Overview

The Equal-Area Scalable Earth Grid (EASE-Grid) is intended to be a versatile tool for users of global-scale gridded data, specifically remotely sensed data, although it is gaining popularity as a common gridding scheme for data from other sources as well. Data from various sources can be expressed as digital arrays of varying grid resolutions, which are defined in relation to one of the three possible projections: Northern and Southern Hemispheres and global. The user will find that visualization and intercomparison operations are then greatly simplified and that the tasks of analysis and intercomparison can be more readily accomplished.

The EASE-Grid consists of a set of three equal-area projections: the Northern and Southern Hemispheres (Lambert's equal-area, azimuthal) and full global (cylindrical, equal-area). See Figure 1. The projections can be combined with an infinite number of possible grid definitions. It is based on a philosophy of digital mapping and gridding definitions that were developed at NSIDC. This philosophy was used to implement a library of software routines, which are based on the assumption that a gridded data set is completely defined by two abstractions: the map projection and an overlaid lattice of grid points.

Readers who wish to review detailed EASE-Grid projection mathematics should see the EASE-Grid: A Versatile Set of Equal-Area Projections and Grids Web page. The collection of data sets in EASE-Grid is growing, but the current list can be found on the Data Summaries Web page. A list of tools to be used with EASE-Grid products is available from the Geolocation Tools page. Finally, a history of EASE-Grid development is provided on the Motivation and History Web page.
 

Figure 1. The EASE-Grid Projections
The Northern Hemisphere (top left), the Southern Hemisphere (top right) and global (bottom). EASE-Grid users may specify any subset area of these projections and any grid resolution.