SAGE: A tool for time-series analysis of Greenland

The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) has developed an operational tool for analysis. This production tool is known as "Services for the Analysis of the Greenland Environment" (SAGE). Using an integrated workspace approach, a researcher has the ability to find relevant data and perform various analysis functions on the data, as well as retrieve the data and analysis results. While there continues to be compelling observational evidence for increased surface melting and rapid thinning along the margins of the Greenland ice sheet, there are still uncertainties with respect to estimates of mass balance of Greenland's ice sheet as a whole. To better understand the dynamics of these issues, it is important for scientists to have access to a variety of datasets from multiple sources, and to be able to integrate and analyze the data. SAGE provides data from various sources, such as AMSR-E and AVHRR datasets, which can be analyzed individually through various time-series plots and aggregation functions; or they can be analyzed together with scatterplots or overlaid time-series plots to provide quick and useful results to support various research products. The application is available at http://nsidc.org/data/sage/. SAGE was built on top of NSIDC's existing Searchlight engine. The SAGE interface gives users access to much of NSIDC's relevant Greenland raster data holdings, as well as data from outside sources. Additionally, various web services provide access for other clients to utilize the functionality that the SAGE interface provides. Combined, these methods of accessing the tool allow scientists the ability to devote more of their time to their research, and less on trying to find and retrieve the data they need.