eGY: e-Science for Geoscience I
Presiding: D N Baker, University of Colorado; C E Barton, Australian National University
U22A-01 INVITED 10:30h
The Electronic Geophysical Year, 2007-2008 (eGY)
The Electronic Geophysical Year, 2007-2008 (eGY) is an IUGG initiative to use the 50th anniversary of the IGY to push the geosciences data paradigm into the 21st century. eGY promotes a focused and coordinated international approach to establishing information systems and services that deliver ready, open access to comprehensive geoscientific data, embracing e-Science principles. eGY is an enabling activity that sets out to inform, stimulate, encourage, coordinate, and promote: - establishment of virtual observatories that will allow diverse data from many different places to be combined through a single portal to allow new science to be undertaken, often across the boundaries of traditional scientific disciplines; - clearer identification of available data, archives, analysis tools and formatting information; - development and implementation of best practice criteria and certification; - removal of restrictions and practices that impede full and open access to geoscientific data. I will report on the significant recent developments fully identifying program elements and people and institutions to develop those elements.
http://www.egy.org
U22A-02 INVITED 10:45h
International Geo-Years: Cooperation Between Planet Earth and Electronic Years
Momentum is growing behind an ambitious international multidisciplinary Earth science initiative. The International Year of Planet Earth project was conceived by the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) finding UNESCO's Earth Sciences Division ready as co-initiator. It now enjoys the backing of all relevant IUGS's sister unions in ICSU, including IUGG, and through a Declaration adopted at the International Geological Congress (2004) of the global geoscience community. It has now won the full political backing of 14 nations, together representing half of the world population. The aim of the Year, encapsulated in its subtitle Earth sciences for Society, is to build awareness of the relationship between humankind and Planet Earth, and to demonstrate that geoscientists are key players in creating a balanced, sustainable future for both. 2007 or 2008 is aimed for the officially endorsed UN-year, but the whole project will begin one year ahead and run through to at least one year after the UN-year. The International Year includes a Science and an Outreach Programme, both of equal financial size. The eight Themes (Groundwater, Hazards, Health, Climate, Resources, Deep Earth, Ocean, and Megacities) in the Science Programme were selected for their societal impact, their potential for outreach, as well as their multidisciplinary nature and high scientific potential. Applications for more Themes (on `Soil' and on `Life') are being considered. Brochures with key questions and invitations for scientists to submit project proposals are being printed for each Theme and can be downloaded from www.esfs.org. The same bottom-up mode is applied for the Outreach Programme which will operate as a funding body, receiving bids for financial support - for anything from web-based educational resources to commissioning works of art that will help reinforce to the general public the central message of the Year. There are many potential interfaces and links between this initiative and the eGY, ranging from data and information handling in the Science Themes, virtual observatories, to participation in the Outreach Programme (nicknamed `The Greatest Show on Earth'). Examples on such cooperation with eGY and with other Geo-Year initiatives (International Heliophysical Year and International Polar Year) will be discussed in the presentation.
