EMISSARY is a new system under development for an advanced data visualization, spatio-temporal modeling interface, and field portable tools for in-situ data exploration of sensormicronets and distributed instrument management. Our research is defining a set of functional capabilities for an advanced system for in the field communication with a sensormicronet and distributed instrumentation, on-line and interactive modeling tools, and system diagnostics and configuration interfaces. Conceptually this system would be a hand-held PDA or laptop class computer with wireless communication to mote-class devices (sensor nodes), networked data-logging instruments, WAN/LAN, and the Internet.