Review of NASA's Distributed Active Archive Centers (1999) / Chapter Skim
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5 EROS Data Center DAAC
5 EROS Data Center DAAC
Pages 91-108
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From page 91... ...
HITTELMAN, NOAA National Geophysical Data Center, Boulder, Colorado DAVID A LANDGREBE, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana DAR ROBERTS, University of California, Santa Barbara ABSTRACT The Earth Resources Observation Systems (EROS)
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From page 92... ...
It is located within the EROS Data Center, which has been managing land processes data for two decades, but its holdings and operations are separate from those of the USGS. The creation of the EDC DAAC signaled a shift in the focus of the Landsat program.
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From page 93... ...
The Landsat Pathfinder data, for example, serve as a rich resource for many aspects of global change studies related to the
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From page 94... ...
. The land processes community has little experience with HDF-EOS, but
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From page 96... ...
On the other hand, if some or all of the Landsat, ASTER, and MODIS instrument teams decide to process the data themselves, the DAAC' s role will be limited to traditional data management tasks (e.g., dissemination, archive, user services; see Chapter 2, "DAAC versus Data Center". Reprocessing Strategy Reprocessing Level 1 and higher data to accommodate improvements in calibration and algorithms is necessary to keep data sets viable and internally
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From page 97... ...
USERS Characterization of the User Community Much of the current and expected user community is now assumed to be drawn from the Earth science research community, and it is apparently assumed that the instrument teams for the EOS instruments are representative of this community. However, given the greater breadth and variety of the EOS instrument suite, the user community after the launch of the AM-1 platform and Landsat 7 is likely to be much larger and more diverse than has been the case for previous, less complex instrument sets.
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From page 98... ...
The DAAC should review and adjust the membership of its advisory panel to obtain a balanced view from both scientific and nonscientific users. Relationship with the Scientific Community The long-term health of the DAAC depends on a symbiotic relationship between the data operations activities and scientific applications.
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From page 99... ...
Examples of mechanisms that might foster the desired symbiotic relationship between the data operations and the scientific operations include the following: · a visiting scientists program for research using DAAC data sets to be carried out in-house the visiting scientists would then provide useful feedback on the design of the data delivery systems; · involvement of DAAC personnel in research activities, particularly those being conducted within the EROS Data Center this could be achieved through a short leave of absence from normal DAAC responsibilities or an allocation of a small percentage of the staff member' s time to a research project; . establishment of a small number of positions within the DAAC for scientists conducting research using DAAC products the scientists would provide the perspective of the users in the design of DAAC operations and would be expected to be involved in such activities; and · encouragement of day-to-day interaction between local scientists and DAAC personnel this might be achieved through informal users' groups that would provide feedback to the DAAC or other mechanisms that promote informal interactions.
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From page 100... ...
At scientific data centers, it is important that the user services group be able to answer questions of a scientific and technical nature. Thus, a scientific background for user services staff is highly desirable.
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From page 101... ...
The Version 0 system hardware and software will be phased out after the ECS is delivered. In the meantime, the EDC DAAC uses Version 0 to distribute several large data sets, including GTOPO30 elevation data, global AVHRR 1-km data, and NASA Landsat Pathfinder data.
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From page 102... ...
The EDC DAAC has to develop a long-term hardware plan that includes incremental upgrades during the lifetime of the project. Processing Software The EDC DAAC is concerned that the ECS will not have the capacity to create products, particularly MODIS products, to meet user demand.
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From page 103... ...
The DAAC hopes to acquire 50 more ECS staff in preparation for the Landsat and AM-1 launches, although this may not be necessary if the data are not processed at the DAAC. If and when the ECS contractors arrive, DAAC staff who currently work on Version 0 and ECS maintenance and operations will be reemployed by the EROS Data Center.
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From page 104... ...
, and partly to an increase in operations and maintenance (e.g., FY 2001~. To illustrate its cost-effectiveness, the DAAC gave an example of how it had saved time and money developing Version 0 by leveraging off existing EROS Data Center capabilities.
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From page 105... ...
The transition from DAAC to EROS Data Center home pages is seamless, and DAAC users must take care or they will order expensive data from the EROS Data Center, thinking that they are ordering freely distributed DAAC data. Relation to ESDIS The DAAC perceives ESDIS as being concerned exclusively with development.
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From page 106... ...
Relation to Other DAACs The EDC DAAC has a special relationship with the GSFC and ORNL DAACs. The GSFC DAAC will provide Level 2 MODIS data, which will be used by the EDC DAAC to create Level 2+ MODIS land products.
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From page 107... ...
Its greatest challenges, completing preparations for managing data from Landsat 7 and AM-1 data streams, and developing contingency plans for the inevitable failures in the processing system, have become more tractable because of significant launch delays. Rather than becoming complaisant, the DAAC should use the extra time to complete its readiness exercises and clarify its vision for serving its potentially large, diverse user community.
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