DISSEMINATING NATURAL HAZARD INFORMATION THROUGH NASA'S GLOBAL CHANGE MASTER DIRECTORY

With the occurrence of the Sumatra earthquake and tsunami in December 2004, public interest in natural hazards has increased. In the days and weeks following this event, NASA's Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) received inquiries related to tsunamis. The GCMD enabled users to locate and obtain access to tsunami data sets from this event, as well as data from previous natural disasters. Users were also able to locate services related to natural hazards, including environmental advisories and educational resources by selecting a keyword or entering a search query. The GCMD provides the capability to seamlessly navigate between data sets and services via Related_URLs. The Related_URL links the associated data set and service descriptions. The GCMD holds descriptions of over 225 natural hazard data sets including tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, hurricanes, wildfires, and other disasters, as well as over 200 descriptions of environmental advisory and hazard management services.