A Generalized Distributed Data Match-Up Service in Support of Oceanographic Application

Oceanographic applications increasingly rely on the integration and colocation of satellite and field observations providing complementary data coverage over a continuum of spatio-temporal scales. Here we report on a collaborative venture between NASA/JPL, NCAR and FSU/COAPS to develop a Distributed Oceanographic Match-up Service (DOMS). The DOMS project aims to implement a technical infrastructure providing a generalized, publicly accessible data collocation capability for satellite and in situ datasets utilizing remote data stores in support of satellite mission cal/val and a range of research and operational applications. The service will provide a mechanism for users to specify geospatial references and receive collocated satellite and field observations within the selected spatio-temporal domain and matchup window extent. DOMS will include several representative in situ and satellite datasets. Field data will focus on surface observations from NCAR’s International Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set (ICOADS), the Shipboard Automated Meteorological and Oceanographic System Initiative (SAMOS) at FSU/COAPS, and the Salinity Processes in the Upper Ocean Regional Study (SPURS) data hosted at JPL/PO.DAAC. Satellite data will include JPL ASCAT L2 12.5 km winds, the Aquarius L2 orbital dataset, MODIS L2 swath data, and the high-resolution gridded L4 MUR-SST product. Importantly, while DOMS will be developed with these select datasets, it will be readily extendable for other in situ and satellite data collections and easily ported to other remote providers, thus potentially supporting additional science disciplines. Technical challenges to be addressed include: 1) ensuring accurate, efficient, and scalable match-up algorithm performance, 2) undertaking colocation using datasets that are distributed on the network, and 3) returning matched observations with sufficient metadata so that value differences can be properly interpreted. DOMS leverages existing technologies (EDGE, w10n, OPeNDAP, relational and graph/triple-store databases) and cloud computing. It will implement both a web portal interface for users to review and submit match-up requests interactively and underlying web service interface facilitating large-scale and automated machine-to-machine based queries.