The Airborne Data Management Group (ADMG) works with NASA Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs) to ensure good communication and effective airborne and field data stewardship. Various policies and procedures exist to help bring consistency and user satisfaction to DAAC support of the heterogeneous data collected over the past five decades.

Airborne and Field Data Assignment

Each campaign, facility instrument, or major airborne instrument has an assigned DAAC that is responsible for coordinating the archiving of data and information from the campaign or instrument. The assigned DAAC works with the data producers (research scientists that make the data products) and other DAACs to ensure future data users have the access and information they need.  

NASA Headquarters is responsible for DAAC assignment in collaboration with NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS) Project and ADMG. The ADMG is responsible for creating and sharing a summary of each field activity requiring assignment to provide everyone in the decision-making process with access to the same information about the activity. The DAAC assignment process can take several months; therefore, it is best to alert ADMG as soon as a new campaign activity is funded. Early DAAC assignment tends to significantly improve campaign data stewardship.

DAAC Standards and Policies 

NASA's data and metadata standards are managed by ESDIS. Since many standards and policies were developed with a NASA satellite perspective, ADMG works to augment existing documents or develop new standards or policies for improving airborne and field data management at NASA DAACs. The latest information can be found on the Airborne and Field Working Group Earthdata wiki (limited access; Earthdata login required)  

Additional data stewardship resources are listed below that DAACs may find useful. If you have questions or feel additional resources would be helpful, please contact ADMG (admg@uah.edu).

DAAC Resources

ADMG supports data producers and users of NASA airborne and field investigation data by helping to develop processes and recommended practices for airborne data handling, addition of metadata, documentation, and the discovery, distribution, and preservation of data.

NASA Earth science data and metadata standards are managed by NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS) Project. ADMG works with ESDIS and DAACs to provide data producers with information and access to requirements and standards relevant to airborne and field data production and data handling.

Additional data stewardship resources are available below. Links are provided in order of highest priority. If you have questions or feel additional resources would be helpful, please contact ADMG (admg@uah.edu).

How to Provide Campaign Data to DAACs

• Adding Data from Orbital Missions and Airborne Investigations

Principal Investigators (PIs) and Campaign Data Managers

Use the following resources to help with creating an Open Science and Data Management Plan (OSDMP):

Data Producers

Individuals required to create a data product are encouraged to review the following resources:

Data Delivery and Publication Process for Airborne and Field Investigations

NASA airborne and field investigations are an important part of regional and scientifically-focused studies. The methods by which airborne and field data are observed, prepared, delivered, archived, and distributed vary from the methods used for satellite data. Most significantly, in airborne and field campaigns, individual instrument scientists are responsible for:

• Collecting data
• Structuring data products
• Checking data quality
• Transferring data to the assigned NASA DAACs
• Answering DAAC questions and reviewing data product user guides

Overall, investigation scientists bear responsibility for data product design, metadata assignment, and data formatting in line with ESDS data policies. The Data Producer’s Development Guide (DPDG) contains helpful information and considerations for data product design.

During campaigns, a field archive is used and maintained by the campaign data manager to collect and organize data and provide open access to all project science team investigators and collaborators. Within the required six-month time period from data collection, all datasets must be transferred from the field archive to the assigned DAAC for publication. DAAC personnel are responsible for the following activities: 

• Checking incoming data 
• Ensuring data are properly documented with metadata
• Obtaining data product Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs)
• Distributing and archiving data via the NASA cloud environment
• Providing simple user support (detailed questions are passed along to data producers)
• Performing outreach activities to notify data users of data availability

Note that, in some cases, data may be passed directly from the data producer to the DAAC without going to a field archive first. The diagram below outlines the movement of data through these various steps. Please keep in mind that data publication steps may vary by DAAC. However, significant variation in procedures should be reduced or alleviated once the Earthdata Pub tool is implemented at all DAACs (expected in 2023). 

CASEI

ADMG has constructed and is continuing to update an airborne and field investigation inventory called the Catalog of Archived Suborbital Earth science Investigations (CASEI). The comprehensive inventory provides detailed metadata about NASA airborne campaigns and field investigations, as well as relevant platforms, instruments, deployments, flight details, significant events, and data products. CASEI allows data users to easily access and search information associated with airborne campaigns.