Dataset Search and Discovery

NASA Common Metadata Repository

There are a variety of search and discovery methods allowing users to find NASA Earthdata from a graphical user interface (GUI) or using programmatic access methods, depending on preference. Any search and discovery method leverages the NASA Common Metadata Repository to find data of interest.

NASA’s Common Metadata Repository (CMR) is a high-performance, high-quality, continuously evolving metadata system that catalogs all data and service metadata records for NASA’s Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) and will be the authoritative management system for all EOSDIS metadata. These metadata records are registered, modified, discovered, and accessed through programmatic interfaces leveraging standard protocols and APIs.

CMR is the keystone that makes NASA’s Earth observation data discoverable. As a metadata repository, CMR contains Unified Metadata Model (UMM) schema records that describe individual Earth data files (UMM-Granules), collections of files (UMM-Collections), scientific details about the data files (UMM-Variables), related tools and services that act on the data files (UMM-Tools and -Services), and pertinent relationships between these concepts. Using the UMM allows CMR to host its metadata records in several supported native formats, with translation services available between formats.

Search and Discovery Methods

Graphical User Interfaces

NASA Earthdata Search

All of NASA Earthdata are available through NASA Earthdata Search, not just data archived through the NSIDC DAAC. Help article for using Earthdata Search.

NSIDC Data Access Tool

The NSIDC Data Access Tool is accessible from landing pages on the NSIDC website, and is an easy way to filter for files of interest without leaving nsidc.org. Help article for the NSIDC Data Access Tool.

Programmatic

The majority of the shorter form “How Do I’s” and longer form “Tutorials” will present programmatic data access methods using Python. We hope to expand to other languages, such as R, in the future.

earthaccess Python library

earthaccess is a Python library to search for and download or stream NASA Earth science data with just a few lines of code.

“earthaccess revolutionizes NASA data access by drastically reducing the complexity and code required. Since open science is a collaborative effort involving people from different technical backgrounds, our team took the approach that data analysis can and should be made more inclusive and accessible by reducing the complexities of underlying systems.”

Luis López, an NSIDC software developer and earthaccess creator

Instructions for searching for data using earthaccess here.