eGY: e-Science for Geoscience II Posters
Presiding: W Peterson, Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado; E CoBabe-Ammann, LASP, University of Colorado
U23A-01 1330h
Virtual Global Magnetic Observatory VGMO.NET: A Component of the Electronic Geophysical Year Initiative
During the past decade, many digital geomagnetic datasets have become available only via the World Wide Web. They are not necessarily submitted to the World Data Centers (WDC) as was required for standard magnetic observatories since the International Geophysical Year (1957-1958). As a result, the available worldwide geomagnetic databases have become diverse and distributed, creating an urgent need for more sophisticated search engines capable of identifying these databases on the Web and then retrieving data for scientific analyses. Here we report on a working prototype of the Virtual Global Magnetic Observatory (VGMO.NET), which introduces a new approach for the acquisition of geoscience data distributed worldwide. The VGMO.NET moves information exchange from a simple file transfer to a higher level of abstraction in forming the worldwide "data fabric" of distributed resources through the establishment of self-populating and self-sustaining data nodes. This is an "on-demand" objects-building Internet middleware application that is absolutely transparent to the remote users/clients in its internal data management activity. The VGMO.NET portal/server (i.e., one of the worldwide data fabric nodes) builds transferable data objects only from client requests: first by accessing the internal, server-side database and then, if data are not found locally, going through a pre-set list of Web-based geomagnetic data nodes (including WDC) and retrieving appropriate data for the requested interval. Upon retrieval, the data are converted into a uniform (e.g., flat-file) format and added to the node's database; therefore, future user requests of the same data interval from this node would not force a new search of the Web. Furthermore, the new user's self-populated database can be made available to others through the VGMO.NET as a new remote node (or even a new portal). Thus, every VGMO.NET user can include his/her database into the worldwide geomagnetic data fabric of a platform-independent and location-neutral environment. The proposed concept can be applied to any geoscience discipline within the eGY initiative, making discipline's time series, images, or maps a global asset.
http://mist.engin.umich.edu/vgmo.html
U23A-02 1330h
A Web-Based Environment for Modeling Deformation at Subduction Zones
Subduction zones compose a large percentage of the plate boundaries on earth, and are capable of producing the largest and most devastating earthquakes. One of the critical problems for these regions is the determination of the portions of the plate boundary along which stress is accumulating and earthquakes are likely to initiate. Surface geodetic data, in conjunction with a suitable forward model, can help to constrain these stress accumulation patterns. We have developed a web-based tool that attempts to provide a complete environment for such problems. Our modeling environment allows users to select geodetic data for a particular region from our database, filtered by user-specified criteria. It is also possible to contribute data to the database. Two types of forward models are available: an enhanced elastic half-space dislocation (EHSD) model or a finite elastic plate (FP) model, both with user-specified elastic properties. After selecting a fault geometry, an appropriate finite element mesh is used to generate Green's functions for use in an inversion. Parameters controlling an inversion are then specified, including the option to determine the rotation poles of blocks that rotate with respect to the overriding plate. Once the inversion has been performed, we provide visualization facilities for viewing the results, or the user can simply download the desired results. We provide an overview of the modeling environment and demonstrate its use.
U23A-03 1330h
S3C Active Archive Services and Capabilities Relevant to the eGY
The next advances in Sun Solar System Connections (S3C) / Solar-Terrestrial science require an increasingly integrated and transparent data environment, where data can be easily accessed and used across the boundaries of both missions and traditional disciplines. The S3C Active Archive center in the Space Physics Data Facility (SPDF), in close coordination with the National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC), supports uniquely important multi-mission data services and archiving activities. This paper discusses the range of services supported, how they are evolving to meet the needs of programs like LWS/ILWS and the eGY initiative, and how we envision their future actively contributing to the success of the thrust towards virtual discipline-centered observatories (VxOs). The Coordinated Data Analysis [Workshop] Web (CDAWeb) and Satellite Situation Center Web (SSCWeb), critically supported by the Common Data Format (CDF) effort and supplemented by more focused services such as data format translations, COHOWeb, ATMOWeb, FTPBrowser, ModelWeb and HelioWeb, are important current examples suggestive of the scope and functionality needed in the future. These systems serve broad communities now and are already capable of significant contributions to eGY. A new Java-based CDAWeb interface integrates unified user access to this combined set, and key services have already been extended with new web services APIs to allow ready invocation from distributed external middleware and clients expected to form the framework of a new VxO infrastructure in S3C.
http://spdf.gsfc.nasa.gov
U23A-04 1330h
Promoting reuse within the Earth Science community
Over the years, numerous large and complex information systems have been created to store, process and disseminate vast volumes of remotely-sensed data used by the Earth Science community to further our understanding of our home planet. These existing systems represent a tremendous potential source of software that can be reused to create new systems as well as enhance existing ones to meet future mission needs within given budget constraints. Indeed, the software engineering literature cites many case studies where utilizing existing software artifacts has improved productivity and quality while reducing system development cost and schedule. However, realizing such benefits for Earth Science data systems has been challenging due to the scale, complexity, heterogeneity and distributed nature of these systems, which often are constructed and operated by a mix of government, industry and academic organizations. Although new generations of the more complex systems often exploit domain knowledge and expertise from previous development activities, a more disciplined reuse approach is still needed to further assist with cost reduction and productivity improvement within the Earth Science community. In 2004, the Earth Science Data Systems Software Reuse Working Group was created by NASA to oversee the development of a community-specific process that will maximize the reuse of existing software artifacts while recommending strategies for maximizing the reusability of yet-to-be-designed artifacts. To achieve these goals, the Working Group initiated the following five activities 1. Reuse Implementation Activities, which are efforts that result in the publication or use of a reusable artifact. 2. Support and Enablement Activities, which are efforts that provide tools and mechanisms to enable reuse. 3. Outreach and Education Activities, which are efforts that increase community awareness and understanding of reuse best practices and benefits. 4. Incentive Activities, which include recommendations of awards and structural changes that directly or indirectly encourage reuse. 5. Policy Change Activities, which are efforts that reduce existing policy barriers to reuse within the community. This presentation will provide a briefing on the progress made by the Working Group in each of these activities, and will conclude with some recommendations based on that progress and the results of a survey distributed to the community.