U22A-03 INVITED 11:00h
Harmonisation of Grid and Geospatial Services Standards in the Earth and Environmental Sciences
Many investigations in the geosciences require consideration of datasets for which the points of truth are distributed. Furthermore, resolution of many geoscientific problems requires use of computational resources that are only available remotely. However, finding and accessing these resources is often unsystematic, and may be very difficult. Even where data centres and computational services exist, they use different interfaces and online access mechanisms, and there is little coordination at cataloguing. Developments in Grid computing and Web Services are providing the means to share computational and informational resources across organisations and boundaries. The approach is to place standard service interfaces in front of the resources. We report on a set of interrelated initiatives in Australia and UK to establish a common framework in the earth and environmental sciences based on Grid and Web Services. A UK project, the 'NERC DataGrid', is developing software that will be used by various data centres to create a 'virtual environmental data Grid'. The first trial will involve the British Atmospheric Data Centre and British Oceanographic Data Centre. For the first time, users will be able to easily find and access both atmospheric and ocean data from these centres in exactly the same way. A community of researchers in Australia (SEEGrid - the Solid Earth and Environment Grid) is concentrating in two areas: (i) open interfaces to data and processing, leveraging Open Geospatial Consortium web service interface standards, and ISO/TC 211 geographic information standards, and (ii) simulations of earth processes using computing resources available over open Grid interfaces. Trials have involved simultaneous access through standard interfaces to heterogeneous measurement archives, and configuration of process simulations independent of computation engine. A particular focus is the importance of standardisation of information content at the semantic level, enabling the development and deployment of interoperable services that may be configured flexibly into service chains. A partnership between these UK and Australian Grid researchers, geoscientists, climate scientists, and standards experts is building a demonstration providing access to a range of geoscience, atmospheric and ocean data across the two continents. The work is in partnership with academic researchers, statutory custodians, industrial clients, system vendors, regulators, policy and decision makers, and is based on an alphabet-soup of web, grid and geospatial standards.
http://www.seegrid.csiro.au
U22A-04 11:15h
A New Dimension to the eGY: Connecting the Virtual Observatories to Teachers Worldwide
The development of the virtual observatories for the eGY offers an unprecedented educational opportunity to connect teachers throughout the world to authentic data, both real-time and archived, in a standards- and inquiry-based context. The goal of the eGY Education is to create an education portal that connects teachers, in a well-defined way, to the virtual observatories. The programming developed would allow teachers to use the virtual observatories and its data in educational contexts, with supporting materials and activities. In addition, and perhaps as important, the portal would support virtual educational communities, both synchronously and asynchronously. There would be virtual seminars, not only on science content, but on the educational technology and assessment, for example. We would provide multimedia assets for teachers, including scientific talks, computer-based animations and interactives. The educational portal would support the interface to several virtual observatories from a wide variety of areas, expanding on the intellectual themes of the IHY, the IPY and the Year of Planet Earth. We will partner with the other anniversary years, leveraging their network of teachers worldwide and their educational programming while offering them the portal as an opportunity for collaboration. While the active programming might only exist for the eGY, the portal could be continued indefinitely.
U22A-05 11:30h
Bridging the Digital Divide: Virtual Observatories and the eGY
A number of Virtual Observatory initiatives are in place throughout the geosciences. Virtual Observatories are more versatile than traditional data systems, and the success of future scientific activities, such as the eGY, hinges on the ability to identify, access, and analyze data independently of the location of the data server. The advantages of Virtual Observatories are numerous: 1) Greater global access to data, 2) Greater range of accessible data, 3) Cost-effectiveness, 4) Less effort is required to distribute and access data, and 5) Data formats become more and more transparent. Additionally, there are major science benefits, as scientists are able to identify and analyze data with greater ease. In addition to stimulating and establishing Virtual Observatories in the geosciences, the goals of the electronic Geophysical Year include the facilitation of the following: 1) Modern "e-Science" initiatives, 2) Greater cooperation among scientific bodies and programs, 3) Data discovery/location, 4) Data release, and 5) Data preservation. Additionally, the eGY's emphasis on building capacity in developing nations clearly relies on the success of widespread Virtual Observatories and the natural progression to "Virtual Analysis Environments." This presentation will discuss Virtual Observatory initiatives, status and future plans, Virtual Analysis Environments, and their relationship to the eGY and global e-Science initiatives.
U22A-06 INVITED 11:45h
Personal Reflections of the IGY with Hope for a Successful EGY
The IGY changed my life. EGY has the potential to change millions more. Societal boundaries interrupt and hinder the exchange of knowledge. There are no geophysical boundaries in science. EGY is not about you or I, EGY is about our children and their children. The EGY umbrella shall ignite the spirit of international cooperation and harmony dispite a background of political tension.
http://www.bairdpetro.com/egy