The Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) is a key core capability in
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
’s Earth Science Data Systems Program. Designed and maintained by
Raytheon Intelligence & Space
Raytheon Intelligence & Space (RIS) is one of the four business segments of U.S. defense and aerospace conglomerate Raytheon Technologies. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, RIS has a total employment of 39,000 and 2019 sales of US$15 billion ...
, it is a comprehensive data and information system designed to perform a wide variety of functions in support of a heterogeneous national and international user community.
EOSDIS provides a spectrum of services; some services are intended for a diverse group of casual users while others are intended only for a select cadre of research scientists chosen by NASA's peer-reviewed competitions, and then many fall somewhere in between. The primary services provided by EOSDIS are User Support, Data Archive, Management and Distribution, Information Management, and Product Generation, all of which are managed by th
Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS) Project
EOSDIS ingests, processes, archives, and distributes data from a large number of
Earth-observing satellites, and provides end-to-end capabilities for managing NASA's
Earth science
Earth science or geoscience includes all fields of natural science related to the planet Earth. This is a branch of science dealing with the physical, chemical, and biological complex constitutions and synergistic linkages of Earth's four spheres ...
data from various sources – satellites, aircraft, field measurements, and various other programs. For th
Earth Observing System (EOS) satellite missions EOSDIS provides capabilities for
command and control
Command and control (abbr. C2) is a "set of organizational and technical attributes and processes ... hatemploys human, physical, and information resources to solve problems and accomplish missions" to achieve the goals of an organization or en ...
, scheduling, data capture and initial (Level 0) processing.
These capabilities, constituting the EOSDIS Mission Operations, are managed by th
Earth Science Mission Operations (ESMO) Project NASA network capabilities transport the data to the science operations facilities. EOSDIS consists of a set of processing facilities an
Distributed Active Archive Centersdistributed across the United States. These processing facilities and DAACs serve hundreds of thousands of users around the world, providing hundreds of millions of data files each year covering many Earth science disciplines. The EOSDIS project as of September 2012 reported it contained approximately 10 PB of data in its database with ingestion of approximately 8.5 TB daily.
The remaining capabilities of EOSDIS constitute the EOSDIS Science Operations, which are managed by the Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS) Project. These capabilities include: generation of higher level (Level 1-4) science data products for EOS missions; archiving and distribution of data products from EOS and other satellite missions, as well as aircraft and field measurement campaigns. The EOSDIS science operations are performed within a distributed system of many interconnected nodes
Science Investigator-led Processing Systemsand distributed
discipline-specific Earth scienc
Distributed Active Archive Centers with specific responsibilities for production, archiving, and distribution o
Earth science data products Th
Distributed Active Archive Centersserve a large and diverse user community (as indicated by EOSDIS performance metrics) by providing capabilities to search and access science data products and specialized services.
History
From early 1980 through 1986, NASA supported pilot data system studies to assess the feasibility and development of publicly accessible electronic data systems. Part of the congressional approval of the EOS mission in 1990 included the NASA Earth Science Enterprise, which supported the development of a long-term data and information system (EOSDIS). This system would be accessible to both the science research community and the broader public, built on a distributed open architecture. With these functional requirements for space operations control and product generation for EOS, the EOSDIS would also be responsible for the data archival, management, and distribution of all NASA Earth science mission instrument data during the mission life.
Methods of Search
Distributed Active Archive Centers
EOSDIS Distributed Active Archive Centers are custodians of EOS data, provide long-term storage and preservation of the data, and ensure that data can be easily accessed by users. Each center is distinguished from one another by their specific Earth system scienc
discipline In addition to the search-and-order capabilities provided by the Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) and the Common Metadata Repository (or CMR, which has replaced the former EOS Clearinghouse, or ECHO), th
Distributed Active Archive Centershave individual online systems that allow them to provide unique services for users of a particular type of data. The center-specific systems emphasize data products, services, and data-handling tools unique to the DAAC.
