MODIS and Vector-Borne Diseases

EarthzineArticles, EO for Health, Original, Sections

Remote sensing via satellites enables us to survey the spatial-temporal patterns of vector-borne diseases in both near and distant places. In this article, MODIS imaging time series, in particular, are explored as an application to bolster surveillance and vector control programs.

NASA Earth Exchange (NEX): Managing Scientific Knowledge and Collaboration

EarthzineArticles, Earth Science Informatics, Informatics Theme, Original, Sections, Themed Articles

Cropped image of a map of Slovenia

NASA Earth Exchange (NEX) is a collaborative platform that combines state-of-the-art supercomputing, Earth system modeling, remote-sensing data from NASA and other agencies, and a scientific social network to provide an environment in which users can explore and analyze large Earth science data sets, run modeling and analysis codes, collaborate on new or existing projects, and share results within or among communities. A number of technologies are being tested to enhance scientific productivity within the NEX community.

Earth Science Data Analysis in the Era of Big Data

EarthzineArticles, Earth Science Informatics, Informatics Theme, Original, Sections, Themed Articles

Image of OGC Sensor Web Enablement standards

Many Earth scientists are wondering: How will Big Data technologies benefit Earth science research? To illustrate the effects of combining a Big Data technology with an effective means of collaboration, we relate the (fictitious) experience of an early-career Earth science researcher a few years beyond the present, interlaced and contrasted with reminiscences of its recent past.

Improving Numerical Weather Prediction Models and Data-Access Latencies

EarthzineArticles, Earth Science Informatics, Informatics Theme, Original, Sections, Themed Articles

The data center community must work to allow researchers more time to spend on analyzing results and less time coding and worrying about file formats and data transfers. We identify some of the existing limitations of traditional archives, discuss examples of model data diagnostics, and explore the many benefits of providing archive-based computational resources on peta-scale databases.

Twenty Buses a Day: The High Stakes Race to Create a Global Cholera Early Warning System

EarthzineArticles, Climate, Earth Observation, Health, Oceans, Original, Sections, Water

What infectious disease kills the most children under the age of five? If you guessed malaria or AIDS, guess again. Cholera claims more victims than either of those diseases. Now, a team of researchers are developing a method to provide early warning of cholera outbreaks. If successful, the effort could drastically reduce the number of cholera deaths.

OGC netCDF: Powerful Tool for Science

EarthzineArticles, Climate, Earth Observation, Earth Science Informatics, Informatics Theme, Oceans, Original, Sections, Themed Articles

A widely used “fluid earth systems” data model and data access standard called netCDF now provides an important bridge between GIS and the complex 4-D processing systems used in oceanography and atmospheric sciences. By bringing netCDF into the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards organization, the netCDF community has given climate scientists, for example, a streamlined method for bringing virtually all types of spatial/temporal data and processing into climate science models and workflows.