Lola Olsen and IDN Staff CEOS WGISS 26 IDN Task Team

I.Introduction/Final Response to User Working Group (UWG) Recommendations II.Usage and Content Statistics III.Extending Keyword Vocabularies IV.Interoperability Forum V.Climate Diagnostics Portal (CL ) IDN Agenda

I. Introduction/Final Response to User Working Group (UWG) Recommendations

II. Usage and Content Statistics

DIF Population Growth (February August 2008) Approaching 20,000!

SERF Population Growth (February August 2008) Approaching 2,000!

New, Updated, and Deleted DIFs (January August 2008) Updates coincide with internal release of Link Editor in 2008 NCDC AADC LSI

New and Updated Platforms and Instruments (January August 2008) AGU Expanded Platform and Instrument Descriptions LSI

DIF Population by Science Keyword

SERF Population by Service Keyword

International Users - CEOS IDN Countries (January August 2008)

(as of August) History of GCMD Hits 42,664,019 48,165, ,333,812 32,373,773 Average Per Month: 4 million

Unique Visitors (January August 2008) Average Unique Visitors Per Month: 43,283

Earth Science Keyword Searches (January - August 2008)

Service Keyword Searches (January - August 2008)

How Do Users Find the IDN? (January - August 2008)

When Do Users Visit the IDN? Most Popular Day of the Week (January - August 2008)

When Do Users Visit the IDN? Most Popular Time of Day (January - August 2008)

Popular Keyword Searches (January - August 2008) Science/Service Keyword Searches: 1.Oceans 2. Atmosphere 3. Climate Indicators 4. Agriculture 5. Data Centers 6. Land Surface 7. Data Analysis & Visualization 8. Location 9. Solid Earth 10. Models Science/Service Keyword Searches: 1.Oceans 2. Atmosphere 3. Climate Indicators 4. Agriculture 5. Data Centers 6. Land Surface 7. Data Analysis & Visualization 8. Location 9. Solid Earth 10. Models Full-Text Searches: 1.Global Warming 2.AMD 3.Jamstec 4.China 5.Temperature 6.OBIS/SCARMARBIN 7.Global 8.Africa 9.Wind 10. GIS Full-Text Searches: 1.Global Warming 2.AMD 3.Jamstec 4.China 5.Temperature 6.OBIS/SCARMARBIN 7.Global 8.Africa 9.Wind 10. GIS

Website Searches by Interface (December August 2008) Releases: 9.6 (July 2006) 9.7 (April 2007) (June 2007) 9.8 (June 2008)

Free-Text Searches (December August 2008) Release 9.7 (April 2007) changed location of free-text search boxes on homepage

III. Extending Keyword Vocabularies

GCMD Science Keywords and Essential Climate Variables (ECV) GCMD Science Keywords  Mutually exclusive  Six level hierarchy (with detailed keywords)  Refinements based on the input of data providers and the science community  Useful for creating ontologies  Supported by actual metadata content Essential Climate Variables  Two-level hierarchy  Highly respected: created by top scientists  Not based on actual metadata content

Development of Climate Data Classifications CDR:Climate Data Records EDR:Environmental Data Records FCDR:Fundamental Climate Data Records ** ESDR: Earth System Data Records TCDR:Thematic Climate Data Records SDR:Sensor Data Records ECV:Essential Climate Data Variables ** SBA:Societal Benefit Areas **

IV. Interoperability Forum

 Access from IDN website or directly.  Is monitored to diminish spam - not to restrict usage.  Possible topics: –Feedback on website –Requests related to metadata standards (DIF/SERF) –Requests or suggestions of keyword changes –Requests for new Portals  Access from IDN website or directly.  Is monitored to diminish spam - not to restrict usage.  Possible topics: –Feedback on website –Requests related to metadata standards (DIF/SERF) –Requests or suggestions of keyword changes –Requests for new Portals Reminder of INTEROP

