Providing Standardized Access for Browsing Historical Geostationary Satellite Data: An Exemplar-Tool and Conversion Process

Providing access to information is one of the key concern for NASA Langley Cloud and Radiation Group. One trend that has grown increasingly in importance for information providers is the ability to not only provide information but to do so in a manner that makes it simple and convenient for others to use. We have developed a web application to allow custom access to interactive tools to browse real-time and historical geostationary satellite imagery data dating back to 1994. The application features an in-house developed API that allowed users to request imagery, subsect the data, and generate imagery and loops for display. One way that we have chosen to make the information more accessible is to use a standardized and well know access scheme. We converted our tool from an in-house designed API to the well-known Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC)'s Web Processing Service (WPS).

Additionally, we briefly describe a tool that allows end users to easily browse and access information that is otherwise cumbersome to acquire and manipulate. The tool described has as its core the OGC-WPS interface that is made available to the public. One goal of the tool is to provide a demonstration to end-users so that they can use the enhanced imagery as an input into their own workflows.

This project builds upon NASA Langley Cloud and Radiation Group's experience with making satellite imagery available to an ever-widening consumer base. We intend to support the growing trend of supporting new and novel ways of using satellite imagery by constantly trying to improve the ways in which we make information available to professionals, students and the general public.