Geophysical data management system

The geoscience community relies heavily on the use of a variety of data sets in its research efforts. Data sets range from remotely sensed satellite imagery covering large geographical areas to locally sampled data of regional interest. Researchers acquire much of this data in varying quantities ranging from tens to tens of thousands of data sets. Smaller collections of data sets can usually be handled manually and are rarely shared amongst research groups. Larger collections of data sets are usually handled by large scale database systems such as the EOS Data and Information System under development by NASA. However, this still leaves a large number of researchers with data set collections somewhere between these two extremes. Often times, researchers pursuing the same ultimate objective or working in collaboration with colleagues will share data sets on a limited basis. In order to archive these “medium sized” data set collections in an organized and easily accessible manner and to facilitate distribution of data sets on a limited basis, the authors have developed a system to provide researchers with a simple to use archive and browse system