Long Term Archival of ECS Data Held atthe National Snow and Ice Data Center

NSIDC is in a unique position to partner with the NOAA/NESDIS

National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) for an optimal

LTA solution for NSIDC’s ECS data holdings

Background• NSIDC was chartered by NOAA/NESDIS in 1982 to serve as

a national resource for cryospheric data and information.• NOAA/NGDC and NSIDC completed a NOAA-NASA LTA

pilot project in May 2001. Project demonstrated (among other things) bandwidth capacity between NGDC and NSIDC, and ability to ingest MODIS data into NGDC archive and access system.

• The “NOAA at NSIDC” project (http://nsidc.org/noaa/) maintains an on-line database while archiving data at NGDC, which is also in Boulder. “NOAA at NSIDC” data are accessible through NOAA & NSIDC catalogues and portals, and are documented and archived to federal standards.

Proposal

“Archive at NSIDC, with off site backup at NGDC”

NSIDC-NGDC Services Relevant to Archive and Science Operations

• Ingest (with processing/reprocessing)• Product generation• Archive (off-site, including archive of FGDC-compliant

DIF metadata)• Access (discovery via NASA and NOAA portals,

visualization and delivery)• User support (User Services office)• Science (research community contributions, on-site

scientists)

NSIDC’s Unique Qualifications

• Discipline expertise• Established archival relationship with

NOAA• Both a NOAA affiliated data center as well

as a NASA-funded DAAC - we meet both NOAA and NASA requirements

• Well established user base

NGDC

SPIDR provides interactive access to DMSP, GOES, POES data

Disciplines:

DMSP-derived “Nighttime Lights of the U.S.”

Example product:

User Demand for LTA at NSIDC

• The GLAS science team has requested NSIDC to be the LTA for GLAS data

• NSIDC’s science advisory group (PODAG) has endorsed NSIDC to archive its DAAC data holdings for the long term

• The NRC Committee chaired by John Walsh in their report “Enhancing NASA's Contribution to Polar Science” states that NSIDC (and ASF) are "natural vehicles for long-term archival” and recommends that “long term archival be a DAAC function”.

“Many of the pieces are already in place for successful LTA of ICESat and other NSIDC DAAC products at

NSIDC/NGDC”

NSIDC Backup Slides

Institutional Relationships

• Part of the University of Colorado• Within the CU Cooperative Institute for Research in

Environmental Sciences (CIRES) Cryospheric and Polar Processes Division

• Chartered by NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service. Affiliated with the NOAA National Geophysical Data Center

• Funded by NASA, NOAA, NSF, and others at the project level

• Part of the World Data Center system

Major Projects

The National Snow and Ice Data Center

NASA Distributed Active Archive Center

NOAA at NSIDC

WDC for Glaciology

NSF Arctic System Science Data Coordination Center

NSF U.S. Antarctic Data Coordination Center

NSF Antarctic Glaciological Data Center

NSF Frozen Ground Data Center

Other Projects

• AMSR-E Validation Data Management• CLP: Cold Land Processes Data Management• PARCA: Program for Arctic Regional

Climate Assessment• GLIMS: Global Land Ice Measurements from

Space• GDSIDB: Global Digital Sea Ice Data Bank• WCRP/CliC: Climate and Cryosphere

NASA Projects