MDE-Thredds: A Django-based plugin for managing THREDDS data server

The Thematic Real-Time Environmental Distributed Data Services (THREDDS) Data Server is an open-source, Java-based web application that enables metadata and data access to scientific netCDF datasets. In recent years, more and more research institutes implemented THREDDS to give researchers and other end-users access to a wide range of real-time and archival data sets from earth system sciences. 

A number of features and interfaces are provided by THREDDS that facilitate the interactive and automated exploration, standardization and use of data like the automated generation of ISO-formatted metadata files or the provision of OGC-services (WMS and WCS). However, the configuration of THREDDS via XML-catalogs remains difficult and is usually restricted to system admins. And particularly the publication and consistent maintenance of a large number of datasets is prone to errors and hence proves to be difficult and time-consuming. 

Within the Model Data Explorer (MDE, https://model-data-explorer.readthedocs.io), a cross-institutional project to simplify a FAIR publication of model data on the web, we develop a module to overcome these configuration issues and enable scientists to make their environmental research data available on the web. This MDE-THREDDS module manages the catalogs and configurations of the THREDDS data server by providing a user-friendly web-interface for handling major components of THREDDS, including catalogs and web services. A flexible permission system enables scientists and other data producers to add and update their own datasets without the need for manually editing the underlying THREDDS catalogs. This permission system further allows server administrators to moderate and facilitate the publication of data on the web by scientists and other end-users which, hence, ensures a standardized and consistent THREDDS catalog infrastructure.

Overall, with MDE-THREDDS, we want to give scientists and other data producers a simple and user-friendly framework for making their research data open and FAIR through a wide range of standardized and well-established web interfaces.