Subject: The Global Change Master Directory (GCMD)

From: [email-masked] (John N. Scialdone)
Date: Mon, 12 Dec 1994 17:54:43 +0400

The Global Change Master Directory (GCMD)
            -----------------------------------------

The Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) project originates from NASA
Goddard Space Flight Center's (GSFC) Global Change Data Center in
Greenbelt, Maryland.  A multidisciplinary database, the GCMD contains
nearly 3000 data set descriptions of national and international remote
sensing, in situ, and ground observational data. The U.S. contributors
include NASA, NOAA, USGS, DOE, NBS, EPA, NSF, NCAR, and universities,
while international holdings from Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Europe,
Africa, Russia, Japan, and Australia are represented.  The
descriptions provide information such as geographic and temporal
coverage, spacecraft/sensor, investigator, data contact, storage
medium, parameters measured and derived, discipline, location,
summary, and data quality. Some descriptions are provided with an
automated connection to an external system for more detailed
information, browsing, and data ordering capabilities.

The GCMD now hosts a 'home page' on the World Wide Web (WWW) as part
of the GCMD effort to provide access to global change/Earth science
data and information. The home page features direct-querying via
controlled fields and free-text Wide Area Information System (WAIS)
searches of the GCMD, GCMD News, lists of data sources, and GCMD
Documentation.  The home page also provides access to the Committee on
Earth Observing Satellites' (CEOS) International Directory Network
(IDN), comprised of nodes in North America (NASA/GSFC), Europe
(European Space Agency Earthnet Programme Office (ESA/EPO)), and Japan
(National Space Development Agency (NASDA) Earth Observation Center).
The construction and maintenance of the GCMD home page and underlying
hypertext links is a high-priority activity of the GCMD staff, with
new information added weekly and monthly.

The GCMD home page can be accessed using WWW browsers such as Mosaic
or MacWeb and the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) address
http://gcmd.gsfc.nasa.gov/. Mosaic and MacWeb provide 'Forms'
capability whereby users can submit queries directly to the GCMD
database from the home page. The GCMD client can also be accessed via
telnet gcmd.gsfc.nasa.gov. and login as 'gcdir'. The client will
recognize your workstation and give you the X-window or ASCII
interface.

To access the NASA/GSFC node via modem, set to 8 bits, no parity, 1
stop bit, dial (301) 286-4000 (9600 baud) or (301) 286-9000 (2400
baud), Enter number: SISC, CALL COMPLETE <CR>, Username: YOUR NAME,
Local: c gcmd, login: gcdir

To access the European node, NSI/DECnet > $Set Host 29628, USERNAME:
ESAPID or INTERNET > $TELNET 192.106.252.160, USERNAME: ESAPID
*The CNES node is operational with X-Window and can be reached via ESA
node*

To access the Japanese node, NSI/DECnet > $Set Host 41950, USERNAME:
NASDADIR or INTERNET > $TELNET 133.56.72.1, USERNAME: NASDADIR

If you are interested in listing data sets in the GCMD, contact:

John N. Scialdone
Global Change Master Directory Project Office
Atmospheric Science Coordinator
Hughes-STX Corporation
7701 Greenbelt Road, Suite 400
Greenbelt, MD 20770
Telephone: (301) 441-4214
FAX: (301) 441-9486
[email-masked]

or

Lola M. Olsen
GCMD Project Manager
Code 902
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, MD 20771
Telephone: (301) 286-9760
FAX: (301) 286-1775
[email-masked]