The ESRC: A Web-based Environmental Satellite Resource Center

The COMET® Program has developed an Environmental Satellite Resource Center (known as the ESRC), a searchable, database-driven Website that provides easy access to a wide range of useful information training materials on polar-orbiting and geostationary satellites. Primarily sponsored by the NPOESS Program and NOAA, the ESRC is a tool for users seeking reliable sources of satellite information, training, and data. First published in September 2008, and upgraded in April 2009, the site is freely available at: http://www.meted.ucar.edu/esrc. Additional contributions to the ESRC are sought and made on an ongoing basis.

The ESRC was created in response to a broad community request first made in May 2006. The COMET Program was asked to develop the site to consolidate and simplify access to reliable, current, and diverse information, training materials, and data associated with environmental satellites. The ESRC currently includes over 400 significant resources from NRL, CIMSS, CIRA, NASA, VISIT, NESDIS, and EUMETSAT, and improves access to the numerous satellite resources available from COMET's MetEd Website. The ESRC is designed as a community site where organizations and individuals around the globe can easily submit their resources via online forms by providing a small set of metadata. The ESRC supports languages other than English and multi-lingual character sets have been tested. COMET's role is threefold: 1) maintain the site, 2) populate it with our own materials, including smaller, focused learning objects derived from our larger training modules, and 3) provide the necessary quality assurance and monitoring to ensure that all resources are appropriate and well described before being made available.

Our presentation will demonstrate many of the features and functionality of searching for resources using the ESRC, and will outline the steps for users to make their own submissions. For the site to reach its full potential, submissions representing diverse interests and intended for diverse audiences are strongly encouraged.