A
ADC	Affiliated data center
AIRS	Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (see EOS PM)
AMSU	Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (see EOS 
PM)
ANSA	Advanced Network System Architecture, part of 
European Project ESPRITA.  ANSA provides 
an architecture framework for distributed 
processing
API	Application program interface
ARPA	Advanced Research Project Agency.  Includes 
ftp, telnet, and smtp. (file transfer protocol, 
telnet, and simple mail transfer protocol).
ASF	Alaska SAR Facility, a DAAC
ATLAS	Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and 
Science
AVHRR	Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer
B
C
CCB	Configuration Change Board
CDR	Critical Design Review
CDS	Cell directory service
CERES	Clouds and Earths Radiant Energy system (see 
EOS AM and EOS PM)
ChUI	Character user interface
CIESIN	Consortium for Earth Science Information 
Network
CNRI	Corporation for National Research Initiatives
CORBA	Common Object Request Broker Architecture
COSE	Corporation for Open System Environments
COTS	Commercial off-the-shelf software
CSMS	Communications and System Management 
Segment
CSR	Consent to Ship Review
D
DAAC	Distributed Active Archive Center, see ASF, 
EDC, GSFC, JPL, LaRC, MSFC, NSIDC and 
ORNL
DADS	Data Archive and Distribution System
DBMS	Database management system
DCE	Distributed Computing Environment
DFS	Distributed File Service
DME	Distributed Management Environment
DP	Data Panel
DSS	Diskless Support Service
DTS	Distributed Time Service
E
Ecom	EOS Communication System
ECS	EOSDIS Core System
EDC	EROS Data Center, a DAAC
EDOS	EOS Data and Operations System
EDS	Earth Data System
EDS IMC	Electronic Data Systems Information Center
EOS	Earth Observing System
EOS AM	EOS AM Project (morning spacecraft series - 
see ASTER, CERES, MISR, MODIS and 
MOPITT instruments)
EOS PM	EOS PM Project (afternoon spacecraft series - 
see AIRS, AMSA-A, CERES, MHS, MIMR and 
MODIS instruments)
EOSDIS	EOS Data and Information System
EP	Evaluation package
ESA	European Space Agency
ESN	EOSDIS Science Network
ESDIS	Earth Science Data and Information System
ETM	Element technical manager
ETR	Element Test Review
F
FSMS	File and storage management system
FOS	Flight Operations Segment
G
GC	Global change
GCDIS	Global Change Data Information System
GOES	Geostationary Operational Environmental 
Satellite
GSFC	Goddard Space Flight Center, a DAAC
GUI	Graphical user interface
H
H/W	Hardware
HDF	Hierarchical data format
HPCC	High Performance Computing and 
Communications Program Initiative
HPF	High Performance FORTRAN
HRPT	High Resolution Picture Transmission
I
I&T	Integration and test
IATO	Independent Acceptance Test Organization
IDL	interactive data language
IMS	Information Management System
IP	International partner
ISO	International Standards Organization
IV&V	Integration verification and validation
IVV	Integration verification and validation
J
JGOFS	Joint Global Ocean Flux Study
JPL	Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a DAAC
K
K-12	Kindergarten through 12th grade
L
LAN	Local area network
LaRC	Langley Research Center, a DAAC
LAS	Land Analysis System
LSM	Local system manager
M
M&O	Maintenance and operations
MBARI	Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
MHS	Microwave Humidity Sounder (see EOS PM)
MIMR	Multifrequency Imaging Microwave Radiometer 
(see EOS PM)
MISR	Multi-angle Imaging Spectro-Radiometer (see 
EOS AM)
MODIS	Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (see 
EOS AM and EOS PM0
MPP	Massively parallel processor computer
MSFC	Marshall Space Flight Center, a DAAC
N
NCAR	National Center for Atmospheric Research
NCSA	National Computer Security Association
NIIT	National Information Infrastructure Testbed
NOAA	National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration
NRA	NASA Research Announcements
NRC	National Research Council
NREN	National Research and Education Network
NSCAT	NASA Scatterometer
NSIDC	National Snow and Ice Data Center, a DAAC
NSI	NASA Science Internet
NSI IMC	NASA Science Internet Network Operations 
Center
NT	Product name for Microsoft's next operating 
system
O
O/S	Operating system
ODC	Other data center
ODP	Open Distributed Processing
OLE	Object Linking and Embedding
OMG	Object Management Group
OO	Object oriented
OODBMS	Object oriented DBMS
ORB	Object Request Broker
ORNL	Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a DAAC
OSF	Open Software Foundation
OSU	Oregon State University
P
P&S	Planning and scheduling
PB DBMS	Petabyte database management system
PDR	Preliminary Design Review
PGS	Product Generation System
POSIX	Portable Operating System Interface for 
Computer Environments
PVM	Parallel virtual machine
Q
QA	Quality assurance
R
RAID	Redundant array of inexpensive disks
RDBMS	Relational database management system
RID	Review Item Discrepancy form
RMA	Reliability, maintainability, and availability
RPC	Remote procedure call - a method of invoking a 
remote process
RRDB	Recommended Requirement Data Base
RRR	Release Readiness Review
S
S/W	Software
S2K	Sequoia 2000 data system
SCF	Science computing facility
SDPS	Science Data Processing Segment
SDR	System Design Review
Seawifs	Sea-Viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor
SEDAC	Socio-Economic Data Analysis Center
SIMD	Single instruction, multiple data computer
SISD	Single instruction, single data computer
SMC	System management center
SMMR	Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer
SMR	Software modification request
SOW	Statement of Work
SQL	Sequel - a database query language
SRR	System Requirements Review
SSM/I	Special Sensing Microwave Imager
STL	Software Technology Laboratory
T
TOMS	Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer
TOPEX/P	Tropical Ocean Experiment/Poseidon
TOVS	TIROS Operational Vertical Sounder
TRMM	Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission
TRR	Test Readiness Review
U
UARS	Upper Atmospheric Research Satellite
UCSB	University of California, Santa Barbara
UIT	User Interface Terminal (ESA)
UNH	University of New Hampshire
UserDIS	User Data Information System
UWGS	User working groups
V
V0	Version 0
W
WAIS	Wide Area Information Servers
WAN	Wide area network
WHOI	Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
WS	Workstation
WWW	World Wide Web
X
XDR	External Data Representation
Y
Z