Feasibility Study of a Quadrilateralized Spherical Cube Earth Data Base.

Abstract : This report describes the results of research into the feasibility of storing satellite meteorological data in a high-resolution, equal-area, computer-accessible data base. Equal area elements are stored in square arrays representing the faces of a cube inscribed within the Earth. The required area-preserving transformation is presented along with its inverse. A unique array-mapping scheme is presented, which preserves near-neighbor relations and allows rapid index computation. The implementation of this data base on rotational storage devices is discussed, and calculated execution times are presented.