DAAC-specific search tools
GCMD - Dataset Directory
The
Global Change Master Directory {{Notability, date=May 2022
The Global Change Master Directory holds more than 28,000 data set descriptions, known as DIFs (Directory Interchange Format). This format is compatible with the Federal Geographic Data Committee's (FGDC) standard and th ...
(GCMD) is a directory for Earth science data and services. The GCMD database currently has more than 30,000 Earth science data sets and service descriptions covering all aspects of Earth and environmental sciences. One can use the search box or select from the available keywords to search for data and services.
ECHO - Application Program Interfaces (APIs) for Search and Order
Global Change Master Directory
The Common Metadata Repository (CMR)
Formerly known as the EOS ClearingHouse (ECHO), CMR is a
metadata
Metadata is "data that provides information about other data", but not the content of the data, such as the text of a message or the image itself. There are many distinct types of metadata, including:
* Descriptive metadata – the descriptive ...
catalog of NASA's EOS data and a registry for related data services (e.g. reformatting,
pattern recognition
Pattern recognition is the automated recognition of patterns and regularities in data. It has applications in statistical data analysis, signal processing, image analysis, information retrieval, bioinformatics, data compression, computer graphi ...
). CMR's catalog contains more than 3200 data sets held at 12 EOSDIS DAACs. Users can access the data and services by using general or community-tailored clients that access CMR using a series o
Application Program Interfaces(APIs) defined using web services.
Earthdata Search
Earthdata Search replaced Reverb as EOSDIS's web-based client for discovering and ordering cross-discipline data from all of CMR's metadata holdings in January 2018. Earthdata Search allows users, including those without specific knowledge of the data, to search science data holdings, retrieve high-level descriptions of data sets and detailed descriptions of the data inventory, view browse images, and submit orders via CMR to the appropriate data providers.
* Cross-DAAC searches throug
Earthdata Search– use th
Common Metadata Repository (CMR)
Distributed Active Archive Centers
A Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) is a part of EOSDIS. DAACs process, archive, document, and distribute data from NASA's past and current
Earth Observing System
The Earth Observing System (EOS) is a program of NASA comprising a series of artificial satellite missions and scientific instruments in Earth orbit designed for long-term global observations of the land surface, biosphere, atmosphere, and oceans ...
(EOS) satellites and field measurement programs. Each of the twelve DAACs serves one or more specific Earth science disciplines and provides its user community with data products, data information, user services, and tools unique to its particular science.
The following is a list of DAACs and data specializations:
*
Alaska Satellite Facility (ASF) DAAC:
Synthetic Aperture Radar
Synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) is a form of radar that is used to create two-dimensional images or three-dimensional reconstructions of objects, such as landscapes. SAR uses the motion of the radar antenna over a target region to provide fine ...
(SAR) data,
sea ice
Sea ice arises as seawater freezes. Because ice is less dense than water, it floats on the ocean's surface (as does fresh water ice, which has an even lower density). Sea ice covers about 7% of the Earth's surface and about 12% of the world's oce ...
,
polar
Polar may refer to:
Geography
Polar may refer to:
* Geographical pole, either of two fixed points on the surface of a rotating body or planet, at 90 degrees from the equator, based on the axis around which a body rotates
* Polar climate, the c ...
processes,
geophysics
Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and physical properties of the Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. The term ''geophysics'' som ...
.
Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) radiation budget
Earth's energy budget accounts for the balance between the energy that Earth receives from the Sun and the energy the Earth loses back into outer space. Smaller energy sources, such as Earth's internal heat, are taken into consideration, but m ...
,
clouds
In meteorology, a cloud is an aerosol consisting of a visible mass of miniature liquid droplets, frozen crystals, or other particles suspended in the atmosphere of a planetary body or similar space. Water or various other chemicals may com ...
