Introduction to the NOAA Earth Information System (NEIS)

Across the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and other government agencies, there exists a wide variety of environmental data and information systems meeting various agency missions. To meet NOAA's mission -- to understand and predict changes in climate, weather, oceans, and coasts, to share that knowledge and information with others, and to conserve and manage coastal and marine ecosystems and resources -- NOAA's data and systems need to be easily accessible and interoperable. Achieving this would lead to a more efficient organization. A concept conceived at Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) called the NOAA Earth Information System (NEIS) can provide this functionality. While the concept is visionary, the core requirements of this new system are:

1. Provide access to all information and data for all time scales 2. Provide the information when the user needs it 3. Provide the information in a form the user can interpret 4. Make information available on all platforms

NOAA Earth Information System (NEIS) is a framework of layered services designed to help NOAA's mission areas by facilitating the discovery, access, integration, and understanding of all NOAA data (past, present, and future). Designed for a world where everything is in motion, NEIS allows fluid data integration and interaction across 4D time and space. This presentation will provide an overview the NEIS concept and prototype, as well as information regarding ongoing and future activities related to this project.