APPLICATION A2 / DATA INFRASTRUCTURE
Agents on the National Data Platform.
The National Data Platform federates scientific data catalogs so researchers can find and use data across institutions. IOWarp builds agent tools on top of it.
Can an agent go from a plain-language request to a staged, analyzed, and plotted dataset from a federated catalog without a human wiring every step?
Federated catalogs make data findable, but using a dataset still takes a sequence of manual steps: search several catalogs, interpret metadata, download the right resource, check its structure, then analyze and plot it.
Each step depends on context the previous one produced. Without that context an agent either stalls or improvises.
The workflow, stage by stage.
- Locate
Geospatial tools narrow the request to candidate stations or sites.
CLIO Kit · Geo - Search the catalog
The NDP server searches datasets across the platform’s catalogs and returns structured metadata.
CLIO Kit · NDP - Stage and profile
The agent retrieves the chosen resource into a controlled staging area and profiles it before analysis.
CLIO Kit · Pandas - Analyze and plot
Plotting and visualization tools produce figures the researcher can check against the source data.
CLIO Kit · Plot, ParaView
What the work has produced.
With IOWarp context, an agent completed EarthScope data retrieval and visualization through NDP; the comparison agent without that context did not complete the workflow.[1][2]
CONDITIONS · Agent runs on Chameleon Cloud, reported in an IEEE eScience 2025 poster that states the models and timingsA public recording shows an agent examining EarthScope seismograph data found through the National Data Platform.[3]
CLIO Kit ships an NDP server with documentation, and callers choose where it stages and writes data.[4][5]
The instruments involved.
Next steps.
- Publish a repeatable NDP workflow with a pinned catalog snapshot, since live catalogs change between runs.
- Record the 2026 EarthScope demonstration on current releases.
- Extend beyond EarthScope to other NDP-federated domains.
Who should get in touch
Data platform operators, catalog maintainers, and domain scientists whose data is already findable but still hard to use.
Sources
- Islam, Cernuda, Muradli, Kougkas, Sun. Towards an AI-driven scientific workflow. IEEE eScience 2025 (poster)
- eScience 2025 poster PDF: EarthScope, LAMMPS, ParaView, and IOR agent workflows
- Agent examining EarthScope data through the National Data Platform (video, October 2025)
- CLIO Kit NDP MCP server documentation
- CLIO Kit source repository
Next application · A3