Using HPS resources in airborne science

Abstract

NASA performs annual airborne ice surveys for the north and south hemispheres. The instrumentation is up to the scientists, who decide what community goals will have priority for the season. Our partners at CReSIS (Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets) provide radar collection data for the scientific community during these campaigns. The end products of the field season go to the NSIDC (National Snow and Ice Data Center). The NSIDC archives and distributes snow and ice data to the scientific community. The presentation focuses on the work the CBRI Polar Services Team has done with CReSIS and NSIDC, what challenges the environment forced us to overcome, the architecture of the Forward Observer system based on the needs of the science community, and how our team has adapted the system to meet their needs. The data that we collect are an integral part of the annual collection of earth science data from the airborne science community. The ability for the researchers to have HPS (High Performance Systems) while in the field allows them to collect and process the data in real time to ensure that they are getting good data from their instruments, and to adjust flight plans while still in the air to take any follow-up measurements that scientists deem necessary. Polar services' current setup allows us to provide a complete record of secure data collection and transfer from the moment of collection to the ultimate storage in our data center. It allows us to prove the data that was collected is the same data that ends up with the NSIDC. We do this by leveraging open source technology along with software developed in house. This has led to a modular system that lets us take as much or as little as we want to the field. We are continuing to work with our partners to improve the workflow from the top of the world to our data center here at IU where our partners use the Data Capacitor 2 and Big Red II to process the field data into a finished product that is available for consumption at the NSIDC site.