Glossary of Terms
Reference the Earth Observation Data Basics Glossary to better understand terms related to the data provided by our program.
| Description | Source | |
|---|---|---|
| Validation | The process of assessing, by independent means, the quality of the data products derived from the system outputs. |
Definition from EO Data Stewardship Glossary |
| Validation Stage | See: Data Maturity Levels |
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| Variable | See: Parameter |
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| Version/Release Number (also Collection) | Collection means the same thing as version; however, the MODIS science team uses the term Collection such as in MODIS Collection 5, but NSIDC uses Version as in MODIS Version 5. Also, Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) refers to a release such as Release 33, which is also the same as version or collection. Thus, all three terms mean the same thing depending on which product you are using. |
Example:NSIDC MODIS/Terra Snow Cover 5-min L2 Swath 500m, Version 5 |
| Visualization | Visualization—sometimes called scientific visualization—provides a window into reams of observational and simulation data by creating graphical representations that communicate to researchers and public alike. Just as a picture is worth a thousand words, visualizations are worth billions of bytes, both elucidating and simplifying big data. |
Definition from NCCS |