Lessons Learned: The first year operating as a cloud-based Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC)

Abstract:

The Global Hydrology Resource Center Distributed Active Archive Center (GHRC DAAC), a joint venture between the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) and NASA, has served as the pathfinder for all DAACs in transitioning to a cloud-based archive. GHRC DAAC became the first DAAC to transition all of its holdings to the cloud at the end of fiscal year 2019. For fiscal year 2020, GHRC DAAC has operated in a hybrid mode, conducting data ingest from data providers and publishing data to the archive, concurrently with its original on-site systems and in the cloud. This is in preparation for GHRC DAAC to transition to a cloud-only DAAC in fiscal year 2021.

This presentation will describe the reasoning behind the transition to the cloud, experiences acquired during this first year of cloud operations, and plans for the future as GHRC DAAC moves from the current hybrid to cloud-only operation. Specifically, the presentation will discuss the lessons learned on making the technical transition as well as how the data publication process has evolved, both for data providers and data users. Furthermore, the cloud transition offers opportunities for an improved user experience, whether offering an enterprise-level interface for data providers (e.g., Earthdata Pub) to improved crossDAAC data access and analysis for data users.