http://lennier.gsfc.nasa.gov/seeds/WG/REUSE/index.html
U23A-05 1330h
Virtual Global Magnetic Observatory Network in Africa: Capacity Building for Electronic Geophysical Year
The study of ground-based geomagnetic observations in Africa dated back to 1840 when data were collected at the Hobart observatory in South Africa. Available literature shows there were a total of thirty-five African stations with available geomagnetic data held at different data centers and institutions around the globe. Rather than an increase in the number of these stations, there has been a decline with some stations going into extinction. As of date, twenty-one (60 percent) of these stations are already closed, eleven are still opened and the status of three stations is unknown. The major problem an average African station faces is the absence of financial support to either install some new equipment or to maintain existing instruments. The Virtual Global Magnetic Observatory Network (VGMO.NET) as the name implies, is a virtual geomagnetic observatory that gives the user the power to have access to geomagnetic data at various data archives over the World Wide Web. It is specifically designed for geomagnetic data analysis and it can simulate a geomagnetic station right on your desktop. This paper examines the deployment of this system under the Electronic geophysical Year (eGY) initiative to some African institutions and the effect it may have in the development of the study of geomagnetism in the continent of Africa.
http://mist.engin.umich.edu/vgmo.html
U23A-06 1330h
Dynamic Web Services for Data Analysis in the Geosciences
Current large-scale multidisciplinary efforts involve a combination of computation, visualization, and data analysis over geographically distributed environments. There is an urgent need to develop easy to use middleware systems that can dynamically adjust themselves to the needs of the researchers, while at the same time shielding them from the underlying details. In this poster, we present a framework that supports fault tolerance, collaboration, and the automatic linkage of web services selected by the user at runtime. We address this problem through a a unique and flexible middleware architecture (WEBIS), based on the NaradaBrokering (NB) middleware application program interface (API) (http://www.naradabrokering.org, [1]). NB is based on a publish/subscribe mechanism whereby all messages are sent to a system with a topic tag, to be received by any entity that has subscribed to that tag. This simple approach enables natural implementation of resource discovery, fault tolerance, system monitoring, and collaboration. On the server side, there is an increasing number of so-called web services available, ranging from weather services to sophisticated GIS (Geographic Information Services) systems that provide clients with querying capability. These services adhere to existing standards and are fully described through a WSDL (Web Service Definition Language) file, many of which are publicly available. In this poster, we will demonstrate a proxy service whose role is to connect existing web services to our framework based on user requests. After selecting a desired web service from one or more registries, a user interface is created automatically based on the information contained in the WSDL file. This enables clients to interact with the service. This is illustrated through a service that computes the wavelet transform of three-dimensional scalar data files. The transformed data is processed by a second service that generates a bitmap (using the visualization software package Amira [2]) which is finally returned to one or more clients. Collaboration between two or more users are also demonstrated, along with fault tolerance. References [1] S. Pallickara and G. Fox, NaradaBrokering: A Middleware Framework and Architec-ture for Enabling Durable Peer-to-Peer Grid, in Proceedings of ACM/IFIP/USENIX International Middleware Conference Middleware-2003. pp 41-61, (2003). [2] Y. Wang, D.A. Yuen, Z. Garbow, and G. Erlebacher, Web-based Service of a Visualization Package Amira for the Geosciences, Visual Geosciences, Springer-Verlag, (2003).
U23A-07 1330h
Putting the Rubber to the Road: The Whos, Whys and Hows of the International Heliophysical Year 2007
In 1957 a program of international research, inspired by the International Polar Years of 1882 and 1932, was organized as the International Geophysical Year (IGY) to study global phenomena of the Earth and geospace. Fifty years later, the world's science community will again come together for international programs of scientific collaboration: the International Heliophysical Year (IHY), the electronic Geophysical Year (eGY), and the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007. This time, research will extend out into the heliosphere to focus on solar-terrestrial-planetary interactions. The ambitious plans for the IHY, eGY and IPY incorporate the activities of scientists in 191 nations, the "IGY Gold" Historical Preservation initiative, a series of coordinated campaigns involving more than 100 instruments and models, education and public outreach programs, a developing nations instrument development program, and opportunities for supported research worldwide. The presentation will focus on the efforts and operations which will make these activities possible.
U23A-08 1330h
The Sun-Solar System Connection Great Observatory: Virtual, but Nearing Reality
The collection of spacecraft and ground-based observatories that measure photons, fields, and particles from the Sun and solar system can function as a Great Observatory if the resulting data products are united through services that make them seamlessly available to researchers. Virtual Observatories, begun as ways of viewing the sky in all wavelengths from a desktop computer, should allow us to reach this goal. Major strides have been made in designing architectures and operational systems that allow scientists to rapidly gather, visualize, and process widely-distributed data from highly varied instruments. This talk will present the current state-of-the art and a vision for the future of "VS3O." The eGY is very well timed to be a focal point for these efforts on an international scale.
http://lwsde.gsfc.nasa.gov