Earth Science Markup Language

Earth Science Markup Language (ESML) Demonstrated with
Remote Sensing Data

July
7, 2004 – An ESTO-funded project has effectively applied the Earth Science
Markup language (ESML) to satellite remote sensing data. The project team,
based at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, used ESML to collocate
data from the MODIS and CERES instruments that are onboard Aqua and Terra
Satellites. This demonstration of the ESML technology represents an advance
in the facility of combining data for remote sensing applications.

Earth science data is archived and distributed in many different formats
– which creates interoperability problems among applications and
data readers when two or more data sets need to be brought together. Typically,
the task of writing separate code for each new data source is time consuming
and redundant.

ESML is a specialized language that can effectively eliminate these problems
without requiring a standard data format. Based on XML (Extensible Markup
Language), ESML helps to represent data in a unique format that is easily
understood without the cost and tedium of data conversion. The ESML interface
also allows results to be accessed and distributed across networks.

To date, several other satellite and numerical modeling data sets have
been described in ESML. The success of this new technology may soon make
more Earth science data sets more useful for specific remote sensing and
modeling applications.