Increasing Discoverability and Accessibility of NASA Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) Data Products with GIS Technology

Abstract:

NASA’s Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) is utilizing Geographic Information System (GIS) technology that can increase data discoverability and accessibility of ASDC data to the GIS user community. Data products have had compatibility issues, limiting their use in open source as well as commercial tools, such as Esri’s ArcGIS Platform. The ASDC is working in collaboration with ESDIS, Esri, The HDF Group, and George Mason University (GMU) to identify and address these compatibility issues. Once addressed, web services can be created on top of the data sets and accessed through desktop, mobile, and web based GIS tools. These services include the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Mapping Service, OGC Web Coverage Service, and Image Service. Exposing services through desktop, mobile, and web based GIS tools is expected to yield a greater usage of NASA ASDC data as well as new analysis utilizing GIS tools for an increased understanding in the areas of the earth’s radiation budget, clouds, aerosols, and tropospheric chemistry.