Emails between Joe H & Dan Wilkinson: 


> > > It does look as if the 'WAVELNTH' field doesn't quite match up
> > > with the mapping that I had before between 'filters' and wavelengths
> > > from the database:
> > >
> > >             filters => {
> > >                 P_THN_A => { wavemin => 6, wavemax => 65, waveunit => 'Angstrom' }, # 01
> > >                 UV      => { wavemin => 6, wavemax => 80, waveunit => 'Angstrom' }, # 02
> > >                 P_THN_B => { wavemin => 6, wavemax => 65, waveunit => 'Angstrom' }, # 03
> > >                 P_MED_B => { wavemin => 6, wavemax => 60, waveunit => 'Angstrom' }, # 04
> > >                 B_THN_B => { wavemin => 6, wavemax => 20, waveunit => 'Angstrom' }, # 05
> > >                 B_MED   => { wavemin => 6, wavemax => 16, waveunit => 'Angstrom' }, # 06
> > >                 B_THK   => { wavemin => 6, wavemax => 12, waveunit => 'Angstrom' }, # 07
> > >                 RDSH    => { wavemin => 0, wavemax =>  0, waveunit => 'Angstrom' }, # 08
> > >                 OPEN    => { wavemin => 6, wavemax => 80, waveunit => 'Angstrom' }, # 09
> > >                 B_THN_A => { wavemin => 6, wavemax => 20, waveunit => 'Angstrom' }, # 10
> > >                 P_THK   => { wavemin => 6, wavemax => 50, waveunit => 'Angstrom' }, # 11
> > >                 P_MED_A => { wavemin => 6, wavemax => 60, waveunit => 'Angstrom' }, # 12
> > >             },
> > >
> > > It looks like some have equivalents (eg, 'P_THN_A' is now 'PTHNa'), but
> > > I could use some help decoding the others.  Here are my best guesses:
> > >
> > >   AL12    ? UV ?
> > >   BE12a   ? B_THN_A ?
> > >   BE12b   ? B_THN_B ?
> > >   BE25    ? B_MED ?
> > >   BE50    ? B_THK ?
> > >   GLASS   ? OPEN ?
> > >   PTHK      P_THK
> > >   PTHNa     P_THN_B
> > >   SNBE50  ? RDSH ?
> > >   TINa    ? P_MED_A ?
> > >   TINb    ? P_MED_B ?
> > >
> > > (and I don't see any T_THN_B, but I'd assume that would be 'PTHNb')
> > >
> > > Also, if you had information on IMG_CODE, in case those had anything
> > > that scientists might want to select or filter on, that would be
> > > useful as well:
> > >
> > >   AR
> > >   CS
> > >   FL
> > >   TS
> > >
> > > Thank you both for doing this,


> > The GOES-12 SXI was built at Marshall SFC and is quite a different animal from the GOES-13 -14 and -15 SXI built by
> > Lockheed Martin.
> > I recommend reading the SXI section in the respective GOES Data Books:
> > GOES-M SXI:   http://sxi.ngdc.noaa.gov/images/section06.pdf
> > GOES-NOP SXI: http://sxi.ngdc.noaa.gov/docs/GOES_N_Series_Databook_rev-D_ch6_SXI.pdf


> Yay, documentation!
>
> I see in "Table 6-5. Analysis Filter Summary" of the NOP document that
> the names used there more obviously correspond to the values in your
> text file, but they don't exactly match.
>
> Do you care which one I use when I generate the human-readable label
> for the images?
>
>       (eg, 'Thin Poly' vs. 'PTHNa' or 'P_THN_A')
>
>
> > Both series use IMG_CODE which may be a kind of rosetta stone for comparing the intent of the disparate filters and
> > exposure.
> > AR = Active Region
> > CS= Coronal Structure
> > FL=Flare
> > TS=Test
>
> Is it safe to assume that the 'Test' images are for calibration,
> and not generally useful for science?
>
> If so, I can set it up so that they won't be returned by standard
> VSO searches.  I can either ignore them completely, or set it up
> so that a flag from the IDL client will allow retrieval of them.

Joe,
Since you are one of those rare ones that actually read documentation, this page contains the sparse but useful words from
SWPC on the SXI data.
http://sxi.ngdc.noaa.gov/sxi_data_notes.html

I think you would be safe to use PTHNa since I see that SWPC uses that in their filter combos table on the above page.

Yes, test images are specifically flagged so that they will not be used for Noble Prize qualifying research.

SWPC marked them with TST for GOES-12 and TS in later data, the Browse servlet will show what they look like if anyone is
interested.
http://sxi.ngdc.noaa.gov/sxi/servlet/sxibrowse

Dan