Earthdata Login

Earthdata Login
Name	Earthdata Login
Developer	NASA
Type	Authentication and data access system
Released	2010s
Website	Earthdata (NASA)

Earthdata Login Earthdata Login is an authentication and identity management system used to control access to scientific data repositories and services. It supports federated access to satellite observations, climate datasets, remote sensing products, and project portals maintained by agencies and research centers. The service mediates user credentials for portals operated by NASA, partner institutions, and interagency programs to provide consistent sign-on across distributed archives.

Overview

Earthdata Login provides centralized credentialing for users accessing repositories such as the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, National Snow and Ice Data Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and US Geological Survey data portals. It interoperates with programs like Hurricanes and Severe Storms Sentinel, Global Precipitation Measurement, Landsat, MODIS, Suomi NPP, Sentinel-2, ICESat-2, Jason-3, Terra (satellite), and Aqua (satellite). Institutions including European Space Agency, NOAA, USDA, US Navy, California Institute of Technology, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology rely on Earthdata-managed authentication for access control. Research initiatives such as the Earth Observing System, Paleoclimate Reconstruction Consortium, Global Change Research Program, and Arctic Research Consortium use the system to simplify dataset distribution.

Features and Functionality

Earthdata Login supports single sign-on, role-based access, and token issuance for programmatic and web-based access. Services include OAuth2 flows implemented alongside OpenID Connect for client applications developed by teams at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA Ames Research Center, and Goddard Institute for Space Studies. The platform issues API tokens compatible with gateway services used by Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure, Hadoop Distributed File System, and THREDDS Data Server deployments. It integrates with catalog systems like Earthdata Search, Common Metadata Repository, Global Change Information System, and NASA Earthdata Cloud to grant scoped permissions for data downloads, subsetting, and distribution by projects such as SMAP, GRACE, ICESat, CALIPSO, and SOARS.

Account Types and Registration

Account types include individual researcher, institutional, and service accounts used by automated ingest pipelines run at facilities like National Center for Atmospheric Research, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Registration workflows combine email verification, profile metadata collection, and affiliation linking to organizations such as University of Colorado Boulder, University of California, Berkeley, Columbia University, University of Maryland, and Texas A&M University. Accounts can be associated with programs including NASA Earth Science Division, NOAA Climate Program Office, Department of Energy, National Institutes of Health, and European Commission Horizon 2020 projects. Administrative roles may be assigned for projects funded by National Science Foundation, NASA ROSES, USGS Earthquake Hazards Program, and NOAA Satellite and Information Service.

Integration and APIs

Earthdata Login exposes APIs for authentication, token refresh, and credential validation compatible with client libraries developed by Python Software Foundation communities and organizations like Unidata, ESGF, and Pangeo. Integrations extend to workflow orchestrators such as Apache Airflow, Kubernetes, Docker, and HPC clusters at centers like Argonne National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. It supports interoperability with identity providers including InCommon, eduGAIN, and ORCID to federate researcher identities. Data portals and visualization tools—Panoply, NASA Worldview, Giovanni (tool), QGIS, and ArcGIS—use Earthdata credentials to access restricted resources, while science platforms like Google Earth Engine and Amazon Earth on AWS may be configured to accept issued tokens.

Security and Privacy

Security features include multi-factor authentication options, audit logging for access by projects such as ICESat-2 Science Team, and encryption for tokens and credentials. The system adheres to compliance practices relevant to agencies such as NASA Chief Information Officer, Department of Homeland Security guidance, and federal standards like controls used by Federal Information Security Management Act-mandated programs. Privacy controls govern personally identifiable information collected during registration with policies aligned to institutional review boards at entities such as NASA Institutional Review Board, University of Maryland IRB, and NOAA Research Privacy Office. Monitoring and incident response leverage partnerships with US-CERT, FedRAMP-style assessments, and internal security teams at NASA JPL and Goddard Space Flight Center.

Usage and Access Management

Administrators manage user groups, permissions, and data access policies for consortia including Group on Earth Observations, Committee on Earth Observation Satellites, International Charter on Space and Major Disasters, and Global Earthquake Model. Role assignments support project teams in MODIS Science Team, Landsat Science Team, SMAP Science Team, and GRACE Follow-On mission operations. Access logs and usage metrics integrate with analytics platforms from Splunk, Elastic, and Tableau for reporting to programs such as NASA Science Mission Directorate and NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Service accounts facilitate automated data ingest for modeling centers at European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, NOAA National Weather Service, and NASA Center for Climate Simulation.

History and Development

Earthdata Login evolved from authentication services developed to support the Earth Observing System Data and Information System and the expansion of distributed archives across NASA Distributed Active Archive Centers. Early work involved collaborations with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and USGS EROS Center to standardize access for missions including Landsat 8, Terra, and Aqua. Development has involved contributions from academic partners such as University of Colorado Boulder, University of Michigan, and Stanford University and interoperability efforts with ESA Copernicus Programme and NOAA. Ongoing modernization projects coordinate with cloud initiatives like Earthdata Cloud, commercial partners Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, and research consortia funded through National Science Foundation and NASA ROSES grants.

Category:NASA