Expressions of Intent for International Polar Year 2007-2008 Activities

Expression of Interest Details

PROPOSAL INFORMATION

Developing Value-added Products and Services to Accelerate Research and Applications in Polar Regions  (Developing Value-added Products and Services to Accelerate Research and Applications in Polar Regions)

Outline
•Collect and integrate in-situ, remote sensing and numerical modeling data of both Artic and Antarctic regions from archive centers of both domestic and international agencies (e.g., NSF, NASA, NOAA, etc.), colleges, universities and research institutes, etc. to support IPY research and application activities during IPY 2007-2008 and beyond. •The initial focuses will be on atmosphere sciences and oceanography. •Develop and provide value-added data products and services over the Internet in order to facilitate access to data and inter-disciplinary studies, maximize the use of data, and accelerate research and applications in polar regions before, during and after IPY 2007-2008. •Develop innovative tools to support fast and easy online access of large volumes of Earth science data products. •Develop online tools to support understanding of the spatial distribution and temporal variation of atmospheric and oceanographic parameters by changing map projections for polar regions and adding additional data products to existing systems/prototypes (e.g., the Tropical rainfall Online Visualization and Analysis System (TOVAS; URL: http://lake.nascom.nasa.gov/tovas) and the MODIS Online Visualization and Analysis System (MOVAS; URL: http://lake.nascom.nasa.gov/movas). •Develop online tools to support understanding of variations associated with global climate variations on local and regional scales, by enhancing existing tools and functionalities, e.g., adding major climate indices. •Develop online tools and applications to support understanding and monitoring changes in polar regions by modifying existing systems. •Develop derived products to help understand and identify temporal variations of physical variables on different temporal scales ranging from hourly, daily, monthly, seasonally, to annually. •Develop derived products at different resolutions for easy model verification. •Support investigation of interactions among physical variables, such as air-sea interaction, aerosol and cloud/precipitation, etc., by refining existing online analysis prototypes. New functionalities, such as correlation coefficient, will be added. •Support uncertainty investigation by refining existing online analysis prototypes for (a) inter-comparison of different versions of products; (b) inter-comparison of products derived from different sensors or algorithms; (c) inter-comparison of satellite sensors and ground observations (e.g., from field experiments); (d) inter-comparison of all the above at different time scales (e.g., daily, monthly, yearly); and (e) inter-comparison of baseline/climatological products. •Develop web-based documentation for the above activities. •Provide and maintain the above systems and services throughout the IPY period and beyond.

What significant advance(s) in relation to the IPY themes and targets can be anticipated from this project?
•Acceleration of research and applications in the polar regions •Removal of obstacles to data access by providing low-cost, easy-to-use, and reliable web-based information and service systems •Acceleration of inter-disciplinary research and applications •Allow fast and easy access of entire data archives with minimum requirements for resources •Prototypes for other disciplines

What international collaboration is involved in this project?
We plan to collaborate with both domestic and international agencies and organizations and collect, or network access to their data for our activities.

FIELD ACTIVITY DETAILS

Geographical location(s) for the proposed field activities:
No field activities involved for this project.

Approximate timeframe(s) for proposed field activities:
Arctic: n/a
Antarctic: n/a

Significant facilities will be required for this project:

Will the project leave a legacy of infrastructure?

How is it envisaged that the required logistic support will be secured?

Has the project been "endorsed" at a national or international level?

PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND STRUCTURE

Is the project a short-term expansion (over the IPY 2007-2008 timeframe) of an existing plan, programme or initiative or is it a new autonomous proposal?
Exp

We plan to expand our existing data and information services in order to facilitate access to data and inter-disciplinary studies, maximize the use of data, and accelerate research and applications in the polar regions before, during and after IPY 2007-2008.

How will the project be organised and managed?
The project initially will consist of three organizations, the Center for Earth Observing and Space Research (CEOSR) of the George Mason University, the Antarctic Meteorological Research Center (AMRC) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) at the University of Colorado. Atmospheric and oceanographic data will be provided from both AMRC and NSIDC. Tools and online systems will be developed at CEOSR. The Principal Investigator will be CEOSR and the Co-Investigators, AMRC and NSIDC.

What are the initial plans of the project for addressing the education, outreach and communication issues outlined in the Framework document?
We will develop customized interfaces and web contents for educational and outreach activities. We will modify web tools and develop new web pages to reduce technical complexity and allow easy access and understanding for the public. All services and tools are web based and attention will be particularly paid to ensure fast and easy access of data and information with minimum requirements for resources.

What are the initial plans of the project to address data management issues (as outlined in the Framework document?
All planned data products and services will be opened to the public, free of charge. We will report our data and services to major web organizations, such as, ICSU World Data Centres, Joint Committee for Antarctic Data Management, WCRP, GCMD, etc.

How is it proposed to fund the project?
We expect NSF, NASA, etc. to fund this project.

Is there additional information you wish to provide?
In recent years, remote sensing instruments onboard the Earth Science Enterprise (ESE) satellites have collected large volumes of observational data, creating exciting new opportunities for Earth science research and applications. However, accessing these data in a timely manner is often a daunting task, because of obstacles such as complicated data formats and high data volumes. These obstacles severely hamper our ability to conduct earth science research. For example, the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences (GES) Data and Information Services Center (DISC) Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC), or GES DAAC, has archived Petabytes of data products, from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS), various field experiments, etc., relevant to water-cycle research and applications. The standard format for the archived products is either the Hierarchical Data Form at (HDF) or the Hierarchical Data Format-Earth Observing System (HDF-EOS), neither format of which is familiar to most users outside the mission science teams. Without additional services and tools, it is difficult to maximize the use of ESE data products and accelerate research and applications in the polar regions. The upcoming IPY 2007-2008 will provide an excellent opportunity for us to address these issues and accelerate our understanding of polar environment and processes. We are looking forward to making contributions to IPY 2007-2008.

PROPOSER DETAILS

Dr Zhong Liu
9226 Charterhouse Road
Frederick, MD 21704
21704
USA

Tel: 3016145764
Mobile: no
Fax: no
Email:

Other project members and their affiliation