Product Specific Attributes (PSAs)

The NASA Earth Observing System collects over 2500 datasets using a variety of platforms (many time satellites), instruments, and sensors that can have very specific characteristics that need to be recorded in the metadata. The EOS Metadata Model supports this diversity using a very general concept of "characteristics" which are described using the attributes Name, Description, DataType, Unit, and Value. Any number of these characteristics can be associated with platforms, instruments, or sensors in a metadata record

For example, a ScanAngle characteristic of the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-EOS instrument is defined as:

<Characteristic>
  <Name/>
  <Description/>
  <DataType/>
  <Unit/>
  <Value/>
</Characteristic>

In addition to these characteristics, the NASA Metadata Model supports a more general concept of Product Specific Attributes (PSA). These are important metadata items that do not fit into a specific place in the model. The XML for the PSAs is a superset of the characteristic XML:

<AdditionalAttribute>
  <Name/>
  <DataType/>
  <Description/>
  <MeasurementResolution/>
  <ParameterRangeBegin/>
  <ParameterRangeEnd/>
  <ParameterUnitsOfMeasure/>
  <ParameterValueAccuracy/>
  <ValueAccuracyExplanation/>
  <Value/>
</AdditionalAttribute>

• Attribute Type Code Samples
• Attribute Type/Attribute
• Record Type/Record