HELIO Services   

Heliophysics Event Catalogue (HEC)

The Heliophysics Event Catalogue contains a variety of event lists produced by a number of different organisations. The lists represent observations of events caused by different types of phenomena including flares, coronal mass ejections and other disturbances in the solar wind, effects on the Earth's environment, etc.

To use the HEC, select a time range of interest and the desired event list(s) and then press "Search". The results can be viewed as a Web page or downloaded as a VOTable or text file.

Because the HEC now contains more than 60 event lists, it can sometimes be difficult to identify which are relevant to a particular science use case; we have therefore provided the ability to select lists that could be of interest.

To view all the lists, click the "Show all catalogues" check box; if you wish to view lists that are related to flares, click the "Flare" check box or to view lists that are related to CMEs, click the "CME" check box, etc. The type of observation (in-situ or remote) can be selected as well as the region where the observations were made; it is also possible to search for strings in the Catalogue Description field in order to select a subset of the lists.

The source of a list can be examined by following the "URL"; the "Info" button provides information about the purpose of the list and the list parameters.

We are always interested in adding more event lists to the HEC. If you know of other interesting lists please let us know.


Heliophysics Feature Catalogue (HFC)

The Heliophysics Feature Catalogue holds information derived by using feature recognition codes on images, etc. at various wavelengths. The features currently included in the catalogue are sunspots, active regions, filaments and coronal holes identified in solar images and type II and III radio bursts detected in time/frequency plots.

The HFC contains three different types/levels of information:

  1. Level I data includes the information derived from the image processing routines describing the location and outline of features.
  2. To produce the level II data, features detected in the level I data are tracked and the catalogue can be used to determine if a feature seen in one image is the same as the feature seen in subsequent image.
  3. The level III catalogue is derived from the level II data and shows where things have happened. For example, if a segment of filament disappears or a group of sunspots emerges. This catalogue is more analogous to an event catalogue and some of the data in the level III data is similar to lists in the HEC.

To use the HFC, select a time range of interest and the desired feature list and then press "Submit".

The HFC catalogue and interface are still under development. Currently only level I data are available; the exact contents of the level III catalogue are still being defined.


Context Service (CXS)

The Context Service is used to generate different types of plots that are used by the HELIO Front End (HFE) to assist the user. Currently the CXS generates plots of GOES light-curves and solar images over-plotted with the location of flares; the plots are generated on demand.

To use the CXS select the time range of interest and the type of plot required and then press "Send Request". The image should appear on the page after a few seconds.

Needs references to and explnations about the UWS/CEA:

Questions: Would you like to see other types of context information produced by the CXS? If so, please let us know.

This interface is under development. We are examining ways of speeding up the generation of the plots.


Data Evaluation Service (DES)

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Instrument Capabilities Service (ICS)

The Instrument Capabilities Service describes the types of observations that can be made by more than 250 instruments; it also holds information about the characteristics of the associated observatories.

To use the ICS, select the time range of interest and one or more parameters that help define the type of observations that you are interested in and then press "Search". The results can be viewed as a Web page or downloaded as a VOTable or text file.

The items that are checked act as constraints: if non are checked then all instruments operating in the defined time interval are selected; as items are checked the number that satisfy the constraints is modified. Items within a block are ORed together; the blocks are then ANDed together.

Note that the ICS describes all instruments that could be included in HELIO; not all will necessarily be available through the project.

Questions: Does the ICS produce the information that you expect? Are there instruments that should be added? Do you see any errors in the Service? If there are any problems, please let us know.


Instrument Location Service (ILS)

The Instrument Location Service contains details of the locations of all main planetary objects in the solar system and of spacecraft that have travelled on a complex trajectory. The information is provided with a cadence of one value per day.

The ILS also contains a table of the dates of Key Events in the life of several spacecraft including launch, planetary flybys and insertion into orbit around the target object.

To use the ILS, select the time range of interest and the object (or objects) of interest and then press "Search". The results can be viewed as a Web page or downloaded as a VOTable or text file.

Questions: Does the ILS produce the information that you expect? Do you see any errors in the Service? If there are any problems, please let us know.


Unified Observing Catalogue (UOC)

The Unified Observing Catalogue is used in two different ways and the types of information associated with these are quite different:
  1. For (remote-sensing) instruments that observe the Sun with restricted fields-of-view, the UOC contains information about the observations and make it possible to filter data requests based on whether the instrument was observing the required target.
  2. Where there are problems accessing the observations from some instruments &ndash either because not all of them are on-line or because of complexities in the archive interface – the UOC contains the details of what is available and the URLs that should be used to access the data.

Entries in the UOC in the first category are used as part of the search process. Those in the second category are used by the DPAS in order to support access to certain instruments – that the DPAS should use the UOC is specified in the Provider Access Table (PAT).

To access the UOC select the time range of interest and the required instrument and then press "Send Request". The results can be viewed as a Web page or downloaded as a VOTable or text file.

Questions: For the pointed solar instruments, does the UOC contain the required information? If there are any problems, please let us know.

This interface is still under development.


Data Provider Access Service (DPAS)

The Data Provider Access Service provides integrated access to observations from a number of data archives and observatories. To date the DPAS supports access to more than 150 instruments from more than 40 observatories.

The DPAS is intended to isolate the user from the foibles of the providers and supports many access protocols, including http, ftp, Web Services, etc.

To use the DPAS select the time range of interest and one of more instruments and then press "Search". The results can be viewed as a Web-based table or viewed or downloaded as a VOTable file.

Questions: Is the DPAS working in the way that you expect? Does the list of instruments that it finds for the time interval you selected meet your expectations? If there are any problems, please let us know.