NASA Earthdata
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| NASA Earthdata | |
|---|---|
| Name | NASA Earthdata |
| Formed | 2010s |
| Jurisdiction | United States |
| Headquarters | Washington, D.C. |
| Parent agency | National Aeronautics and Space Administration |
NASA Earthdata NASA Earthdata is a United States federal program that aggregates, distributes, and documents Earth science data generated by National Aeronautics and Space Administration, partner agencies, and international missions. It supports interoperability among datasets from programs such as Landsat program, MODIS, Terra, and Aqua while interfacing with infrastructures like Global Earth Observation System of Systems and Group on Earth Observations. Earthdata serves researchers across initiatives tied to Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Committee on Earth Observation Satellites, and regional efforts including European Space Agency collaborations.
Overview
Earthdata functions within the ecosystem of National Aeronautics and Space Administration data centers including Goddard Space Flight Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Marshall Space Flight Center, and Ames Research Center. It catalogs datasets from missions such as Landsat program, ICESat-2, SMAP, GRACE, and Suomi NPP, linking to long-term records used by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, United States Geological Survey, and European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. The program aligns with policies from the U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy and standards from Open Geospatial Consortium and International Organization for Standardization.
Data and Services
Earthdata curates thematic collections spanning atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, and biosphere observations, incorporating mission data such as MODIS, VIIRS, CALIPSO, CloudSat, and ICESat-2. It provides metadata compliant with Federal Geographic Data Committee guidelines and persistent identifiers interoperable with DataCite and Digital Object Identifier system. Services include data search and discovery consistent with Catalog Service for the Web and access protocols like OPeNDAP, THREDDS Data Server, and Web Map Service implementations used by European Space Agency and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency projects.
Platforms and Instruments
Datasets accessed through Earthdata derive from platforms including Terra, Aqua, Landsat 8, Landsat 9, Suomi NPP, Jason-3, ICESat-2, GRACE-FO, SMAP, OCO-2, and airborne campaigns like Operation IceBridge. Instruments feeding Earthdata include spectroradiometers such as MODIS, radiometers like VIIRS, altimeters used on Jason-3, lidars aboard ICESat-2, and radar scatterometers on missions like QuikSCAT and Sentinel-1. Collaborations extend to international instruments from European Space Agency missions such as Sentinel-2 and Envisat legacy products.
Data Access and Tools
Earthdata offers user authentication through systems interoperable with Earthdata Login-linked services and supports programmatic access via APIs compatible with OpenAPI Specification practices and tools used in Google Earth Engine and Amazon Web Services public datasets. Data visualization and analysis tools interoperable with Earthdata include Panoply, QGIS, Esri ArcGIS, MATLAB, and Python (programming language) libraries like NumPy, SciPy, and xarray. Integration pathways support community platforms such as GitHub, Zenodo, and Figshare for reproducible research, and leverage cloud infrastructures exemplified by Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform for processing large-scale products like Landsat archive stacks and MODIS time series.
Applications and Users
Users of Earthdata span academic institutions like Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley, and Columbia University as well as agencies including National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, United States Geological Survey, Environmental Protection Agency, and international bodies such as World Meteorological Organization and United Nations Environment Programme. Applications address topics in climate change assessments by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change authors, disaster response in partnership with Federal Emergency Management Agency, agricultural monitoring with Food and Agriculture Organization, and urban studies tied to United Nations Human Settlements Programme. Research leveraging Earthdata informs projects like Global Precipitation Measurement, SeaWiFS, Argo floats, and Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission analyses.
Governance and Partnerships
Governance involves coordination between National Aeronautics and Space Administration directorates, data stewardship by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and policy input from entities like U.S. Office of Management and Budget and Federal Geographic Data Committee. Partnerships include international agencies such as European Space Agency, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Canadian Space Agency, and Australian Space Agency, with research collaboration through consortia like Committee on Earth Observation Satellites and Group on Earth Observations. Data sharing agreements reference frameworks used by World Data System and standards promulgated by Open Geospatial Consortium to enable interoperability with initiatives like Global Earth Observation System of Systems and national programs such as USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center.