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/PMEL

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

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 Page A Comprehensive Resource

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 Page

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 Page

Multivariate Arctic datasets Climate Indices Atmosphere Ocean Sea Ice Terrestrial Biology Fisheries

NOAA Virtual Arctic Laboratory Mission Issues/relevance Science Unique capabilities Ships/Aircraft Satellites Observations Data Centers Undersea Centers Outreach Partnerships Data

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 Java Client User Network Web Browser Java 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 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.

OceanShare Network 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

Change Detection System Data Archives New Data Evaluation Prior Knowledge INPUTS PROCESS APPLICATION Preprocessed Data Toolbox Data Query Statistics Models Visualization Presentation Target Data Monitor Reports Decisions Pattern 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