,
aerosols
An aerosol is a suspension of fine solid particles or liquid droplets in air or another gas. Aerosols can be natural or anthropogenic. Examples of natural aerosols are fog or mist, dust, forest exudates, and geyser steam. Examples of anthrop ...
,
tropospheric
The troposphere is the first and lowest layer of the atmosphere of the Earth, and contains 75% of the total mass of the planetary atmosphere, 99% of the total mass of water vapour and aerosols, and is where most weather phenomena occur. From ...
chemistry.
Crustal Dynamics Data Information System (CDDIS) satellite geodesy
Satellite geodesy is geodesy by means of artificial satellites—the measurement of the form and dimensions of Earth, the location of objects on its surface and the figure of the Earth's gravity field by means of artificial satellite techniques. ...
.
Global Hydrometeorology Resource Center (GHRC) DAAC severe weather
Severe weather is any dangerous meteorological phenomenon with the potential to cause damage, serious social disruption, or loss of human life. Types of severe weather phenomena vary, depending on the latitude, altitude, topography, and atm ...
interactions,
lightning
Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electric charge, electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the land, ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous ...
,
atmospheric convection
Atmospheric convection is the result of a parcel-environment instability, or temperature difference layer in the atmosphere. Different lapse rates within dry and moist air masses lead to instability. Mixing of air during the day which expands the ...
.
Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) global
precipitation
In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...
,
solar irradiance
Solar irradiance is the power per unit area (surface power density) received from the Sun in the form of electromagnetic radiation in the wavelength range of the measuring instrument.
Solar irradiance is measured in watts per square metre (W/ ...
,
atmospheric composition,
atmospheric dynamics
Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not ...
,
global modeling
Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003
* ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007
* ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989
* ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015
* Bruno ...
.
Land Processes DAAC (LP DAAC) surface reflectivity
The reflectance of the surface of a material is its effectiveness in reflecting radiant energy. It is the fraction of incident electromagnetic power that is reflected at the boundary. Reflectance is a component of the response of the electronic ...
,
land cover
Land cover is the physical material at the surface of Earth. Land covers include grass, asphalt, trees, bare ground, water, etc. Earth cover is the expression used by ecologist Frederick Edward Clements that has its closest modern equivalent being ...
,
vegetation indices.
Level 1 Atmosphere Archive and Distribution System (LAADS) DAAC radiance, atmosphere.
*
National Snow and Ice Data Center
The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) is a United States information and referral center in support of polar and cryospheric research. NSIDC archives and distributes digital and analog snow and ice data and also maintains information abo ...
NSIDC DAAC: snow, ice, cryosphere, climate.
*
Oak Ridge National Laboratory DAAC The ORNL DAAC (Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center) for Biogeochemical Dynamics is a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) data center managed ...
ORNL DAAC: biogeochemical dynamics, terrestrial ecology, carbon and nitrogen cycle, environmental processes.
Ocean Biology DAAC (OB.DAAC) ocean biology, ocean color, ocean biogeochemistry, sea surface temperature.
Physical Oceanography DAAC (PO DAAC) sea surface temperature, ocean winds, circulation and currents, topography and gravity.
Socioeconomic Data and Applications Data Center (SEDAC) human interactions, land use, environmental sustainability, geospatial data, multilateral environmental agreements.
See also
*
ECHO Clearinghouse
*
Global Change Master Directory {{Notability, date=May 2022
The Global Change Master Directory holds more than 28,000 data set descriptions, known as DIFs (Directory Interchange Format). This format is compatible with the Federal Geographic Data Committee's (FGDC) standard and th ...
*
Goddard Space Flight Center
The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is a major NASA space research laboratory located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland, United States. Established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center, GSFC empl ...
References
{{reflist
External links
NASA.govNASA.govNASA.govNASA Distributed Active Archive Center(DAAC)
Official website
NASA programs
Earth observation
Goddard Space Flight Center
Data centers
Spacecraft communication