getdata: A Grid Enabled Data Client for Coastal Modeling

The SURA Coastal Ocean Observing and Prediction (SCOOP) program is implementing an integrated system of regional observations and computational models to provide improved coastal forecasts. As part of this system, the getdata client was developed to search and transfer data files from the SCOOP archive in a flexible, optimized and extensible manner. The Grid Application Toolkit forms the basis for this tool, providing an abstract interface to various transfer protocols including FTP, HTTP, SCP and GridFTP. The user requirements for getdata posed a number of constraints on the client design and integration with Grid middlewares. This paper discusses the SCOOP use cases and the design and implementation of getdata, along with the challenges of engineering usable tools for heterogeneous environments and diverse communities.