Empowering Hazard and Disaster Informatics: Data Services at NASA GES DISC in the Earth System Observatory Era

Abstract

NASA's Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC), a Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC), is dedicated to archiving remotely-sensed and model observations from multiple disciplines. These datasets, stemming from NASA's Earth-observing satellites, field measurement programs, and collaborations with international partners such as the European Space Agency (ESA) ― including datasets from the TROPospheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) onboard the Copernicus Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite and Radio Occultation data from Sentinel-6, are all publicly accessible. Operating as a multidisciplinary DAAC, GES DISC equips users with the ability to integrate datasets across multiple disciplines while ensuring data quality and provenance. GES DISC offers comprehensive services, enabling users to map and monitor extreme weather and climate hazards, including tropical cyclones and floods, through high spatial and temporal resolution datasets in near real-time. Giovanni, a visualization and analytical tool designed for users with limited expertise, has been widely utilized in risk and post-disaster assessments, and natural hazards research. Additionally, API services such as Data Rods, offering a long-term time series of climate datasets, aid in monitoring the vulnerability of critical infrastructures to hydro-meteorological conditions. In response to the increasing data volumes in the Earth System Observatory (ESO) era, GES DISC is currently migrating data and services to the Earthdata Cloud. This cloud migration not only advances hazard and disaster studies, but also empowers users to fully leverage the benefits of the cloud, such as improved accessibility, cost-efficiency, scalability, and collaboration.