NASA’s Common Metadata Repository Drives Earth Observation Data

NASA’s Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) provides full and open access to more than 17.5 petabytes of Earth observation data. To give an idea of how much data this represents, 1 petabyte is equivalent to approximately 20 million 4 drawer filing cabinets filled with text. By 2020 the EOSDIS data archive is estimated to be approximately 65 petabytes and by 2025 it will grow to more than 330 petabytes.

This massive volume of data is managed by NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS) Project. EOSDIS has developed systems that allow users from around the world to easily search the entire EOSDIS data catalog and find relevant data products in less than a second. How is this possible you ask the answer; a Common Metadata Repository (CMR).

The Common Metadata Repository (CMR), is the definitive management system for EOSDIS Earth science metadata. As a single, shared, scalable metadata repository, the CMR merges all current capabilities and metadata from the existing NASA Earth science metadata systems of the Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) and the EOSDIS’ EOS Clearing House (ECHO).

Using metadata as its foundation and designed to be scalable as EOSDIS data holdings grow, the CMR brings an evolutionary—and a revolutionary—architecture to EOSDIS data that benefits both data users and data providers.