DETECT is making selected research datasets easier to find, explore, and use through two complementary online platforms: the THREDDS Data Service and the ESGF Data Platform. Both are part of DETECT’s broader effort to improve access to data and model outputs generated across the consortium, helping research results become more transparent, reusable, and easier to connect across projects.
The THREDDS Data Service provides direct access to selected DETECT datasets, including widely used scientific data formats such as NetCDF and GRIB. Through standard services such as OPeNDAP, HTTP, and WMS, users can browse available data, visualize them, and access them programmatically for their own analysis workflows. The THREDDS catalog is hosted at the Jülich Supercomputing Centre (JSC).
The ESGF Data Platform complements this by offering a searchable data discovery environment for selected DETECT datasets. Through the ESGF federation infrastructure, users can explore structured metadata and access published datasets, making it easier to discover relevant data and integrate them into broader Earth system research workflows.
For DETECT, these services are more than technical tools. They support the CRC’s core mission of understanding how land-use change and water management influence the coupled water and energy cycles of land and atmosphere. By making datasets easier to discover and access, the platforms help researchers compare results, reuse data, and connect observations with modelling activities across projects.
Together with the existing DETECT Data Portal, these services strengthen DETECT’s data infrastructure. The Data Portal serves as a repository for metadata and a broad range of datasets and model outputs, while THREDDS and ESGF provide additional ways to access, explore, and discover selected published datasets.
You can explore the platforms via the DETECT website under Resources:
https://thredds.jsc.fz-juelich.de/thredds/catalog/catalog.html