V. Climate Diagnostics Portal Action item (CL ): V. Climate Diagnostics Portal Action item (CL ):

Mission Statement: This "Climate Diagnostics" web site was inspired by the ideas and foresight of Mitchell D. Goldberg, NOAA/NESDIS, SaTellite Applications and Research (STAR), and Chief of the Satellite Meteorology and Climatology Division. Mitch is the Committee on Earth Observation Systems (CEOS) Climate Societal Benefit Area (SBA) lead and responsible for CEOS's Global Climate Observing Systems (GCOS) actions. The Working Group on Information Systems and Services (WGISS) had used the CEOS International Directory Network (IDN) to provide a portal to data through the GCOS Essential Climate Variables, in order to focus a CEOS GCOS task for CEOS agencies to make data related to these variables available. This "Climate Diagnostics" web site was inspired by the ideas and foresight of Mitchell D. Goldberg, NOAA/NESDIS, SaTellite Applications and Research (STAR), and Chief of the Satellite Meteorology and Climatology Division. Mitch is the Committee on Earth Observation Systems (CEOS) Climate Societal Benefit Area (SBA) lead and responsible for CEOS's Global Climate Observing Systems (GCOS) actions. The Working Group on Information Systems and Services (WGISS) had used the CEOS International Directory Network (IDN) to provide a portal to data through the GCOS Essential Climate Variables, in order to focus a CEOS GCOS task for CEOS agencies to make data related to these variables available.

Mission Statement Continued Upon viewing this portal, Mitch's vision was to offer a resource that would provide information to enhance the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) by providing visualizations of climate trends and variability. He envisioned that the visualizations (climate diagnostics) could be more easily interpreted by decision makers, for the benefit of society than the data alone. The climate visualizations are targeted to address the Societal Benefit Areas (SBAs) related to: Disasters, Health, Energy, Climate, Water, Weather, Ecosystems, Agriculture, and Biodiversity. Every description of a climate visualization in the directory is tagged with one or more of the potentially significant Societal Benefit Areas. The visualizations are created from scientific data by a multitude of providers. The site is designed to offer visualizations that could be readily interpreted by decision makers. If a better understanding of the significance of the science can be achieved, the societal benefits of scientific research would be enhanced by providing these visualizations for long-term diagnostic analyses. The visualizations, also known as "Climate Diagnostics", are expected to be supportive and useful in decision-making processes. They have been based on the careful analysis of significant variables. Anticipating future consequences related to climate in the nine Societal Benefit Areas could be pivotal to our survival.

The Challenges of Creating the Infrastructure  Assumption: all portals are virtual subsets of the directory. Climate Diagnostics does not fit this assumption.  Researched climate diagnostics sources relevant to societal benefits (journals, agency bulletins, universities, instrument theme pages, etc.).  Attempted to use current infrastructure.  Discovered that unique content and user base required new software infrastructure and keywords.  Implemented new requirements for content, design and database.  Refined requirements as content evolved {such as added Societal Benefit Area (SBA) keywords and mapped to Essential Climate Variables (ECV)}  Assumption: all portals are virtual subsets of the directory. Climate Diagnostics does not fit this assumption.  Researched climate diagnostics sources relevant to societal benefits (journals, agency bulletins, universities, instrument theme pages, etc.).  Attempted to use current infrastructure.  Discovered that unique content and user base required new software infrastructure and keywords.  Implemented new requirements for content, design and database.  Refined requirements as content evolved {such as added Societal Benefit Area (SBA) keywords and mapped to Essential Climate Variables (ECV)}

Early Feedback on Creating Content “I spent some time just using Piclens on the Firefox browser to look at hundreds and hundreds of images that come up using "climate diagnostics" […]. One discovers precious few results […] but they are far flung and often just isolated images. At this point I still have little idea where these resources are supposed to come from. Without being directed to a particular provider of such visualizations, it seems like a fool's errand to just search for them. [Observation from external source]

Time Span: seeking climatologies years (settled for GT 5 years). Continuous Coverage - A continuous coverage with very few gaps. Descriptions - Good descriptive summaries detailing the trend in the visualization. Time Span: seeking climatologies years (settled for GT 5 years). Continuous Coverage - A continuous coverage with very few gaps. Descriptions - Good descriptive summaries detailing the trend in the visualization. The Challenges of Creating the Infrastructure Guidelines:

Unique content required the following: 1) New metadata fields needed: File Attributes Personnel Role 2)Renaming of fields: Visualization Provider Visualization Description Visualization Citation 3) New sets of controlled keywords: Analysis Types Visualization Types Format Personnel Role Unique content required the following: 1) New metadata fields needed: File Attributes Personnel Role 2)Renaming of fields: Visualization Provider Visualization Description Visualization Citation 3) New sets of controlled keywords: Analysis Types Visualization Types Format Personnel Role The Challenges of Creating the Infrastructure

