Data compression for data archival, browse or quick-look

Soon after space and Earth science data is collected, it is stored in one or more archival facilities for later retrieval and analysis. Since the purpose of the archival process is to keep an accurate and complete record of data, any data compression used in an archival system must be lossless, and protect against propagation of error in the storage media. A browse capability for space and Earth science data is needed to enable scientists to check the appropriateness and quality of particular data sets before obtaining the full data set(s) for detailed analysis. Browse data produced for these purposes could be used to facilitate the retrieval of data from an archival facility. Quick-look data is data obtained directly from the sensor for either previewing the data or for an application that requires very timely analysis of the space or Earth science data. Two main differences between data compression techniques appropriate to browse and quick-look cases, are that quick-look can be more specifically tailored, and it must be limited in complexity by the relatively limited computational power available on space platforms.