Level 1 Workflows

We have decades of experience managing workflows to convert raw Level 0 data to Level 1 products, the foundation of Earth Science. Level 1 data are:

• observed data that have been calibrated and corrected for instrument artifacts and systematic bias
• peer reviewed and using traceable standard operating protocols (SOP) and quality assurance and control (QA/QC)
• fully documented including metadata, and adhere to FAIR and open data practices

Level 1 data provide users with high quality observational data. These can be used for research and applications, and also further processed into value added products (e.g. remote sensing retrievals of Earth system parameters).

We can provide expertise creating and implementing the full work flow required, or individual aspects of the Level 1 process.

Data Management

A data management plan is required for modern research and application projects to ensure the data are properly maintained long-term and accessible. Elements of a modern data management plan should meet FAIR data requirements, and ensure your data are Findable (metadata, DOIs), Accessible (downloadable), Interoperable (standard formats, vocabularies, linkages), and Reusable (data provenance, licensing). Smaller projects often utilize a large data center service providing these services. Larger projects may require a more complicated data management plan including a mixture of in-house vs outsourced data center services, as well as requirements to meet more FAIR metrics. Level One Data can help navigate this process and provide assistance with tools to support your data management.

Network Design and Management

We can assist larger instrument projects with designing or improving their network design, and managing the myriad of workflows required. Each instrument network has unique requirements. At Level One Data we have vast experience with passive and active remote sensing instrumentation and networks, and we can provide detailed assistance with design details. For other application, we can work with your subject matter experts (SME) and help with network design that will integrate smoothly with Level 1 workflows and your user community needs. We have experience working with small and large networks, regional and global, as well as managing collaborations and interoperability needs with related projects. We can help you design your network and project infrastructure for success.

Most Earth observation networks, regardless of application, benefit from or require ongoing intercomparison efforts with other projects providing the same or similar data. These may be oriented to validation of your data, or simply to develop a baseline quality for your observation especially if it is new. We can help develop and implement intercomparison programs and network tiers for your observation. The concept of tiered networks establishes a baseline high quality network (or mobile calibration facility), and successive tiers of related networks that rely on the baseline for traceability and QA.

Data Center Operations

For larger projects and networks, the data center provides more than simply delivering data to users. Your data center is a collection of resources that provide for incoming data from field instruments (telemetry), IT security and pre-processing of data, post-processing (e.g. calibration) and generation of Level 1 and valued added products, data archiving, metadata production and database service, website front end and data distribution, APIs for data and metadata including machine 2 machine (M2M), and more. We have decades of experience designing and operating full scale data centers for Earth observation projects. We an assist with design of your data center, or help improving and implementing existing infrastructure.

We have proven success building and running secure telemetry services for international field sites, as well as running both on-premises and cloud data centers as well as hybrid arrangements. We can assist with various data delivery latency requirements, from near-real-time to months and the various impacts on your data center design. We have experience with several data and metadata formats (netcdf, hdf, various ascii formats, JSON, etc) and standards (CF, GEOMS, WIGOS, I-Adopt, GCMD, WIS/WIS2, etc). We are proficient in numerous script/program languages (bash, python, Django, IDL, javascript, react, html, SQL programming, C ...) and operating systems (linux, Mac OS, Windows). Finally, we have several years of experience developing, implementing, and managing AWS data centers, including both full stack and dev/ops roles (EC2, S3, Cognito, IAM, Route 53, Load Balancing, VPC, Amplify, Cloudfront, Workmail, CodeArtifact, and more).

Research and Applications

Our team has decades of experience supporting the global scientific community with high quality observed data products and collaboration on countless international research and application projects. Our staff have years of working on a variety of scientific research projects and a strong peer reviewed publication record demonstrating our commitment to observable driven science. We have specific experience working with passive and active remote sensing data, in particular atmospheric lidar. We also have specific experience conducting scientific studies of atmospheric aerosols, clouds, boundary layer processes, air quality, satellite calibration/validation, and aerosol model validation. Please contact us about joining your research in any of these related areas.