Information Integration: A Tool for Visualizing and Integrating Cloud Properties, Satellite Imagery, Ground Site Observations, and Satellite Ground Tracks

Providing and enhancing public access to research products including cloud macro and microphysical properties, satellite imagery and other research information is a key goal for the NASA Langley Research Center Cloud and Radiation Group and NASA as a whole.

Over time, we have observed two trends in the literature. One seeks to make existing large archives of information easily accessible in a customer specified format. The other seeks to allow for the merger, or “mash up” of information, in this case, that is linked either temporally or spatially.

This work addresses both trends and describes a web based integration tool and an API that allows end users to easily create customized cloud product and satellite imagery, ground site data and satellite ground track information that is generated dynamically to allow end users to customize the information. Internally, we have focused our development resources on the server side, building the infrastructure to access and dynamically prepare imagery from a very large archive of information.

We build upon NASA Langley Cloud and Radiation Group’s experience with making real-time and historical satellite cloud product information, satellite imagery, ground site data and satellite track information accessible and easily searchable. In this work, we focus on the dynamic, “mash up” capability of the tool and its ability to allow users to explore multiple sources of information and visualize it in a way that fits their needs. In support of NASA strategic goals, our group aims to make as much scientific knowledge, observations and products available in a user specified format to the citizen science, research and interested communities as well as for automated systems to acquire the same information for data mining or other analytic purposes.