EIT and SolarSoftware Installation Guide

 

EIT data are stored in FITS files. The EIT analysis sofware is written in the Interactive Data Language (IDL). The EIT software make extensive use of the SolarSoftware (SSW) package. Moslty written in IDL, SSW provides a set of sofware libraries, databases, and system utilities which provide a common programming and data analysis environment for Solar Physics.

The EIT calibration software requires IDL and SSW. Implementation for another platform is not schedulded. Manipulating EIT data is extremely difficult without IDL and SSW, because in addition to a large number of data routines, a lot of information is stored on-line as well, such as flat-fields and calibration information.

Installation of the EIT SolarSoft tree at your site

From now on, we will assume that you have IDL running on your machine. If needed, you should follow the SSW installation guide to install a new or upgrade an existing SSW installation. Make sure that you include the EIT software set in your packages selection. The EIT software installation page has been designed so that it is easy and quick to use: you should have a functional software tree if you complete each of the steps.

Installing the EIT SSW database at your site

From now on, the calibration sofware will relie upon a database of calibration lamps images stored as FITS files. You must have this database installed locally and up to date if you want the EIT calibration sofware to work properly. The database is typically updated after each EIT CCD bake-out (roughly every two months). When following the installation instructions, make sure that you include the EIT Flat Field Calibration Files (in the soho/eit/calibrate directory) and the EIT Mission Level-Zero Catalog (in the soho/eit/lz_catalog directory)

Keeping your installation up to date

Regular upgrades or addition are made to the SSW tree. The EIT calibration software and database are updated regularly (roughly every two months). Some routines also need regular updates. If you are not sure your SSW installation is up to date, please follow the upgrade instructions.

If your installation is pretty recent, you may not need to go through the full upgrade process. It may be enough to only download the few routines that get updated frequently (about every month) and the most recent calibration lamps. Please go to this page to check if you have the latest versions and see how to install them.

Troubleshooting

If you are experiencing difficulty running the software tree, you should check to ensure your environment variables are set properly, and that the IDL startup procedure is properly including the SSW tree. Check the system environment and IDL setup section of the SSW guide.

If after carefully follwing the installation steps you still have problems running the EIT software, please e-mail to Frédéric Auchère or Jeff Newmark.

 

Web curator: Frédéric Auchère
Responsible NASA official: Joseph B. Gurman, Facility Scientist, Solar Data Analysis Center
joseph.b.gurman@gsfc.nasa.gov
+1 301 286-4767
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Solar Physics Branch / Code 682

Last revised: Tuesday, December 25, 2001 2:25 PM - F. Auchère