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Overview

The Earth Science Data System Working Groups (ESDSWG) is a NASA organization established under the auspices of NASA Headquarters in 2004. The chartered role of the ESDSWG focuses on the exploration and development of recommendations derived from pertinent community insights of NASA's heterogeneous and distributed Earth science data systems.

ESDSWG is comprised of working groups organized around key technology and information system issues. Each working group functions independently establishing their own work plans on germane data system issues and topics. ESDSWG members are drawn from a broad range of NASA-funded science and technology projects, NASA information technology experts, affiliated contractor staff and other interested community members from academia and industry.

  • ESDSWG Manager: Sara Lubkin, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
  • ESDSWG Coordinator: Steve Olding, NASA Goddard/Science Systems and Applications, Inc. (SSAI)

What Working Groups Do

  • Provide expert advice: Working groups make recommendations to the Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS) Project for decision making and prioritization purposes.
  • Problem solving: Working groups address various challenges, issues, and opportunities in response to Earth Science Data System (ESDS) Program priorities and community-identified needs.
  • Efficiency improvement: Working groups develop guidelines and best practices that address the practical implementation of standards and technologies, enhance data interoperability, and improve software development and software architecture practices.

Working Group Formation

Working groups are formed, renewed, and retired on an annual cycle based around the ESDSWG annual meeting. Working groups typically operate for a minimum one-year term but may be renewed for additional one year terms with the concurrence of the ESDSWG community. Each working group will have an action plan that defines specific objectives, stakeholders, activities, and deliverables. Once a working group's objectives have been met, its activities completed, and its deliverables have been finalized, the working group will be retired and its members move on to other working group activities.

Large Mission Scale Data

This working group will consider challenges related to supporting science for large mission-scale analysis projects. This group will recommend best practices for accessing and working with large data sets within NASA's cloud/multi-cloud and middleware environment. They will also explore best practices for the import/access of non-NASA datasets into NASA's cloud and middleware environment. The group will document experiences and perform an analysis of available architectures.

Read more about the work of ESDSWG.