1. About EOSDIS
  2. Science System Description
  3. EOSDIS Components

EOSDIS Components

The following components are managed by the Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS) Project. The requirements for networks are also managed by the ESDIS Project while the networks themselves are a combination of NASA's, national, and international infrastructure. EOSDIS components include the following:

EOSDIS Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs)

The EOSDIS Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs), are custodians of EOS mission data and ensure that data will be easily accessible to users. Acting in concert, the DAACs provide reliable, robust services to users whose needs may cross the traditional boundaries of specific science disciplines, while continuing to support the particular needs of users within the discipline communities. DAAC holdings can be searched from the Reverb search and order client powered by ECHO.

EOSDIS is designed as a distributed system, with major facilities at DAACs located throughout the United States. In general, these DAACs exist within other NASA or agencies' institutions and were chosen because they each specialize in a science discipline such as atmosphere, calibrated radiance and solar radiance, cryosphere, human dimensions, land, or ocean.

The DAACs are located at:

The DAACs area currently serving a broad and growing user community with both EOS data and non-EOS data. The DAACs work with active user communities that provide advice on priorities for scientific data, levels of service, and the needed capabilities.

Science Data Processing Segment (SDPS)

The Science Data Processing Segment (SDPS) performs information management and data archiving and distribution at each DAAC location. Each DAAC performs these functions using a combination of standard capabilities provided by the ESDIS Project and hardware and software specific to the DAAC. Special SDPS hardware and software, known as the EOSDIS Core System (ECS), was developed to support the high ingest rates of the EOS instruments. ECS currently resides and operates at three DAACs: the Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) at NASA's Langley Research Center (LaRC), the Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC) and the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) DAAC. Data products are processed by the Science Investigator-led Processing Systems (SIPSs) or, in a few cases, by systems interfacing with the SDPS at the DAACs. The SDPS at the DAACs ingests the data from the processing systems and archives them. The SDPS has interfaces with ECHO to provide search and access through ECHO clients, for example, the next generation Earth science metadata and service discovery tool, Reverb. The SDPS also provides software toolkits to assist instrument teams in their development of product generation software at their Science Computing Facilities (SCFs) to facilitate ingest of the resulting products into SDPS or into DAAC-specific archiving and distribution systems.

Science Investigator-led Processing Systems (SIPS)

Most of the EOS standard products are produced at facilities under the direct control of the instrument Principal Investigators/Team Leaders (PIs/TLs) or their designees. These facilities are referred to as Science Investigator-led Processing Systems (SIPS). The SIPS are geographically distributed across the United States and are generally, but not necessarily, collocated with the PIs/TLs’ Scientific Computing Facilities. Products produced at the SIPS using investigator-provided systems and software are sent to appropriate DAACs for archival and distribution. Level 0 Data Products and Ancillary Data that begin the processing sequence are stored at the DAACs and retrieved by the SIPS.

Common Metadata Repository (CMR)

The Common Metadata Repository (CMR) is a high-performance, high-quality metadata engine for next-generation Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS). Applications that will be used to manage the evolution of NASA Earth Science metadata in a unified and consistent way by providing a central storage and access capability that streamlines current workflows while increasing overall data quality and anticipating future capabilities.

Earth Observing System (EOS) Clearing House (ECHO)

The EOS Clearing House (ECHO) is a spatial and temporal metadata registry and order broker. It allows users to more efficiently search and access data and services through the Reverb Client or Application Programmer Interfaces (APIs). ECHO stores metadata from a variety of science disciplines and domains. ECHO acts as a middleware between DAACs that provide information about their data holdings and Client Partners who develop software to access the metadata and the browse catalog. ECHO technology can act as an order broker for Client and Data Partners while supporting efficient discovery and access to Earth science data. An example client is Reverb, which provide web-based "one-stop shopping" for search and order capabilities within all of ECHO's data holdings.

Earth Observing System (EOS) Networks

Effective access to EOSDIS depends on the end-to-end network connectivity between users and geographically distributed DAACs. This connectivity is provided by an EOSDIS internal logical network known as the EOS Mission Support network (EMSn) and an external logical network known as the EOS Science Support network (ESSn). These two logical networks consist of a variety of physical networks including wide area and local area networks.

