Guidance at the technical level is also provided by the ECS Science Advisors. These science community representatives, sometimes referred to as ECS "tire-kickers", participate in reviews, evaluate ECS prototypes and evaluation packages and provide comments on a technical level for various issues as requested by NASA. The Science Advisors produce recommendations, evaluations and feedback about details of the technical design and implementation that are incorporated into future design changes.
Technical working groups are made up of members of the science community who work closely with NASA and ECS team members to address specific technical challenges. For example, the Ad Hoc Working Group on Production was formed to address issues associated with data processing, storage, and distribution capacities of EOSDIS. The Data Modeling Working Group was formed to address issues on information architecture and modeling. Technical working groups are formed as needed and include NASA, science community and ECS representatives.
The DAAC User Working Groups consist of science users with expertise or interaction with a specific DAAC. They provide guidance on DAAC plans, budgets and operations. The DAAC Scientist is the primary interface between ECS and the DAAC User Working Groups.
A broad spectrum of the science community is represented at the ECS reviews, where guidance is provided at all technical levels. Reviews focus on everything from EOS policy to specific implementation of design; Earth science community members are invited to review and comment on issues presented. Critiques are submitted by science community members, and ECS responds to each critique by stating how the issue will be handled in the future. This process helps to guide work at all technical levels, and requires that ECS be responsive to the science user.
