Aquarius Ground System
The figure below illustrates alll the interfaces and information/data flows of the Aquarius Ground System. Building upon the operational NASA Ocean Data Processing System which supports the current missions, SeaWiFS, MODIS/Aqua, MODIS/Terra and MERIS, the past missions CZCS and OCTS and future missions VIIRS/NPP, the system as it is configured for Aquarius consists of the Aquarius Command and Control System (ACCS) and the Aquarius Data Processing System (ADPS) highlighted in blue in the figure below.
Figure 1 Aquarius Ground System and Interfaces
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The commanding arm of the Aquarius Ground Segment, the ACCS, interfaces with the existing GSFC Oceans Data System that processes science data for several operational ocean-viewing projects. The ACCS provides Aquarius instrument command planning via the CONAE-provided Command Scheduler and scripting tools. The ACCS also performs Aquarius instrument monitoring via the CONAE-provided Telemetry Viewer and associated graphing tools. Aquarius commands are scheduled separately by the ACCS in accordance with science requests and with ground station contact times provided by CONAE. The ACCS generated commands are then merged into the Observatory command pass plan by the Command Schedulers at the CONAE MOC.
The data collection, processing, analysis and distribution arm of the Aquarius Ground Segment, the ADPS, retrieves Aquarius science data files and SAC-D housekeeping telemetry files captured from the Observatory via the Data Archive and Distribution System at the CONAE MOC.The ADPS then processes them to Level 3 science data products. The ADPS also archives and distributes files and products to both the JPL PO.DAAC and science users, including the Aquarius Science Team.
The third segment of the Aquarius Ground System is the JPL PO.DAAC which archives level 1, 2, and 3 Aquarius data and also distributes them to the scientific user community. The PO.DAAC is an existing in-house JPL facility.
