Open Polar Server (OPS)—An Open Source Infrastructure for the Cryosphere Community

The Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS) at the University of Kansas has collected approximately 1000 terabytes (TB) of radar depth sounding data over the Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets since 1993 in an effort to map the thickness of the ice sheets and ultimately understand the impacts of climate change and sea level rise. In addition to data collection, the storage, management, and public distribution of the dataset are also primary roles of the CReSIS. The Open Polar Server (OPS) project developed a free and open source infrastructure to store, manage, analyze, and distribute the data collected by CReSIS in an effort to replace its current data storage and distribution approach. The OPS infrastructure includes a spatial database management system (DBMS), map and web server, JavaScript geoportal, and MATLAB application programming interface (API) for the inclusion of data created by the cryosphere community. Open source software including GeoServer, PostgreSQL, PostGIS, OpenLayers, ExtJS, GeoEXT and others are used to build a system that modernizes the CReSIS data distribution for the entire cryosphere community and creates a flexible platform for future development. Usability analysis demonstrates the OPS infrastructure provides an improved end user experience. In addition, interpolating glacier topography is provided as an application example of the system

OpenPolarServer (OPS) - An Open Source Spatial Data Infrastructure for the Cryosphere Community

The Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS) at The University of Kansas has collected approximately 700 TB of radar depth sounding data over the Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets since 1993 in an effort to map the thickness of the ice sheets and ultimately understand the impacts of climate change and sea level rise. In addition to data collection, the storage, management, and public distribution of the dataset are also one of the primary roles of CReSIS. The OpenPolarServer (OPS) project developed a free and open source spatial data infrastructure (SDI) to store, manage, analyze, and distribute the data collected by CReSIS in an effort to replace its current data storage and distribution approach. The OPS SDI includes a spatial database management system (DBMS), map and web server, JavaScript geoportal, and application programming interface (API) for the inclusion of data created by the cryosphere community. Open source software including GeoServer, PostgreSQL, PostGIS, OpenLayers, ExtJS, GeoEXT and others are used to build a system that modernizes the CReSIS SDI for the entire cryosphere community and creates a flexible platform for future development

AtlantOS Deliverable 3.8: OceanSITES Networking Report

During the course of AtlantOS, our ability to provide biogeochemical (BGC) time series and Eulerian data which is of sufficient quality and quantity to approach basin-scale capacity has improved in a major way in some areas but has declined or not progressed in others. Indeed, the increased coordination achieved through AtlantOS has both increased our capacity to collectively further a basin-scale operation, and revealed new challenges in implementation. These outcomes are synthesised in this report to improve future planning for Eulerian capacities in BGC observation. Areas of significant progress 1. Development of capacity for emerging BGC variables 2. Establishment of a system for developing “Best practice” recording. 3. Transatlantic MOU with Canada 4. Data management and dissemination The ways to address the areas in which progress has not been made are conceptually simple but practically demanding. In all cases this needs to be carried out at the global scale and therefore under the auspices of OceanSITES. A coherent system which can provide data of sufficient quality and quantity to address societal needs cannot be achieved in isolation by any one Nation state or by Europe and must not be restricted by discipline. It will become self-evident that such an integrated approach will lead to a system which performs at a much higher level than the sum of its component parts. With continuous pressure from the European Commission, further and additional support from member states, continuing political and scientific dialogue with South Atlantic countries and strong management encouragement at all levels, the establishment of an effective eulerian observatory network is anticipated within the coming decade

OceanSITES Networking Report

Report and linked workshop on the European and Transatlantic plan for sustaining ocean observation by biogeochemical Eulerian Observatorie

Global Change Data Center: Mission, Organization, Major Activities, and 2003 Highlights

Rapid, efficient access to Earth sciences data from satellites and ground validation stations is fundamental to the nation's efforts to understand the effects of global environmental changes and their implications for public policy. It becomes a bigger challenge in the future when data volumes increase from current levels to terabytes per day. Demands on data storage, data access, network throughput, processing power, and database and information management are increased by orders of magnitude, while budgets remain constant and even shrink.The Global Change Data Center's (GCDC) mission is to develop and operate data systems, generate science products, and provide archival and distribution services for Earth science data in support of the U.S. Global Change Program and NASA's Earth Sciences Enterprise. The ultimate product of the GCDC activities is access to data to support research, education, and public policy

Open Polar Server (OPS)—An Open Source Infrastructure for the Cryosphere Community

The Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS) at the University of Kansas has collected approximately 1000 terabytes (TB) of radar depth sounding data over the Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets since 1993 in an effort to map the thickness of the ice sheets and ultimately understand the impacts of climate change and sea level rise. In addition to data collection, the storage, management, and public distribution of the dataset are also primary roles of the CReSIS. The Open Polar Server (OPS) project developed a free and open source infrastructure to store, manage, analyze, and distribute the data collected by CReSIS in an effort to replace its current data storage and distribution approach. The OPS infrastructure includes a spatial database management system (DBMS), map and web server, JavaScript geoportal, and MATLAB application programming interface (API) for the inclusion of data created by the cryosphere community. Open source software including GeoServer, PostgreSQL, PostGIS, OpenLayers, ExtJS, GeoEXT and others are used to build a system that modernizes the CReSIS data distribution for the entire cryosphere community and creates a flexible platform for future development. Usability analysis demonstrates the OPS infrastructure provides an improved end user experience. In addition, interpolating glacier topography is provided as an application example of the system

MOSAiC Implementation Plan

This document is the second version of the Implementation Plan for the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) initiative and lays out a vision of how associated observational, modeling, synthesis, and programmatic objectives can be manifested. The document was drafted during an international workshop in Potsdam in July 2015, and further developed during two additional workshops at AWI Potsdam in December 2015 and February 2016. Support for this planning activity has been provided by the IASC-ICARPIII process, the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar- and Marine Research, and the University of Colorado/ NOAA-ESRL-PSD. This document provides a framework for planning the logistics of the project, developing scientific observing teams, organizing scientific contributions, coordinating the use of resources, and ensuring MOSAiC’s legacy of data and products. A brief overview and summaries of key science questions are provided in Section 1. Section 2 includes an overview of specific observational requirements, while Section 3 describes the coordination and design of specific field assets. Practical logistics plans are outlined in Section 4. Links with current and future satellite programs and model activities are given in Sections 5 and 6. The MOSAiC data management strategy is given in Section 7. Links to other programs are outlined in Section 8. The appendix (Section 9) lists the parameters to be measured and the participating groups

Adapting usability techniques for application in open source Software: A multiple case study

Context: As a result of the growth of non-developer users of OSS applications, usability has over the last ten years begun to attract the interest of the open source software (OSS) community. The OSS community has some special characteristics (such as worldwide geographical distribution of both users and developers and missing resources) which are an obstacle to the direct adoption of many usability techniques as specified in the human-computer interaction (HCI) field. Objective: The aim of this research is to adapt and evaluate the feasibility of applying four usability techniques: user profiles, personas, direct observation and post-test information to four OSS projects from the viewpoint of the development team. Method: The applied research method was a multiple case study of the following OSS projects: Quite Universal Circuit Simulator, PSeInt, FreeMind and OpenOffice Writer. Results: We formalized the application procedure of each of the adapted usability techniques. We found that either there were no procedures for adopting usability techniques in OSS or they were not fully systematized. Additionally, we identified the adverse conditions that are an obstacle to their adoption in OSS and propose the special adaptations required to overcome the obstacles. To avoid some of the adverse conditions, we created web artefacts (online survey, wiki and forum) that are very popular in the OSS field. Conclusion: It is necessary to adapt usability techniques for application in OSS projects considering their idiosyncrasy. Additionally, we found that there are obstacles (for example, number of participant users, biased information provided by developers) to the application of the techniques. Despite these obstacles, it is feasible to apply the adapted techniques in OSS projectsThis research was funded by the Secretariat of Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation (SENESCYT) of the Government of Ecuador as part of an academic scholarship granted for postgradu- ate training, and Quevedo State Technical University through doctoral scholarships for university professors. Also this research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports FLEXOR ( TIN2014-52129-R ) and TIN2014-60490-P projects and the eMadrid- CM project ( S2013/ICE-2715 ). Finally, this research received funding from the University of Atacama “DIUDA 22316 ”projec

Understanding Earth’s Polar Challenges:International Polar Year 2007-2008. Summary by the IPY Joint Committee.

The International Polar Year (IPY) 2007–2008, co-sponsored by ICSU and WMO, became the largest coordinated research program in the Earth’s polar regions, following in the footsteps of its predecessor, the first and second International Polar Years in 1881-1883 and 1932-1933 and the International Geophysical Year 1957–1958. The summary "Understanding Earth's Polar Challenges: International Polar Year 2007-2008" captures the context, motivations, initiation, planning, implementation and the outcomes of the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007–2008, as well as the lessons derived from this key undertaking