File Attributes

Visualization URL - Field created to store URL visualization to be accessed. - URL needed by the user to obtain the file and to display with selected entry on screen. Thumbnail URL - This URL points to the sample that the website will display on the results interface. - Thumbnails used on the Climate Diagnostics homepage to randomly display the different types of climate visualizations in the Portal. Visualization URL - Field created to store URL visualization to be accessed. - URL needed by the user to obtain the file and to display with selected entry on screen. Thumbnail URL - This URL points to the sample that the website will display on the results interface. - Thumbnails used on the Climate Diagnostics homepage to randomly display the different types of climate visualizations in the Portal.

File Attributes Visualization Type Created to inform the user of the dimensional type of the visualization. Analysis Type Created to inform the user of analysis/statistical method used to create the visualization. Visualization Type Created to inform the user of the dimensional type of the visualization. Analysis Type Created to inform the user of analysis/statistical method used to create the visualization.

File Attributes Visualization Duration This is a required field if the visualization is an Animation or video to inform the user the run-time length of the animation or video.Format The field is to notify the user of the type of graphic file format used for the visualization. Visualization Duration This is a required field if the visualization is an Animation or video to inform the user the run-time length of the animation or video.Format The field is to notify the user of the type of graphic file format used for the visualization.

Viewing Specifications Created to inform the user of any special application required to view the visualization. Applications that might be needed are QuickTime, MS Player, or Google Earth. Visualization File Size The file size field was created to allow the user to know how much disk space is required to download the visualization file. Viewing Specifications Created to inform the user of any special application required to view the visualization. Applications that might be needed are QuickTime, MS Player, or Google Earth. Visualization File Size The file size field was created to allow the user to know how much disk space is required to download the visualization file. File Attributes

Climate Diagnostics

The Evolution of the Interface

The Evolution of the Interface Display Pages

Future Goals for the Portal Gather feedback from diverse communities (data community, policy makers, educators, etc.). Are the visualizations adequate to relay the information? Does the users understand and use these diagnostics? Is this having the societal benefit impact intended? Create use case scenarios to demonstrate usability of these climate diagnostics. Further evaluate user base audience. Continue caretaking - funding would be required to continue the population effort and maintaining the website. Advertise website through CEOS, AGU, AMS etc. Possible use within GEOSS. Gather feedback from diverse communities (data community, policy makers, educators, etc.). Are the visualizations adequate to relay the information? Does the users understand and use these diagnostics? Is this having the societal benefit impact intended? Create use case scenarios to demonstrate usability of these climate diagnostics. Further evaluate user base audience. Continue caretaking - funding would be required to continue the population effort and maintaining the website. Advertise website through CEOS, AGU, AMS etc. Possible use within GEOSS.

Initial Comments Mitchell D. Goldberg: “This addition will help the climate community and decision makers with easier access to climate information.” Mitchell D. Goldberg: “This addition will help the climate community and decision makers with easier access to climate information.”

VI. Land Surface Imaging Portal

Instrument/Platform Interface

Data at No Cost

User Feedback and Response  What’s the difference between Land Surface Temperature and Land Skin Temperature? Response: A better option might be to rename the “Land Temperature” Term to “Surface Thermal Properties”. Then Surface Temperature and Surface Skin Temperature can safely reside together as variables, along with Emissivity, Heat Capacity, and Thermal Anomalies.  What definitions were used in making this distinction? Response: The definition and reference can be found by tapping the “i” feature next to the keyword, which takes one to this definition.

User Feedback and Response  The intention of the LSI portal…prioritize “free” datasets and include cost information within portal display. Response: Within the Distribution field, a Fees subfield exists that captures cost information. The Fees subfield will be required in the future.

 “Suggestion to make the distinction between “data” and “products”. Response: Level 0 and 1 data will be moved to a revised Topic, named “Radiance/Imagery” as “data”. Land Surface Products will be found within the “Land Surface” Topic.  “Suggestion to make the distinction between “data” and “products”. Response: Level 0 and 1 data will be moved to a revised Topic, named “Radiance/Imagery” as “data”. Land Surface Products will be found within the “Land Surface” Topic. User Feedback and Responses

Questions?Questions?