Interoperability, Data Discovery and Access: The e-Infrastructures for Earth Sciences Resources

Abstract

The ever-increasing need to integrate knowledge from the diverse disciplines of the Earth System sciences requires to switch from data-centric systems towards service-oriented enabling infrastructures. Important international initiatives and programmes are defining a standard baseline for interoperability of geospatial information, models and technologies, in particular for data discovery and access. We describe the design of an e-infrastructure for Earth Sciences, from the point of view of the data, services and distribution model. This design is implemented in the Siberian Earth System Science Cluster (SIB-ESS-C), an e-infrastructure supporting the generation and distribution of products and information about central Siberia, along with advanced analysis tools for Earth Sciences.