THREDDS (Thematic Real-time Environmental Distributed Data Services) servers are crucial for optimizing access to many important gridded earth-system datasets. However, any heavy user will tell you they can exhibit annoying limitations like performance bottlenecks, configuration complexities, and stability issues when operating under high loads.
We asked ourselves – can we overcome some of these limitations with Datamesh?
Our initial motivation was to create highly-functional machine-grade access to two magnificent new ocean datasets for Australia. The Wave Hindcast for the Australian Climate Service (WHACS) and the Coupled Coastal Hazard Prediction System (CCHaPS) are 40+ year duration, next-generation hindcasts produced by the Australian Climate Service (ACS). While they cover Australia at an unprecedented resolution, they also span thousands of files.
We built a specialist Datamesh connector that simplifies access to THREDDS, providing an aggregated view across multi-file, multi-folder collections, and allowing users to retrieve a data slice with a single query.
So, when our colleagues at Longline wanted a time series of currents to do an initial evaluation of the ecological carrying capacity at a remote location in Western Australia, we were able to respond to their request in minutes. Thanks Joao and Rui for being our first external users of this functionality.
If you’re a Datamesh user, jump in and try it out! If you would like a short online demo session with Jana, feel free to make contact with her.
