ADVANCED NASA ENVIRONMENTAL DATA FOR STUDYING PUBLIC HEALTH: DATA ACQUISITION, EXPLORATION, ACCESS AND RETRIEVAL SERVICES TODAY, ANALYTICS TOMORROW

In developing and deploying Earth science missions, NASA has taken a methodological approach to answering key scientific questions that allow a better understanding of Earth’s natural processes that lead us to improve life on Earth. In doing so, NASA recognizes the importance of capturing, processing, archiving, and providing space based data that can be utilized for Earth science research and applications. Continuous global coverage of environmental measurements collected by NASA instruments, result in atmospheric (many of which are taken at various atmospheric levels), precipitation, and land cover data. These datasets have proven valuable to public health researchers, modelers, and decision makers by providing information that can be related to the cause, and effect, of changes in public health.

Recognizing the diverse needs and extent for NASA Earth science data, by the science research and application communities, NASA also has invested in improving the manipulation, accessibility and usability of NASA data. Data service and tools represent innovative, leading edge technologies, and user driven solutions.

This presentation describes NASA Earth science data, and data management and access tools, relevant to public health research and decision making. Specific information, and examples, currently available from NASA’s Goddard Earth Science Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) as well as NASA funded public health related projects, demonstrate ways NASA Earth science data can be applied and utilized. In addition, a broader collection of health related remote sensing data and data services from non-NASA sources, are described.

Today, we stand at the starting line to engage new methodologies that will allow us to decipher and discover meaningful information extracted from ever increasing hoards of data. Employing analytic techniques to related big datasets is new, and far from being perfected. Possibilities are provided.