Bugbee, Kaylin

Dixon, Valerie

Hernandez, Betzy

Le Roux, Jeanne

Ramachandran, Rahul

Shum, Dana

Sisco, Adam

Staton, Patrick

NASA Technical Reports Server

EGU General Assembly
Vienna, Austria
April 9, 2018
Kaylin Bugbee1, Valerie Dixon2, Rahul Ramachandran2, Dana Shum3, Jeanne le Roux1, Adam 
Sisco1, Patrick Staton1, and Betzy Hernandez1
(1) University of Alabama in Huntsville, (2) NASA,
(3) Raytheon Company Riverdale
NASA’s Collaborative Metadata 
Curation Activity to Improve 
Earth Science Data Discovery
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20180002389 2019-08-29T17:42:32+00:00Z
NASA Earth Science Data
NASA’s Earth Observing 
System Data and Information 
System (EOSDIS) 
Data is archived and distributed 
by 12 Distributed Active Archive 
Centers (DAACs)
Nearly 7,000 collections and 
370 million granules are 
described by metadata housed 
in the Common Metadata 
Repository (CMR)
One stop shop for NASA 
Earth Science Data
Uses metadata in the 
CMR to help users find 
the information they are 
looking for
Functions best when 
metadata is complete, 
consistent, accurate
Earthdata Search
Search and Discovery
Spatial Coverage
Wide Field Camera (WFC)
1 granule
LIDAR 2M granules
Imaging Infrared Radiometer (IIR)
449K granules
CALIPSO
Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal 
Polarization (CALIOP)
170K granules
Traditional 
curation
What is metadata curation?
Digital curation
“Digital curation 
involves 
maintaining, 
preserving and 
adding value to 
digital research 
data throughout 
its lifecycle.”
Digital Curation Center, Edinburgh, Scotland
Metadata curation
Supports the 
research data 
lifecycle by 
ensuring the 
correctness, 
completeness 
and consistency 
of metadata
Team is comprised of Earth Science 
data and metadata specialists
Backgrounds in Earth science, 
atmospheric science, space science, 
and remote sensing
Previous experience from the Climate 
Data Initiative (CDI)
o Review of 850 metadata records 
for quality and accessibility
Analysis and Review of CMR (ARC) Team
Import collection 
metadata record 
from CMR
Perform 
automated 
compliance 
review
2 curators each 
perform a 
manual content 
review
Process is repeated for 1 randomly selected granule (when granule exists)
Findings are 
packaged into 
detailed reports that 
identify record-
specific issues
Overview report 
identifies DAAC-
wide issues
Quality metrics 
are documented 
and tracked
High
• Inaccurate, incomplete, or 
missing content
• Broken URLs and invalid 
collection-granule relationships
Med
• Revisions of existing content
• Addition of new information
Low • Minor consistency issues
Priority classification scheme
1. Assists DAAC in formulating a strategic 
plan to address findings
2. Used to track resolution of issues
ARC Curation Process
CMR
ARC Team
DAAC
CMR Team DAAC ingests 
improved 
metadata into 
CMR
Stakeholders collaborate to 
address both DAAC-specific 
and EOSDIS-wide issues
Discuss UMM 
evolution and 
brainstorm new 
Earthdata Search 
Client functionalities
Resolve collection and 
granule metadata 
content issues
DAAC devises 
strategy and 
timeline to work 
off findings
DAAC performs 
incremental 
metadata 
improvementsProcess repeats to build community consensus 
around new policies and best practices
ARC Curation Process
Phase I Metrics
Reviewed over 25% of collection 
level records in CMR
• Records from all 12 data 
centers reviewed
Reviewed metadata in 4 dialects
Supported two data centers in the 
generation of brand new collection 
and granule metadata
Phase 1 
Phase 2  
1,959 collections reviewed
ORNL
SEDAC
Key Outcomes from Phase I
Metadata Curation Dashboard
Goals of the dashboard include:
• Providing an environment for ARC reviewers and metadata 
curators to collaborate on metadata improvements
• Streamlining communication between ARC and the data centers
• Creating easy to read reports of ARC’s metadata findings
• Generating metadata quality metrics 
Metadata Curation Documentation
Developing easy to understand 
guidance or best practices on 
metadata
Metadata curation wiki space 
will include detailed information 
on each element 
Will support metadata curation 
dashboard and other tools https://wiki.earthdata.nasa.gov/display
/CMR/Collection+Progress
Thank You!
Questions?
Contact me at:
Kaylin Bugbee
Kaylin.m.bugbee@nasa.gov


NASA's Collaborative Metadata Curation Activity to Improve Earth Science Data Discovery

NASA's Collaborative Metadata Curation Activity to Improve Earth Science Data Discovery

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