Use case analysis for handling data cubes in VO

[Elizabeth Auden]

Hi,

>> TIME SERIES
>> 
>> The draft appeals for more exampls of data, especially multi-dimensional 
>> time-series data, which is why this is copied to people who are experts in 
>> this.  I understand that one problem so far is the lack, in practical use, 
>> of standardised time formats or tools to convert between formats.  I can't 
>> believ that it is any more difficult than providing tools for converting 
>> between the various bizarre celestial coordinates, just that no-one has 
>> done it yet.

Ian McCrea from RAL brought up an interesting point at an AstroGrid solar 
/ STP meeting yesterday; in some STP time series, the time intervals 
within a single time series might not all be the same length. (For 
example, point 0 at 0 seconds, point 1 at 10 seconds, point 2 at 47 
seconds, etc). There's potentially a case for the same thing with SDO data 
in 3 years' time  as one of the instruments can optionally take data at 
half cadence (but only half the CCD pixels are read), or observers can 
choose 8 out of 10 channels in any one observation cycle. Either case 
would lead to weird time series data for a specific channel on this SDO 
instrument.

Tricky!

Elizabeth

-- 
Elizabeth Auden, MSSL
Holmbury St. Mary, Dorking RH5 6NT
Tel: +44 (0)1483 204 276
eSDO Technical Lead, AstroGrid Developer