Data Access Tools - Filling the Usability Gap in Cryosphere Data

The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) houses the NASA-sponsored Snow and Ice Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC), providing data and information services to the cryospheric research community. By far the most popular data served by the NSIDC DAAC are derived from Earth-observing remote sensing instruments aboard polar orbiting satellites. These instruments include Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR), Special Sensor Microwave/ Imager (SSM/I), Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer - Earth Observing System (AMSR-E), and Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS). Observations made by these Earth-observing sensors are a valuable resource for polar researchers. However, the Earth science community, and in particular the polar research community, often have problems accessing data that are suitable for a specific study. These difficulties range from accessing data from large-volume archives to effectively using the data upon delivery. NSIDC´s responsibility is to facilitate the user´s data acquisition experience by reducing the inefficiencies in data discovery and by providing data users with software utilities that assist the scientist with using the delivered data. NSIDC and a group of collaborators have proposed to create an advanced multi-faceted web service for data access, browse, overlay, manipulation, and delivery that integrates several important data sets for cryospheric analysis. The services we propose will directly address the several data access issues that impede progress in our under.standing of climate change in the Polar Regions.