Advances in Computer, Information, and Systems Sciences, and Engineering

Prof. Sobh and Prof. Elleithy's preface article on advances in computer, information, and systems science from the journal New Mathematics and Natural Computation.Electronic version of an article published as Journal of New Mathematics, Volume 3, Issue 3, 2007, 366-369 10.1142/S1793005707000896 © copyright World Scientific Publishing Company http://www.worldscientific.com/worldscinet/nmnchttp://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S179300570700089

The transformation of earth-system observations into information of socio-economic value in GEOSS

The Group on Earth Observations System of Systems, GEOSS, is a co-ordinated initiative by many nations to address the needs for earth-system information expressed by the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development. We discuss the role of earth-system modelling and data assimilation in transforming earth-system observations into the predictive and status-assessment products required by GEOSS, across many areas of socio-economic interest. First we review recent gains in the predictive skill of operational global earth-system models, on time-scales of days to several seasons. We then discuss recent work to develop from the global predictions a diverse set of end-user applications which can meet GEOSS requirements for information of socio-economic benefit; examples include forecasts of coastal storm surges, floods in large river basins, seasonal crop yield forecasts and seasonal lead-time alerts for malaria epidemics. We note ongoing efforts to extend operational earth-system modelling and assimilation capabilities to atmospheric composition, in support of improved services for air-quality forecasts and for treaty assessment. We next sketch likely GEOSS observational requirements in the coming decades. In concluding, we reflect on the cost of earth observations relative to the modest cost of transforming the observations into information of socio-economic value

A scientific career launched at the start of the space age: Michael Rycroft at 80

The scientific career of Michael Rycroft (born in 1938) spans the space age, during which significant changes have occurred in how scientists work, experiment, and interact. Here, as part of his 80th birthday celebrations, we review his career to date in terms of the social and structural changes in collaborative international science. His contributions to research, teaching, and management across solar–terrestrial and ionospheric physics as well as atmospheric and space science are also discussed

Understanding climate: A strategy for climate modeling and predictability research, 1985-1995

The emphasis of the NASA strategy for climate modeling and predictability research is on the utilization of space technology to understand the processes which control the Earth's climate system and it's sensitivity to natural and man-induced changes and to assess the possibilities for climate prediction on time scales of from about two weeks to several decades. Because the climate is a complex multi-phenomena system, which interacts on a wide range of space and time scales, the diversity of scientific problems addressed requires a hierarchy of models along with the application of modern empirical and statistical techniques which exploit the extensive current and potential future global data sets afforded by space observations. Observing system simulation experiments, exploiting these models and data, will also provide the foundation for the future climate space observing system, e.g., Earth observing system (EOS), 1985; Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) North, et al. NASA, 1984