Evaluation of the NSSDC (National Space Science Data Center) Common Data Format

摘要

The National Space Science Data Center has developed a data format system called the Common Data Format (CDF) which is designed to be useful to many different disciplines and flexible enough to accommodate many different types of data sets. The Air Force Geophysics Laboratory, Space Plasmas and Fields Branch has evaluated this format (VAX/MMS Fortran Version 1.0) comparing it to another common format system currently in use, the Flat Data Base Management System (FLATDBMS), and with Fortran direct access files with various record structures. The storage space required by the two packages is comparable to that of the Fortran direct access files and not greatly in excess of that required by the data itself. Of the two packages, CDF is more flexible and is adaptable to a broader range of data sets. However, data retrieval is faster using the FlatDBMS. Keywords: Common data format; Flatfiles; NSSDC; Storage and timing comparisons. (JES)