Arctic Applications achievable through Information Technology

“… combining the interests of the scientific community … with those of the computer science and engineering community to create integrated, tool-oriented computing and communication systems… ”

National Research Council

Nancy N. Soreide, NOAA/PMELhttp://www.epic.noaa.gov/talks/nns/arctic

NOAA Strategic Plan• Successful, theme-based web pages support NOAA’s mission strategy:

“Engage, advise, and inform individuals, partners, communities, and industries to facilitate information flow, assure coordination and cooperation, and provide assistance in the use, evaluation, and application of information” *

• Websites that present NOAA science, data, analysis and information in a manner that is clear, scientifically validated, useful, interesting and intelligible by a broad audience support NOAA in promoting the

“increased use and effectiveness of climate information for decision makers and managers” *

* NOAA Strategic Plan for FY2003 – FY2008 and Beyond http://www.osp.noaa.gov/docs/NOAA_Final_Strategic_Plan_March31st.

pdf

Data Quality Act

• Congress has directed OMB to issue government-wide guidelines for:

“ensuring and maximizing the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of information disseminated by Federal agencies …" *

* Section 515(a) of the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2001

Today’s Applications

• NOAA Arctic Theme Page– Providing Arctic information to scientists,

managers and the public

• Multivariate, multi-disciplinary datasets

• NOAA Virtual Arctic Laboratory

Communicating Arctic change information

The Arctic Theme PageA Comprehensive Resourcehttp://www.arctic.noaa.gov

• Photographs• Maps• Animals• Ships• Northern Lights• Exploration• Data• Climate indices

• Educational links• Lesson Plans• Environment• Pollution• Archaeology• Native Peoples• Forecasts• Climate programs

Comprehensive Information Resource

The Arctic Theme Pagehttp://www.arctic.noaa.gov

Expert Essays on key Arctic issues• How do scientists study climate change? Nick Bond

• Are environmental changes impacting Alaska Natives? Caleb Pungowiyi

• UVB radiation: Threat to the Arctic? Betsy Weatherhead

• How does Arctic sea ice form and decay? Peter Wadhams

• How has sea ice volume changed? Norbert Untersteiner

• Is sea level affected by changes in Arctic land ice? Roger Barry

• What long term trends are seen in the Arctic atmosphere? John Walsh

• Is mercury a significant contaminant? Steve Lindberg/Steve Brooks

• What organisms thrive in Arctic sea ice? Christopher Krebs/Jody Deming

• Is there life on the Arctic sea floor? Peter Vogt

• Arctic Wolves and their prey David Mech

• What’s happening to Polar Bears? Scott Schliebe

The Arctic Theme Pagehttp://www.arctic.noaa.gov

Multivariate Arctic datasets

• Climate Indices• Atmosphere• Ocean• Sea Ice• Terrestrial• Biology• Fisheries

http://www.unaami.noaa.gov

NOAA Virtual Arctic Laboratory

• Mission• Issues/relevance• Science• Unique capabilities

• Ships/Aircraft

• Satellites

• Observations

• Data Centers

• Undersea Centers

• Outreach

• Partnerships

• Data

http://asl.arctic.noaa.gov

Tomorrow’s Applications• Distributed Data Access

– Centralized, uniform, consistent access to geographically distributed Arctic Observing System data and products in a common data format

• Web Services– Machine access to data from Arctic Observing

Systems• Automated data assimilation into models

• Collaboratories– Full collaborative sharing of applications over the

Internet• Scientists use networks not airplanes for collaboration

Desktop JavaClient

User

Net

wor

kWeb BrowserJava Servlet

Observing System data support

Data

Observing System data support Data

Observing System Servers

Satellite data support

Data

Satellite Data Servers

Model data support Data

Model Output Servers

Gridded data support

Data

Gridded Data Servers

OPeNDAP

Data Servers

OPeNDAP

OpeNDAP is software for accessing data across the Internet.

OPeNDAP

OPeNDAP

OPeNDAP

OPeNDAP

OPeNDAP

Distributed Data Access

Distributed Data Access

Integrated view of data from 3 sources

What is a Web Service?Web Services are NOT related to the Web!

• Web Services– Support machine-to-machine data requests

• Published by data holders• Discovered and invoked by data users (computer programs)• Requesting program specifies data subset and variable desired• Based on W3C standards

– XML/Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)

– Uniform Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI),

– Web Service Descriptive Language (WSDL)

– HTTP

– Microsoft, IBM, Sun Microsystems, etc.

• Used in commercial applications• Emerging use for scientific applications

What is a Collaboratory?

“The fusion of computers and electronic communications has the potential to dramatically enhance the output and productivity of U. S. researchers” “… combining the interests of the scientific community … with those of the computer science and engineering community to create integrated, tool-oriented computing and communication systems to support scientific collaboration… called "collaboratories." *

* National Collaboratories - Applying Information Technology for Scientific Research, Committee on a National Collaboratory, National Research Council. National Academy Press, Washington, D. C., 1993.

OceanShareNetwork collaboration tool

• All network collaborators see the same computer display– Any participant can add data to a plot, mark a plot, log a comment– Promotes unlimited, spontaneous data exploration and discussion

leading to fruitful scientific collaboration

• Collaboration features– Local, remote data file access and Java graphics– Standard collaboration tool features (annotation, whiteboard, etc)

• Secure LDAP Document Repository– Proposals, papers in progress, data, images– Access control by document or by folder– Accessible from web and desktop

http://www.epic.noaa.gov/collab/

Change Detection System

Data Archives

NewData

EvaluationPrior Knowledge

INPUTSPROCESS

APPLICATION

PreprocessedData

ToolboxData QueryStatistics

ModelsVisualizationPresentation

Target Data

MonitorReports

DecisionsPattern

Identification

Display

Summary

• Information technology is the bridge from data to science to applications– Integrated view of Arctic Observing

System, models and derived products• From a single website• For machine-to-machine access• Collaboratory to support climate research

– Credible information for the global change and management communities