IGY+50, The IPY, and The electronic Geophysical Year (eGY)

D.N. BakerLaboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics

University of Colorado, Boulder

C. BartonGeosciences Australia

Kingston, ACT 2604 Australia

V. PapitashviliNational Science Foundation

Washington, D.C.

Fall AGU Meeting San Francisco, 13-17 December 2004

• IGY Objectives:– Allowed scientists from different countries to participate in

global observations of geophysicalphenomena using commoninstruments and data processingschemes

– Gathered data on variousgeophysical phenomena fromaround the World

– Established the World DataCenter System

International Geophysical Year1957 - 1958

Fall AGU Meeting San Francisco, 13-17 December 2004

International Year of Planet Earth: The International Union of Geosciences is leading the planning for the Planet Earth Program. Sponsored by the UN and UNESCO, this program will be interpreting the Earth’s history as a basis for forecasting likely future events

International Heliophysical Year 2007: IHY will be sponsored by ICSU, with the goal of fostering international cooperation in the study of heliophysical phenomena now and in the future

International Polar Year 2007 – 2008: IPY is sponsored by ICSU and WMO, and it will expand understanding of the key roles of the polar regions in the globally-linked environment

Electronic Geophysical Year 2007 – 2008: Sponsored by the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics and endorsed by ICSU, the eGY is to promote a revolution in geoscientific data availability and access worldwide. This coordinated international initiative will make full use of the capabilities offered by modern information management and digital communications.

IGY + 50Planning for New International Programs

Fall AGU Meeting San Francisco, 13-17 December 2004

eGY Objectives

• Embrace and extend the IGY principles of data sharing and scientific involvement

• Make existing and newly accrued datasets available – “free access to all”

• Digitize or convert to digital images analog geoscience records making data available electronically

• Develop a World Wide System of Virtual Geoscience and Geospace Observatories

Fall AGU Meeting San Francisco, 13-17 December 2004

eGY Characteristics

• Timeliness: Virtual Observatories middleware is becoming widely available

• Interdisciplinary: Data sharing and data accessibility are common issues in all fields of geosciences

• Affordable: Simple networking technology

• Cost Effective: More/better science for money

• Inclusive: Opportunities for developed and developing countries

• Capacity Building: Provides relevant research experience for young scientists

• Complementary to IPY, IHY, IYPE, and other international initiatives like CAWSES, ILWS, etc.

Fall AGU Meeting San Francisco, 13-17 December 2004

To get scientific data from various, mostly distributed sources, a scientist may have to:

Increasing Requirements

Geospace and Earth Systems Science

Higher Resolution in Space and Time

Assimilation into Models

5. Finally, do some science…

4. Process collected data using mostly proprietary codes, run models…

and…

3. Then ingest retrieved data into a local database…

2. Get data via snail-mail, air-mail, e-mail, Web…

1. Search through a number of data centers, various institutions, observatories, contact colleagues..

Fall AGU Meeting San Francisco, 13-17 December 2004

Current Forms of Sharing Geoscience Data

• Centralized distribution schemes – World Data Centers (WDC):– Require continuous support for the

data acquisition, storage, and distribution

– Submission of data remains voluntary

– Collected data are often not suitable for submission; e.g., the WDCs only accept absolute geomagnetic measurements

“Push Data” Concept

Fall AGU Meeting San Francisco, 13-17 December 2004

Sharing Distributed Geoscience Data• Publishing and sharing data through

World Wide Web:– Allows one to avoid additional steps in data

preparation for submission to WDC

– Achieves greater visibility amongst scientific and user communities

– A GRID (“Fabric”) of many interconnected data nodes is a new vision of distributed, self-populating data repositories and centers

– World Data Centers become an integral part of the worldwide data “fabric”, serving as “clearing houses” for the permanent data preservation“Pull Data”

Concept

Fall AGU Meeting San Francisco, 13-17 December 2004

Virtual Observatory Components

Distributed databases accessed through the World Wide Web portals (GRID nodes):

Data Visualization

Format Conversion

Data Acquisition

Location Discovery

A base concept for the electronic Geophysical Year (eGY) initiative - IUGG/IAGA, ICSU/WDC Panel

Fall AGU Meeting San Francisco, 13-17 December 2004

• Climatology model for designing satellites• Nowcasts/forecasts that provide situational awareness for satellite

operators.• Long term archives of simulated and observed data for testing

scientific theory

User Interfaceand Displays

Long Term Archival Data

Gateway to distributeddata

ClimatologyModels

Nowcast/ForecastModels

Near Real Time Data

GOES POES CISM End-to-End

Models

Assimilation of Extreme-Event Data

Data system that meets engineering, operational, andscientific needs for:

VRBO - Architecture Unleashed

Fall AGU Meeting San Francisco, 13-17 December 2004

A Concept of Carbon Cycle Virtual Observatory

Dust from MODIS

Fires and smoke plumes

Distributed fossil fuelaerosols from nighttime lights

Authoritative descriptions of radiative forcing by aerosols for climate studies requires disparate data sets to drive numerical models

Fall AGU Meeting San Francisco, 13-17 December 2004

eGY Working Group on Virtual Observatories

• WG Mission:– Stimulate, facilitate, and promote the establishment of Virtual Observatories

in Geosciences– Promote the sharing of VxO “know-how” and standards– Inform the science community, decision-makers, students, and the public

about available VxO

• WG Activities:– Run specialist VxO meetings– Organize VxO sessions/talks/posters at other meetings– Use http://www.egy.org as a portal for VxO– Run a VxO section of the eGY Newsletter– Publish articles and press releases on VxO– Run outreach & education programs: produce education resources, CD-

ROMs, etc.

Fall AGU Meeting San Francisco, 13-17 December 2004

Summary

• During and after IGY about 50 permanent observatories were set up in the Arctic and Antarctic, and the World Data Center System was established

• The eGY is an “umbrella” initiative which envisions substantial deployment of Virtual Geoscience Observatories in cyberspace

• eGY five major themes:– data access– data release– data preservation– science discovery– capacity building and outreach

• Are YOU interested in eGY? Visit http://www.egy.org