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 [Examples] LAADS [Examples] LP DAAC [Examples] LaRC [Examples] NSIDC NSIDC Product Type File Codes Plots Note AMSR_E more examples Swath AMSR_E_L2A_BrightnessTemperatures_V10_200501180027_D.hdf NCL MATLAB IDL NCL MATLAB IDL AMSR_E_L2_Ocean_V06_200206190029_D.hdf NCL MATLAB IDL NCL MATLAB IDL Grid AMSR_E_L3_SeaIce6km_V11_20050118.hdf lat_AMSR_E_L3_SeaIce6km_V11_20050118_NpPolarGrid06km.output lon_AMSR_E_L3_SeaIce6km_V11_20050118_NpPolarGrid06km.output NCL MATLAB IDL IDL(p) NCL MATLAB IDL IDL(p) Polar Stereographic projection AMSR_E_L3_DailyLand_V06_20050118.hdf lat_AMSR_E_L3_DailyLand_V06_20050118_Ascending_Land_Grid.output lon_AMSR_E_L3_DailyLand_V06_20050118_Ascending_Land_Grid.output NCL MATLAB IDL NCL MATLAB IDL AMSR_E_L3_DailyOcean_V03_20020619.hdf NCL MATLAB IDL NCL MATLAB IDL   AMSR_E_L3_MonthlyOcean_V03_200206.hdf NCL MATLAB IDL NCL MATLAB IDL   AMSR_E_L3_RainGrid_V06_200206.hdf NCL MATLAB IDL NCL MATLAB IDL   AMSR_E_L3_SeaIce12km_V11_20050118.hdf lat_AMSR_E_L3_SeaIce12km_V11_20050118_NpPolarGrid12km.output lon_AMSR_E_L3_SeaIce12km_V11_20050118_NpPolarGrid12km.output lat_AMSR_E_L3_SeaIce12km_V11_20050118_SpPolarGrid12km.output lon_AMSR_E_L3_SeaIce12km_V11_20050118_SpPolarGrid12km.output NCL MATLAB IDL IDL(p) NCL MATLAB IDL IDL(p) Field: SI_12km_NH_18H_DSC NCL MATLAB IDL IDL(p) NCL MATLAB IDL IDL(p) Field: SI_12km_SH_36H_DAY AMSR_E_L3_SeaIce25km_V11_20050118.hdf lat_NpPolarGrid25km_AMSR_E_L3_SeaIce25km_V11_20050118.output lon_NpPolarGrid25km_AMSR_E_L3_SeaIce25km_V11_20050118.output NCL MATLAB IDL NCL MATLAB IDL   AMSR_E_L3_WeeklyOcean_V03_20020616.hdf NCL MATLAB IDL NCL MATLAB IDL   AMSR_E_L3_5DaySnow_V09_20050126.hdf lat_AMSR_E_L3_5DaySnow_V09_20050126.Northern_Hemisphere.output lon_AMSR_E_L3_5DaySnow_V09_20050126.Northern_Hemisphere.output NCL(p) MATLAB(p) IDL(p) NCL(p) MATLAB(p) IDL(p) LAMAZ projection MODIS more examples Swath MOD10_L2.A2000065.0040.005.2008235221207.hdf lat_MOD10_L2.A2000065.0040.005.2008235221207.output lon_MOD10_L2.A2000065.0040.005.2008235221207.output NCL(p) MATLAB(p) IDL(p) NCL(p) MATLAB(p) IDL(p)   Grid MOD10A1.A2000065.h00v08.005.2008237034422.hdf lat_MOD10A1.A2000065.h00v08.005.2008237034422.output lon_MOD10A1.A2000065.h00v08.005.2008237034422.output NCL NCL(z) MATLAB MATLAB(z) IDL IDL(z) NCL NCL(z) MATLAB MATLAB(z) IDL IDL(z) Sinusoidal projection NCL plots are displayed in Geographic projection. MOD10C1.A2005018.005.2007349093349.hdf NCL MATLAB IDL NCL MATLAB IDL   MOD29E1D.A2009340.005.2009341094922.hdf lat_MOD29E1D.A2009340.005.2009341094922.MOD_Grid_Seaice_4km_South.output lon_MOD29E1D.A2009340.005.2009341094922.MOD_Grid_Seaice_4km_South.output NCL(p) MATLAB(p) IDL(p) NCL(p) MATLAB(p) IDL(p) LAMAZ projection MOD29E1D.A2000055.005.2006268025009.hdf lat_MOD29E1D.A2000055.005.2006268025009.MOD_Grid_Seaice_4km_North.output lon_MOD29E1D.A2000055.005.2006268025009.MOD_Grid_Seaice_4km_North.output NCL(p) MATLAB(p) IDL(p) NCL(p) MATLAB(p) IDL(p) LAMAZ projection MYD29P1D.A2010133.h09v07.005.2010135182659.hdf lat_MYD29P1D.A2010133.h09v07.005.2010135182659.MOD_Grid_Seaice_1km.output lon_MYD29P1D.A2010133.h09v07.005.2010135182659.MOD_Grid_Seaice_1km.output NCL(p) MATLAB(p) IDL(p) NCL(p) MATLAB(p) IDL(p) LAMAZ projection MYD29P1D.A2010133.h11v05.005.2010135032246.hdf lat_MYD29P1D.A2010133.h11v05.005.2010135032246.MOD_Grid_Seaice_1km.output lon_MYD29P1D.A2010133.h11v05.005.2010135032246.MOD_Grid_Seaice_1km.output NCL(p) MATLAB(p) IDL(p) NCL(p) MATLAB(p) IDL(p) LAMAZ projection MYD29P1D.A2011080.h07v28.005.2011081223614.hdf lat_MYD29P1D.A2011080.h07v28.005.2011081223614.MOD_Grid_Seaice_1km.output lon_MYD29P1D.A2011080.h07v28.005.2011081223614.MOD_Grid_Seaice_1km.output NCL(p) MATLAB(p) IDL(p) NCL(p) MATLAB(p) IDL(p) LAMAZ projection NISE Grid NISE_SSMISF17_20110424.HDFEOS lat_NISE_SSMISF17_20110424.Northern_Hemisphere.output lon_NISE_SSMISF17_20110424.Northern_Hemisphere.output lat_NISE_SSMISF17_20110424.Southern_Hemisphere.output lon_NISE_SSMISF17_20110424.Southern_Hemisphere.output NCL(p) MATLAB(p) IDL(p) NCL(p) MATLAB(p) IDL(p) LAMAZ projection NCL(p) MATLAB(p) IDL(p) NCL(p) MATLAB(p) IDL(p) LAMAZ projection 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