The EMSn (also known as open and closed EBNet) is made up of local-area and wide-area communication circuits and facilities between and among various EOS ground system elements to support EOS mission operations and mission-critical data transfers. The open side of EBnet allows appropriate science data to be transmitted via the Internet to various end users. The closed side of EBnet is protected by firewalls and transports mission-critical data to various EOSDIS subsystems and ground stations via a secure network.

The ESSn is a globally connected logical or virtual science data communication network consisting of several segments of shared IP-based internal and external physical networks (such as the NASA Integrated Services Network (NISN) and the Internet2 IP backbone) to serve the diverse needs of NASA's worldwide science and research community.

ESDIS Metrics System (EMS)

The ESDIS Metrics System (EMS) collects information from all ingest, archive and distribution interfaces throughout EOSDIS. In addition to data system metrics, EMS has a suite of web analytics tools available to characterize usage and usability of websites.

Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS)

The Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS) deliver global, full-resolution satellite imagery in a highly responsive manner. The system is currently a prototype containing 100+ near real-time products (within three hours of observation), but is being transitioned to a core capability that will contain science imagery over the coming year. GIBS uses standard web services interfaces for accessing data. GIBS currently has two demonstration clients, Worldview and the State of the Ocean (SOTO), which show the capabilities, along with an API.

Land, Atmosphere Near real-time Capability for Earth Observing System (LANCE)

Land, Atmosphere Near real-time Capability for EOS (LANCE) provides access to near real-time products from the AIRS, AMSR2, MLS, MODIS and OMI instruments in less than 3 hours from observation. The data support applications users who are interested in monitoring and analyzing a wide variety of natural and man-made phenomena. LANCE freely provides access to 100+ data products through FTP servers (Earthdata Login registration required) and imagery from 100+ products.

Earthdata Login

The EOSDIS Earthdata Login, formerly known as the EOSDIS User Registration System (URS), provides a centralized and simplified mechanism for user registration and profile management for all EOSDIS system components. End users may register and edit their profile information in one location allowing them access to the wide array of EOSDIS data and services. The EOSDIS Earthdata Login also helps the EOSDIS program better understand the user demographics and access patterns in support of planning for new value-added features and customized services that can be directed to specific users or user groups resulting in better user experience.

Earthdata Login provides user registration and authentication services and a common set of user information to all EOSDIS data centers in a manner that permits the Distributed Active Archive Center to integrate their additional requirements with the Earthdata Login services.

Web Infrastructure (WI)

Earthdata is managed using a Content Management System (CMS). The custom-designed program Conduit is currently used for Earthdata and has been customized to deal with the particular needs of the Earthdata system. Users wanting to become content editors/contributors should contact the Earthdata Content Management Team, as it requires an Earthdata Login for access. Additional capabilities of the site include the Earthdata Code Collaborative (ECC), Earthdata Wiki, User Support Tool (UST), Earthdata Issue Tracking and Feature Enhancement (Jira), Requirements Collection and Management (Jama), Continuous Integration (Bamboo), and Code Repository (Stash).

Global Change Master Directory

The Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) holds more than 29,000 Earth science data set and service descriptions, which cover subject areas within the Earth and environmental sciences and one of the largest public metadata inventories in the world. GCMD’S primary responsibility is to maintain a complete catalog of all NASA’s Earth science data sets and services. GCMD’s mission is to assist researchers, policy makers, and the public in the discovery of and access to data, related services, and ancillary information (which includes descriptions of instruments and platforms) relevant to global change and Earth science research. Within this mission, the directory also offers online authoring tools, such as the docBUILDER tool (Earthdata Login registration required), to providers of data and services, facilitating the capability to make their products available to the Earth science community. In addition, citation information to properly credit data set contributions is offered, along with direct links to data and services. As an integral part of the project, keyword vocabularies have been developed and are constantly being refined and expanded. These vocabularies are also used in other applications within the broader scientific community. Users may perform searches through the Directory’s website using controlled keywords, free-text searches, map/date searches or any combination of these. Users may also search or refine a search by DAAC, location, instrument, platform, project, or temporal/spatial resolution. The project also serves as one of NASA’s contributions to the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS), through which it is known as the CEOS International Directory Network (IDN).

Last Updated: Oct 18, 2016 at 11:10 AM EDT

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