Recent Updates and Next Steps for NASA’s Catalog of Archived Suborbital Earth Science Investigations (CASEI)

After about two years in a beta-type phase, NASA’s Catalog of Archived Suborbital Earth Science Investigations (CASEI) was fully released in July 2023. Built by the Airborne Data Management Group (ADMG) within the Interagency Implementation and Advanced Concepts Team (IMPACT), CASEI includes rich contextual metadata for airborne and field observations and empowers users with nimble, novel search, browse, and data access features. At the time of the July release, the CASEI metadata inventory was populated for 65% of known NASA airborne and field campaigns, and continual efforts within the ADMG team regularly add vetted, curated content across the agency’s robust history in suborbital Earth science data collection.

New features in the CASEI resource implemented ahead of the full release included the addition of a free text search capacity, enhancements to the “timeline” sections on field campaign landing pages, a new feature for directly browsing suborbital data products based on one or multiple criteria, fully updated API documentation, as well as various other small improvements. This presentation will give a brief review of the CASEI system and curation process followed by details on the recent and forthcoming updates to CASEI. Concluding remarks will mention the inclusion of CASEI as a cornerstone in the new Airborne and Field Data Resource Center (set for launch in fall 2023 by ESDIS) and summarize thoughts on the future of CASEI, including both requirements and practical implications for long-term maintenance of this valuable, unique resource.