Development of data infrastructure to support scientific analysis for the International GNSS Service

The International GNSS Service provides data and products to support a wide range of global, multidisciplinary scientific research. The service has established a hierarchy of components to facilitate its mission: a globally distributed network of Tracking Stations, Data Centers, Analysis Centers, a Central Bureau, and a Governing Board. The Data Centers, in conjunction with the Central Bureau, serve as the primary means of distributing GNSS data, products, and general information to the user community through ftp and Web servers and email services. The requirements of analysis centers and the scientific community have evolved over the lifetime of the IGS, requiring enhancement and extension of the supporting data center infrastructure. The diversity of IGS data and products extends today from the realm of the real-time and near real-time to the long-term archive and thus forms a basis for multidisciplinary research spanning decades. Reliability of all components is a key requirement within the IGS and is accomplished through the geographic distribution of data centers and the creation of independent, redundant, parallel channels for the transmission of data and products. We discuss the development of the IGS data infrastructure, current status, and plans for future enhancements. Descriptions of IGS data and products and associated metadata are also included.