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The Cooperative Arctic Data and Information Service (CADIS)

 
 
Arctic Observing Network interface

The image above shows a prototype MapServer-based interface to Arctic Observing Network (AON) research efforts. One of the project's challenges will be to integrate data management and access capabilities with powerful geographic information systems and related interfaces. CADIS provides an opportunity to deliver a broad and diverse collection of research datasets to a multidisciplinary community in support of the International Polar Year (IPY).
 

Arctic science in the U.S. lacks a single coordinated force setting a data management direction. This needs to change to:

  • Address the challenges of data management for Arctic-wide observing systems
  • Meet scientists' growing expectations for sharing and working with data across diverse disciplines and in the broad Pan-Arctic geographic domain
  • Encourage the international exchange of data
  • Reduce overlap and wasted effort spent developing data management solutions for small numbers of users

 

The Arctic Observing Network (AON) is supported by the National Science Foundation and consists of more than 30 land, atmosphere, and ocean observation programs, some existing and some as new observing capabilities. This International Polar Year (IPY) initiative will succeed in supporting the science envisioned by its planners only if it functions as a system and not as a collection of independent observation programs. AON planners envision a data management system through which:

  • Scientists can find all data relevant to a location or process
  • All data have browse imagery and complete documentation
  • Time series or fields can be plotted online
  • All metadata are in a relational database so that multiple data sets and sources can be queried

 

The Cooperative Arctic Data and Information Service (CADIS) is a joint effort of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado. Working with NCAR's Earth Observing Laboratory and UCAR Unidata partners, CISL's contributions to CADIS include the application, integration, and enhancement of Community Data Portal (CDP) infrastructure to support the needs of the Arctic research community. CADIS addresses several NCAR strategic priorities including "Exploring atmospheric, Earth System, and solar processes, variability, and change," "Developing and providing advanced services and tools," and "Creating an Earth system knowledge environment."

CADIS began in mid-FY2007, and our efforts in this early phase of the project have been focused on designing high-level architecture for the system, developing data and metadata standards that align with international standards, extending the CDP infrastructure to accommodate CADIS datasets, designing metadata authoring and publishing systems, and prototyping new web-based visualization tools for some of the data sources that we will need to address in CADIS.

In FY2008 we will develop and release our first evaluation capabilities with a primary focus on physical and chemical systems. Building on community feedback, we will refine and evolve our requirements and continue to advance our CDP technology base in support of CADIS.

More information on CADIS is available at the project website.

CADIS is supported via a combination of NSF special support and NSF Core funding.