ESA AVHRR Data Holdings and Ongoing Curation Activities

ESA AVHRR Data Holdings and Ongoing Curation Activities Mirko Albani, Sergio Folco ESA UNCLASSIFIED – For Official Use

Long Term Data Preservation (LTDP) Main Drivers at ESA Data and Knowledge Preservation • Preserve any mission acquired data & associated knowledge as humankind asset safeguarding MSs investment & effort in space R&D & operational data acquisition. • With the assumption/awareness that one can never anticipate the exploitation value of the data asset in the future. • Preservation to be addressed in all EO mission phases; incremental approach for past/current missions, systematic planning/approach for future ones. Data Valorization • Make sure full content of the ESA archives is fit for contemporary purpose and maintained accessible and usable in the long term. • Valorize the data assets for current/future exploitation through building long time series of coherent data and data collections for specific applications; pursue multi -disciplinary data use and “cross-fertilization”. ESA UNCLASSIFIED – For Official Use

ESA LTDP Programme Activities (EO Part) LTDP Programme: approved at ESA Ministerial Council in Nov 2012; joint programme with other ESA directorates. 1. EO Historical Missions Datasets Consolidation, Access, Preservation & Curation: consolidation and archiving of ESA EO Historical Missions data & associated knowledge, data discovery & access, reprocessing & alignment to current missions when feasible. 2. LTDP Specific Developments and Evolutions: specific evolution and development activities necessary to meet programme objectives. 3. LTDP Coordination and International Cooperation: implement basic activities to sustain the European LTDP cooperative framework for national and international missions. ESA UNCLASSIFIED – For Official Use

ESA EO Long Time Data Series Holdings (excerpt) Missions in red are covered within the LTDP Programme ESA UNCLASSIFIED – For Official Use

International Context (since 2008) ESA membership Standards EC Projects European LTDP Framework Task IN-02 LTDP Activities ESA UNCLASSIFIED – For Official Use WGISS DSIG

ESA AVHRR Data Holdings • ESA has been acquiring & archiving data from NOAA POES satellites since 1981 at Maspalomas, Matera and Tromsoe stations. • 6 organizations (NOAA, ESA, USGS, NASA, CSIRO, SMC) coordinated HRPT receiving stations to acquire and compile the 1 Km data set during the “ 1 Km” project started in Apr 1992 and ended in Sep 1996 (23 stations worldwide) ESA Coordinated Stations ESA UNCLASSIFIED – For Official Use

ESA AVHRR Data Holdings Status and activities Status • Volume: ~23 TB (NOAA 7 -19) mixture of Level 0, Level 1 A and Level 1 B • Preserved in the past on a best effort basis • Archived at ESA facilities: part ingested in robotic tape libraries, part on heritage media • Not accessible to users at this time via ESA dissemination systems On-going Activities as part of the ESA LTDP Programme: • Consolidation of ESA AVHRR Data Assets (including associated knowledge) • AVHRR Pilot Curation Project under the auspices of the GSCB aimed at: o Compiling an overall inventory of AVHRR data over Europe o Defining a common approach among European data holders as a first step towards the generation of a “Coherent European AVHRR Dataset”: AVHRR Dataset Curation Feasibility Study (DLR & Uni. BERN) ESA UNCLASSIFIED – For Official Use

ESA AVHRR Data set consolidation 1992 to 1996 Tromsoe 1981 to present Ongoing Activities 1 km / 8 mm Maspalomas Matera Local Archive Data Repatriation all NOAA ESRIN USGS ESA Stations Niamey Nairobi La Reunion Manila Scanzano Terranova Bay Cairo Kuala Lumpur Oberpfaffenhofen • Detailed inventories under consolidation • Level 0 dataset consolidation procedure defined with experts • Transcription, extraction and repatriation activities ongoing ESA UNCLASSIFIED – For Official Use

AVHRR Pilot Curation Project Activities 1. Compile the overall AVHRR data inventory for the data available at ESA and acquired in the frame of national European projects with complete spatial and temporal coverage information identifying gaps and missing data. 2. Assess L 0 and higher-level products common data and metadata formats, content and structure. 3. Assess the available pre-processing calibration files, geometric correction, atmospheric correction, taking also into account all the processing chains available. 4. Gather user requirements for L 1 a, L 1 b and L 2 thematic products, and for the discoverability and accessibility of AVHRR long time data series. 5. Review and consolidate the preliminary reprocessing baseline with AVHRR international experts. 6. Assess the feasibility and cost-benefit of the harmonization of a European coverage AVHRR coherent dataset. MORE DETAILED PRESENTATION TOMORROW ESA UNCLASSIFIED – For Official Use

Main challenges • Availability (and related conditions) of AVHRR data from European organizations to contribute to the joint and cooperative effort of building up a “Coherent European AVHRR Dataset” o Data Access Policy, Physical Storage Location, IPRs • Agreement on baseline approach for the “Coherent European AVHRR Dataset” generation • Management of “Coherent European AVHRR Dataset and associated knowledge”: o Common and agreed principles and guidelines o Possibility to have single entry points for users to discover and access the Coherent Dataset (on-line) – Federated discovery and access ESA UNCLASSIFIED – For Official Use

Next Steps • Completion of ESA AVHRR data holdings consolidation according to tailored procedure reviewed by expert users • Completion of European coverage analysis considering data from all organizations and definition of technical approach and principles for joint contribution to the “Coherent European AVHRR Dataset” • KO of dedicated project on “European AVHRR Dataset” • o LAC FDR generation according to Curation Feasibility Study and today’s meeting results: scope and activities TBD o Joint publication, dissemination, archiving and management Use project lessons learned and experience as input for the preparation of future ESA EO Programmes ESA UNCLASSIFIED – For Official Use