An Ecological Data Revolution is underway giving ecologists unprecedented insights to Earth’s systems and driven by the integration and harmonization of data sources from multiple spatial scales. Traditional field data provide observations of organisms and their environment on the local to regional level. NASA satellite-based remote sensing data complements field data with environmental variables such as temperature and precipitation, and vegetative data such as canopy height and evaporative stress.

NASA data are free and open, but not always intuitively discoverable and accessible. NASA’s Earth Science Data Systems (ESDS) program and Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs) have developed resources and tools to overcome this challenge. In this workshop, we will demonstrate resources for ecologists wishing to get started using NASA data.

• The Earthdata team will walk through the website’s new “Learn” section’s ecological forecasting Data Pathfinder and Toolkit, which guide users to applicable datasets and tools, making it easier to find exactly what they need. 
• The DAAC for Biogeochemical Dynamics (ORNL DAAC) will demonstrate data discovery and processing tools, including the Soil Moisture Visualizer, the Spatial Data Access Tool, and data subsetting.
• NASA’s Land Processes (LP) DAAC will provide an introduction to the Application for Extracting and Exploring Analysis Ready Samples and other E-learning resources relevant to the Ecology community.
• The newly-chartered Earth Science Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) Team (EGIST) will introduce instructional materials and tutorials for GIS-enablement, visualization, and analytics.

Participants will learn how to get started using NASA tools and data. No previous remote sensing experience required.