1. DAAC Data Investigation: Harmful Algal Blooms Scenario (Walker, Duguay, Shuman)
Data Sets Required:
Near Real Time: SST (current/anomaly), Wind speed and vectors, Chlorophyll-A concentration (current/anomaly)
Assumptions re: searching for available data sets:
Near real-time requirement  daily products (day/night)
Without knowledge of HAB’s or the semi empirical predictor algorithm, we do not know if one of the variables is the most critical for prediction
Assume that the manager is looking to PO.DAAC as his main source of data
Note: PO.DAAC appears down the list (number 6-8) when a Google search of near real time wind and SST data availability is performed. A user would have to go through the other sites (e.g. Rutgers Ocean Coastal Lab, APL Ocean Remote Sensing) before getting to PO.DAAC.
Comments on JPL PO.DAAC site:
The available data sets are listed up front and a user can easily see that the DAAC has wind and SST data sets. But…there are so many different data products to choose from! A new user would have to go through each listing and read the data set guide (if available) in order to determine which one meets the requirements.
When the Data Set Guide link is clicked for GOES L3 6km Near Real-Time SST NOAA/NESDIS (Product 190) – the response is “Page cannot be displayed”.

2. It would be useful to have an information page for each parameter (SST, Ocean winds) that summarized the available data sets, their accuracy and comparative information for when there is more than one satellite-derived data set available.
e.g., a table comparing the accuracy of SST’s from GOES, AVHRR, MODIS, etc. would be useful
If a user requires near real-time data products, there should be a link directly to access those products
Under the “Tools and Services” pull-down menu there is a Near-Real-Time Image Distribution Server where you can see examples of recent images. Is that where the user should go to access the data? When I accessed this site there was an option to view recent satellite-derived images of SST anomalies but the default choice was AVHRR on NOAA-16. The resulting images were from 2006 – I would not consider that near real-time. The second choice is NOAA-17, which produced up-to-date images.
POET is useful for an initial look at the SST and Wind products and for subsetting. Would then have to FTP the data for further processing and integration with the chlorophyll data sets.
e.g., the SST gradient would have to be derived using a spatial operator
Chlorophyll-A concentration data sets are not available from PO.DAAC site. The user would have to go to NASA’s Ocean Color Products site ( for near real-time data products (MODIS, SeaWifs).
There is a link to this site from PO.DAAC but it is buried under a pulldown menu “NASA Data Providers” under “Related Sites”. It might be useful to have links to other sites with physical oceanography data sets highlighted by topic so that a user can easily be directed to the appropriate location for the data they need.
It is not known if the NASA chlorophyll data products are in the same projection/format as the SST and wind products from PO.DAAC.
Under the “Special Topics” section of the PO.DAAC site there is a listing for SCCOOS. This provides a link to a near real time Southern California Ocean Observing System. This site provides access to current ocean data products that would be required for a HAB prediction system focussed on this region. A user coming into the PO.DAAC site would not realize this unless they clicked on SCCOOS out of curiosity. It might be useful to spell out the acronym on that link on the PO.DAAC homepage.

3. Miscellaneous comments:
The format of some of the PO.DAAC webpages (e.g. NEREIDS) includes a black bar with options for other PO.DAAC pages to access. The text is in a blue color that is difficult to see.