MPLNET Web Services

The MPLNET project provides the following web services for application programming interfaces (API):

Download: download MPLNET data products

Plot: plot MPLNET data

Metadata: download MPLNET site metadata

Click on a web service to learn more.

Plot Web Service

The plot web service provides an API for dynamic plotting of MPLNET data. This capability circumvents our website framework and returns only the plot image requested. Thus use of this web service requires that the returned image must be embedded in a link back to our MPLNET data page as shown below.

The plot web service end point is:
https://mplnet.gsfc.nasa.gov/plot/ws?

The primary plot parameters are site, time, and product:

site=value: value is the MPLNET site name.
time=min,max: Format YYYYMMDD, or YYYYMMDDHHMMSS to specify times. If no end time plots full day UTC.
product=V_L_P-var: Where V is the Version (V2 or V3), L is the level (L1, L15, or L2), P is the product and V is the variable as shown in the table below. The table also shows the related plot controls available as additional name=value parameters.

Product	Variable	Plot Controls	Notes
NRB	nrb	altitude=min,max range=min,max log=boolean	Altitudes are in km Enter min/max NRB signal, or exclude for default range. Include &log if log plot desired
	vol_depol_ratio	altitude=min,max range=min,max log=boolean	Altitudes are in km Enter min/max depol_ratio (%), or exclude for default range. Include &log if log plot desired
	energy	energy-bounds=min,max energy-log=boolean	Enter min/max energy (uJ), or exclude for default range. Include &energy-log if log plot desired
	temp_box	temp-bounds=min,max temp-log=boolean	Enter min/max temperature (C), or exclude for default range. Include &temp-log if log plot desired
	temp_detector	temp-bounds=min,max temp-log=boolean	Enter min/max temperature (C), or exclude for default range. Include &temp-log if log plot desired
	temp_laser	temp-bounds=min,max temp-log=boolean	Enter min/max temperature (C), or exclude for default range. Include &temp-log if log plot desired
	bg	frequency-bounds=min,max frequency-log=boolean	Enter min/max solar background (Hz), or exclude for default range. Include &bg-log if log plot desired
CLD	cloud_mask	altitude=min,max	Altitudes are in km
CLD	cloud_phase	altitude=min,max	Altitudes are in km
AER	aerosol_backscatter	altitude=min,max range=min,max log=boolean	Altitudes are in km Enter min/max backscatter (km sr)-1, or exclude for default range. Include &log if log plot desired
	aerosol_extinction	altitude=min,max range=min,max log=boolean	Altitudes are in km Enter min/max extinction (km)-1, or exclude for default range. Include &log if log plot desired
	AOD	aod-bounds=min,max aod-log=boolean	Enter min/max AOD, or exclude for default range. Include &aod-log if log plot desired
	angstrom_exponent	angstrom_exponent-bounds=min,max	Enter min/max angstrom exponent, or exclude for default range.
	lidar_ratio	lidar_ratio-bounds=min,max	Enter min/max lidar ratio (sr), or exclude for default range.
	cal	cal-bounds=min,max cal-log=boolean	Enter min/max lidar calibration value, or exclude for default range. Include &cal-log if log plot desired
PBL	mixed_layer_top	altitude=min,max	Altitudes are in km

Examples of plotting are shown below for Version 3, Level 1 products and variables:

Plot single day of data.

Plot the NRB signal at GSFC on March 10, 2018:
https://mplnet.gsfc.nasa.gov/plot/ws?product=V3_L1_NRB-nrb&site=GSFC&time=20180310

Plot the NRB laser energy at GSFC on March 10, 2018:
https://mplnet.gsfc.nasa.gov/plot/ws?product=V3_L1_NRB-energy&site=GSFC&time=20180310

Multiple product/variables can be displayed on each plot. Include multiple product=value pairs to plot multiple variables.

Plot the NRB signal and laser energy at GSFC on March 10, 2018:
https://mplnet.gsfc.nasa.gov/plot/ws?product=V3_L1_NRB-nrb&product=V3_L1_NRB-energy&site=GSFC&time=20180310

Plot the NRB signal and solar background at GSFC on March 10, 2018. Specify background from 1 to 1e6 Hz and log scale:
https://mplnet.gsfc.nasa.gov/plot/ws?product=V3_L1_NRB-nrb&product=V3_L1_NRB-bg&site=GSFC&time=20180310&frequency-bounds=1,1e6&frequency-log

Plot multiple days of data (max 30)

Plot the NRB signal at GSFC from March 10 - 11, 2018:
https://mplnet.gsfc.nasa.gov/plot/ws?product=V3_L1_NRB-nrb&site=GSFC&time=20180310,20180311

Plot the NRB signal at GSFC from March 10 at 15:35 UTC to March 11 at 08:37 UTC in 2018:
https://mplnet.gsfc.nasa.gov/plot/ws?product=V3_L1_NRB-nrb&site=GSFC&time=201803101535,201803110837

Plot multiple variables from different products.
If overlaying aerosol, clouds, and mixed layer height then order products in URL from base layer to top layer.

Plot aerosol backscatter, cloud phase, and mixed layer height on March 10, 2018. Specify aerosol backscatter from 1e-5 to 1 (km sr)-1 and log scale:
https://mplnet.gsfc.nasa.gov/plot/ws?product=V3_L1_AER-aerosol_backscatter&product=V3_L1_CLD-cloud_phase&product=V3_L1_PBL-mixed_layer_top&site=GSFC&time=20180310&range=1e-5,1&log

Plot same as above but overlay AOD (from 0 to 0.3) and plot from March 10 - 11, 2018:
https://mplnet.gsfc.nasa.gov/plot/ws?product=V3_L1_AER-aerosol_backscatter&product=V3_L1_CLD-cloud_phase&product=V3_L1_PBL-mixed_layer_top&site=GSFC&time=20180310,20180311&range=1e-5,1&log&product=V3_L1_AER-aod&aod-bounds=0,0.3

We require use of this plot API on external websites to link the image back to the MPLNET website to maintain integrity of our data base and link to our data policy. Example is shown below.

Use Plot API to embed image for MPLNET NRB Signal at GSFC on March 10, 2018, and link image to MPLNET:

Here is the HTML code to link image back to MPLNET for the example above:
<a href="https://mplnet.gsfc.nasa.gov/data?s=GSFC&t=20180310"><img src="https://mplnet.gsfc.nasa.gov/plot/ws?product=V3_L1_NRB-nrb&site=GSFC&time=20180310"></a>