PerSYS – Permafrost Information System Web-GIS: Visualization of permafrost-related Remote Sensing products for ESA GlobPermafrost

ESA GlobPermafrost (2016-2019, http://www.globpermafrost.info) provides a remote sensing service for permafrost research and applications. The service comprises of data product generation for various regions and spatial scales as well as specific infrastructure allowing visualization and access to datasets. Based on an online user survey conducted within the project, the user community extensively applies GIS software to handle remote sensing-derived datasets and requires preview functionalities before accessing them. In response, we developed the Permafrost Information System PerSys which is conceptualized as an Open Access geospatial data dissemination and visualization portal for Earth Observation, i.e. remote sensing-derived datasets produced within the ESA GlobPermafrost project. The prototype and final remote sensing products and metadata will be visualized in the PerSys WebGIS and are described and searchable via the PerSys Data Catalogue. The WebGIS visualization is managed via the AWI WebGIS infrastructure maps@awi (http://maps.awi.de) relying on OGC-standardized Web Mapping Service (WMS) and Web Feature Service (WFS) technologies for data display and visualization. The PerSys WebGIS projects allow visualization of raster and vector products such as land cover classification, Landsat multispectral index trend datasets, lake and wetland extents, InSAR-based land surface deformation maps, rock glacier velocity fields, spatially distributed permafrost model outputs, and land surface temperature datasets. Each of these WebGIS projects is adapted to the spatial scale of the specific products, ranging from local to hemispherical coverage. The PerSys Data Catalogue will provide the metadata and the access to all mature-state and final-state GlobPermafrost products. PerSys can be accessed through the GlobPermafrost project webpage. PerSys is also a core component of the Arctic Permafrost Geospatial Centre (APGC), a geodata portal for permafrost launched within the framework of the ERC PETA-CARB project at the Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum fur Polar and Meeresforschung AWI. The APGC framework features a range of permafrost-specific geospatial data projects, including PerSys, and will allow searching for project-specific geospatial data by tags, keywords, data type and format, licence type, or by location. PerSys will be launched within APGC in early 2017. Long-term availability of PerSys and APGC is guaranteed through AWI. PerSys will also integrate remote sensing products from previous European permafrost observing programs using earth observation, in particular from ESA DUE Permafrost, ESA STSE ALANIS Methane and EU FP7 PAGE21. We aim also to catalogue and visualize external permafrost-related satellite-derived products. The Open Access data library PANGAEA serves as permanent archive for the final GlobPermafrost products, providing permanent Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) for each dataset archived. Final product data sets of ESA DUE Permafrost project are already published under DOI doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.780111.