Accessing NASA Precipitation Data via a Cloud-based Analytical Framework for Precipitation Research (CAPRi)

Researchers at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), in collaboration with NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (NASA/MSFC), have developed a Cloud-based Analytic Framework for Precipitation Research (CAPRi) to ease the burden of accessing, visualizing, and analyzing precipitation data. Application programming interfaces (APIs), visualization software, and analysis tools are hosted online in an Amazon cloud environment to provide advanced use of precipitation data from the Global Precipitation Measurement Validation Network (GPM VN). This specialized environmental data are integrated with deep learning models to provide an analysis-optimized cloud data store with access via on-demand to cloud-based serverless tools. In addition, on-line services provided by CAPRI are available to help automate the generation of large volumes of high-quality precipitation training data required for successful development of deep learning models and possess the ability to run the model. Although the initial target audiences for CAPRi were precipitation scientists (e.g., NASA's PMM Science Team, etc.), CAPRi is applicable to many areas of Earth Science research that has a need for organizing, sub-setting, analyzing, and modeling diverse environmental datasets. The CAPRi graphical user interface (GUI) was specifically designed to support inexperienced users to cloud-based web applications. This presentation will provide an opportunity to demonstrate CAPRi's functionality.