OMNO2_2008m0720t2016-o21357_v003-2008m0721t101450.he5 NCL MATLAB IDL NCL MATLAB IDL   Grid OMI-Aura_L2G-OMCLDO2G_2007m0129_v002-2007m0130t174603.he5 NCL MATLAB IDL NCL MATLAB IDL OMI-Aura_L3-OMTO3e_2005m1214_v002-2006m0929t143855.he5 NCL MATLAB IDL NCL MATLAB IDL   MLS Swath MLS-Aura_L2GP-BrO_v01-52-c01_2007d029.he5 NCL MATLAB IDL NCL MATLAB IDL   MLS-Aura_L2GP-BrO_v02-23-c01_2010d255.he5 NCL MATLAB IDL NCL MATLAB IDL   HIRDLS ZA HIRDLS-Aura_L3ZAD_v06-00-00-c02_2005d022-2008d077.he5 NCL MATLAB IDL NCL MATLAB IDL NCL needs 6.0.1, which isn't released yet. Swath HIRDLS-Aura_L2_v06-00-00-c01_2008d001.he5 NCL MATLAB IDL NCL MATLAB IDL   MEaSUREs Swath DeepBlue-SeaWiFS_L2_20101211T000331Z_v002-20110527T105357Z.h5 NCL MATLAB IDL NCL MATLAB IDL Grid DeepBlue-SeaWiFS-1.0_L3_20100101_v002-20110527T191319Z.h5 NCL MATLAB IDL NCL MATLAB IDL GSSTF.2b.2008.01.01.he5 NCL MATLAB IDL NCL MATLAB IDL latent heat flux NCL MATLAB IDL NCL MATLAB IDL sensible heat flux NCL MATLAB IDL NCL MATLAB IDL surface air (~10-m) specific humidity NCL MATLAB IDL NCL MATLAB IDL zonal wind stress NCL MATLAB IDL NCL MATLAB IDL meridional wind stress GSSTF_NCEP.2b.2008.01.01.he5 NCL MATLAB IDL NCL MATLAB IDL sea surface skin temperature GSSTFYC.2b.Year.1988_2008.he5 NCL MATLAB IDL NCL MATLAB IDL latent heat flux NCL MATLAB IDL NCL MATLAB IDL sensible heat flux NCL MATLAB IDL NCL MATLAB IDL surface air (~10-m) specific humidity NCL MATLAB IDL NCL MATLAB IDL zonal wind stress NCL MATLAB IDL NCL MATLAB IDL meridional wind stress NCL MATLAB IDL NCL MATLAB IDL sea surface skin temperature GOSAT/ACOS Swath acos_L2s_110101_02_Production_v110110_L2s2800_r01_PolB_110124184213.h5 acos_L2s_110101_02_Production_v110110_L2s2800_r01_PolB_110124184213.h5.xml NCL(z) MATLAB IDL NCL(z) MATLAB IDL   LAADS [Examples] LP DAAC [Examples] LaRC [Examples] NSIDC [Examples] PO.DAAC [Examples] Ocean Biology Processing Group [Examples] GHRC [Examples] ICESat-2 [Examples]

Table 1: Sample Data Files and Code Examples

We also provide examples for other data centers that produce HDF4 files.

Other Data Centers Product Examples using different tools CloudSAT Data Processing Center [Examples] Ocean Productivity [Examples]

Table 2: Sample Data Files and Code Examples from Other Data Centers

We also extracted and documented information for sample HDF-EOS2/HDF4 and HDF-EOS5 files that are useful to determine the EOS contents stored in the sample files. Please click here for HDF-EOS2/HDF4 and here for HDF-EOS5 to read comprehensive description and retrieve sample files.

Last modified: 05/14/2012