NASA's Alaska Satellite Facility Distributed Active Archive Center (ASF DAAC) is pleased to announce its participation in the NASA Earthdata Forum. The Earthdata Forum provides a central online location where data users can interact with subject-matter experts from the NASA Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs) to discuss data applications and research needs, and get answers to specific questions about accessing, viewing, and manipulating NASA Earth observation data. Current Forum participants include: the Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC), the Crustal Dynamics Data Information System (CDDIS), the Global Hydrometeorology Resource Center DAAC (GHRC DAAC), the Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC), the Land Processes DAAC (LP DAAC), the Level-1 and Atmosphere Archive and Distribution System DAAC (LAADS DAAC), the National Snow and Ice Data Center DAAC (NSIDC DAAC), the Ocean Biology DAAC (OB.DAAC), the Oak Ridge National Laboratory DAAC (ORNL DAAC), the Global Change Master Directory (GCMD), and now the ASF DAAC.
The ASF DAAC is located in the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Troth Yeddha’ campus. The DAAC is supported by NASA to acquire, process, archive, and distribute synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data from sensors onboard aircraft and polar-orbiting satellites to advance Earth science research. It accomplishes this by providing services for data discovery (Vertex Data Search), SAR processing (HyP3, OpenSARLab), and ASF DAAC SAR expert science support. Most of the datasets at the ASF DAAC are open access and freely available to the public for download.
Along with data from NASA missions, including the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) and Seasat missions, the ASF DAAC archives data from missions operated by other international space agencies. This includes data from the ESA (European Space Agency) Copernicus Sentinel-1 constellation and European Remote Sensing Satellites (ERS-2 and ERS-1); the Canadian Space Agency RADARSAT-1; and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's ALOS PALSAR, AVNIR-2, and Japanese Earth Resource Satellite-1 (JERS-1). In addition, the ASF DAAC archives and distributes data from two NASA airborne missions: AirSAR and UAVSAR.
To interact with subject matter experts from participating DAACs and get answers to data application and research questions, visit the Earthdata Forum. For an introduction to the Earthdata Forum and tips on how to use it, watch the Earthdata Forum webinar and access the General User Guide.