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CONTENTSReport of 1993 CEOS Plenary
CEOS/IGBP-DIS Pilot Project on Data Exchange
High Resolution Data Coverage for CEOS/IGBP-DIS Pilot Project
CEOS Working Group on Data (WGD)---This page
CEOS Working Group on Calibration and Validation (WGCV)
Introduction of CEOS Community Locator System (CCLS)
Report of 1993 CEOS Plenary (continued from page 1)
Requirements for Participation in CEOS
News Highlights
1994 CEOS Meeting Calendar
CEOS Working Group on Data (WGD)
Levin Lauritson
Chief, Satellite Data Services Division,
National Climatic Data Center, NOAA/NESDIS, USA
Jean Schiro-Zavela
International Relations, NOAA/NESDIS, USA
The Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) Working Group on Data (WGD) was established at the initial meeting of CEOS in 1984 as an ad hoc working group to facilitate the use of data from Earth observation missions by coordinating and standardizing aspects of data management.
- WGD became a permanent working group in 1989. Levin Lauritson is WGD
Chair and Jean Schiro-Zavela is WGD Secretariat. WGD has four subgroups:
Catalog Subgroup, chaired by NOAA; Network Subgroup, co-chaired by the
European Space Agency (ESA) and the National Space Development Agency of
Japan (NASDA); Format Subgroup, chaired by the British National Space Centre
(BNSC); and Auxiliary Data Subgroup, chaired by the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt
fuer Luft-und Raumfahrt (DLR, Germany).
Catalog Subgroup
The Catalog Subgroup (CS) promotes international catalog system interoperability
through a number of projects. CS coordinated the development of the CEOS
International Directory Network (IDN), an on-line system that permits rapid
and efficient identification, location, and overview of information on
data sets worldwide of interest to the Earth and space science research
community. The CEOS IDN currently has three coordinating nodes and ten
cooperating nodes and over 2000 Directory Interchange Format (DIF) entries.
A CEOS IDN brochure has been published and will be the topic of a separate
article in an upcoming issue of this CEOS newsletter. The CEOS Plenary
recently endorsed a WGD recommendation to expand the CEOS IDN into developing
countries.
Another CS activity is the CEOS Inventory Interoperability Experiment
(CINTEX), a multi-agency international inventory interoperability experiment
to determine if disparate catalog systems could be made to interoperate
effectively. CS has also written "Guidelines for an International Interoperable
Catalogue System." CS has formed a browse task team with Network Subgroup
representation.
Network Subgroup
The Network Subgroup (NS) is addressing issues of user communication
using networking to deliver variety of data, including catalog information
and browse and quick-look imagery, as well as raw and derived data sets.
The Network Subgroup has formed task teams to help meet the networking
requirements of the CEOS IDN, CINTEX, browse, and AVHRR 1-km projects.
NS is also working on connectivity improvements, identification of
existing and planned networks infrastructure, and definition of CEOS global
network architecture.
Format Subgroup
The Format Subgroup (FS) develops and supports standard data formats for digital user products from Earth observation sensors. CEOS-compliant formats have been developed and WGD member agencies have agreed to imcorporate them into ongoing data management planning. FS is setting up a feedback mechanism for users to provide comments regarding data formats, particularly the CEOS format, in order to help evaluate lessons learned from the CEOS format and develop requirements for future formats. The Subgroup is also preparing a Format Guideline Document and a Formatting System Requirements Document, and is undertaking prototyping efforts, including: translators among different end user formats, NASA Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) development, and Format Definition Environment tools.
Auxiliary Data Subgroup
The Auxiliary Data Subgroup (ADS) collects information about auxiliary data sets and develops recommendations regarding the use of auxiliary data to enhance processing and utilization of remote sensing instrument data. The ADS is developing a Reference Document that would recommend standard auxiliary data sets to be used in generating products, so that CEOS agencies can compare products. The document will include information on requirements for atmospheric, topographic, surface characteristics, oceanic, and socioeconomic data sets as well as current and planned availability of this data.
Other Activities
WGD also monitors the Global Land One-kilometer Base Elevation (GLOBE)
project, which has the goal of generating a 1-km resolution raster global
Digital Elevation Model with quality measurements, and the Global Land
1-kilometer AVHRR Data Set project, an international effort to collect
and archive daily 1-km AVHRR data from NOAA's afternoon polar satellite.
WGD is testing a prototype purge alert procedure to notify other agencies
of data sets planned for deletion (and therefore possible transfer of responsibility
for the data sets to another interested agency). WGD is working to identify
Earth observation data centers and data sets that should be included in
the CEOS IDN and in data management plans. WGD is exploring an on-line
CEOS Information System to provide electronic access to CEOS documents
and other relevant material.
WGD is writing a five-year plan for presentation at the 1994 CEOS Plenary
meeting. The plan will include WGD objectives, data management requirements,
user needs, and a strategy and action plan, focusing on the activities
of the WGD subgroups as well as projects of general interest to WGD.
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