For less experienced users of Earth observation data, sifting through scores of ocean data from multiple agencies to find the right dataset for a particular application can be a daunting task. With so many datasets available, it can be hard for users to find and decide which products best meet their needs. And then there’s the process of accessing, visualizing, or analyzing data, all of which are more difficult than they ought to be given heterogeneous mechanisms of data discovery and access across different agency repositories. What’s a new data user to do?

Well, if that user is searching for data on ocean parameters, he or she could look to the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites’ (CEOS) COVERAGE initiative. COVERAGE is an acronym for CEOS Ocean Variables Enabling Research and Applications for GEO (Group on Earth Observations) and the COVERAGE initiative is a collaborative effort to implement an online platform providing simpler, more integrated access to in-situ and satellite data on key parameters pertaining to the four ocean virtual constellations—sea surface temperature, ocean vector winds, ocean surface topography, and ocean color radiometry—in support of marine science and applications prioritized by community stakeholders. In doing so, COVERAGE leverages and seeks to further refine emerging cloud-based technology solutions for data platform implementation and produce a reusable, open-source software stack that can be easily deployed in different contexts to support a range of thematic applications involving the integration of multivariate ocean observations. Funded by NASA’s Earth Science Data Systems (ESDS) and Physical Oceanography (PO) Programs and with contributions from CEOS agency partners, technical implementation of COVERAGE is occurring in a phased manner by the project team based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

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