Observatory Sections
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| SPASE Records for persons from SMWG repository [http://groups.google.com/group/vxo-spase-smwg] |
Total: 4501 record(s). |
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| SPASE Records for observatories from SMWG repository [http://groups.google.com/group/vxo-spase-smwg] |
Total: 482 record(s). |
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| SPASE records for instruments from SMWG repository [http://groups.google.com/group/vxo-spase-smwg] |
Total: 1379 record(s). |
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| VxO and ViRBO News. Any registered user may add news items. Non-registered users may send news items to http://groups.google.com/group/virbo. |
Total: 35 record(s). |
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| Testing area for HELM (Heliospheric Event List Manager) Event Schema |
Total: 4 record(s). |
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| Testing area for SPANewsletter Schema |
Total: 274 record(s). |
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| User-contributed scientific papers, notes, documentation, etc. |
Total: 16 record(s). |
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| Software for visualization, analysis, and accessing ViRBO data. |
Total: 4 record(s). |
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| Collaborative notes and lists |
Total: 8 record(s). |
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| SPASE metadata for parameters (ViRBO's only). Section in development. |
Total: 3273 record(s). |
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Recent News
| 2010-07-29T14:37:35 |
Agenda for the HDMC Meeting 4-6 August 2010 (still subject to change--suggestions welcome)
George Mason University
*** Wednesday 4 August ***
(Less formal discussion)
13:30 Relevance of HDMC activities; "Vision" of what the idea, architecture, roles of various groups, etc. should be. How do we become plausible? Two aspects: (1) to data providers (MOUs?), and (2) to end users. Discussion of longer-term view of the HPDE: what should it look like in 2-3 years? What will a "VxO" mean, for example? How will Final Archives and VxOs interact? How will things be connected? What standards will be needed to make what services?
15:00 Highlights of ESSI workshop as perceived by any who where present.
15:40 Achieving completeness of described resources -- are we one track?
16:10 How is it all registered? How are registries administered? What tools are needed/useful?
17:00 (or when everyone is done) Adjourn for the day.
*** Thursday 5 August ***
09:00 Welcome and logistics -- Bob, Tom
09:10 Brief overview of where we are, logistically, financially, and otherwise. -- Aaron/Jeff
9:30 Recap of Wednesday's discussions. -- Aaron with help
(Plan for meeting: For each area present and make precise a proposal, with goals, plans to achieve them with milestones and impacts on all relevant groups, and where we are with respect to the plan.)
09:40 The completeness problem: how to come to closure. -- Aaron/Todd
Working sessions based on the Working Groups
10:00 Registries: come to a clear plan of what to do and what is expected of everyone
Roles of VxOs, git, VSPO. -- Todd
10:45 Break
11:15 Data Access: the solution to the formats problem (making formats
transparent), and how to get there quickly -- Jon V.
12:00 Lunch
13:15 Visualization: identify the most urgent needs, and make a plan to meet
them -- Bob W.
13:45 SPASE-QL: what is to be expected of the system, the VxOs, and why/how?
-- Tom
14:15 Break
14:45 Event lists: clear statement of standards and schedule of implementation;
when will be have which event lists registered in what uniform way?
-- Bobby
15:15 Data and Models: what realistic integration can we achieve?
-- Aaron/Darren
16:00 How do we become plausible? Two aspects: (1) to data providers, and
(2) to end users. (Continuing discussion, hopefully more focused on achievable goals. Specify content of MOUs) -- All
16:30 SPASE issues: making a relevant toolset that works and is easily used by all -- Jim/Todd/Aaron
18:00 Adjourn for the day
19:00 Group dinner??
*** Friday 6 August ***
08:30 Priorities for next 6-12 months. Review of plans for previous day.
10:30 Break
10:50 Discussion of White Paper for NRC Decadal Survey
11:45 Lunch
13:00 Science meeting attendance/plans. Future telecon/meeting plans.
14:00 Adjourn
http://groups.google.com/group/hdmc |
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| 2010-07-29T14:32:02 |
The SOC workshop is still on for the 18th and 19th of August. Below are some of the meeting logistics:
+ The workshop will be held at APL on 18th and 19th of August starting at 9AM on the 18th, and finishing mid-afternoon on the 19th for those who have to travel.
+ Visiting APL: Please see http://www.jhuapl.edu/aboutapl/visitor/default.asp
+ The meeting will be held off campus in MP6 111N (Used last year for the quarterly). The meeting will also be hosted on meeting place.
+ The workshop will consist of three sections:
1. SPICE - introduction and use in RBSP
2. CDF and SPDF - creating CDF files and working with SPDF
3. ViRBO - Working with VIRBO, tools and capabilities and ViRBO support for the mission
+ Tutorials will concentrate on development using IDL and/or C. If other languages are requested please let me know. The intent is that the participants will be working on code and should have a laptop with them. WiFI and memory sticks will be available to distribute material. A limited number of accounts on Linux system will be available as well.
+ Security: Badges and escorts are required for MP6. For foreign nationals, two Weeks notice that you are coming is required. (In reality please let me know, no later than COB on 2nd August).
Provisional Agenda:
Wednesday August 18th
09:00-09:30 AM: Introduction and setup
09:30-11:00 AM: SPICE Workshop Part 1
11:00-11:15 AM: Break
11:00-12:00 PM: SPICE Workshop Part 2
12:00-01:00 PM: Lunch
01:00-03:00 PM: SPICE Workshop Part 3
03:00-03:15 PM: Break
03:15-05:00 PM: CDF Workshop Part 1
Thursday August 19th
09:00-10:30 AM: CDF Workshop Part 2
10:30-10:45 AM: Break
10:45-12:00 PM: ViRBO Workshop part 1
12:00-12:45 PM: Lunch
12:45-02:30 PM: VirBO Workshop part 2
02:30-02:45 PM: Workshop wrap-up
Topics to be covered by the SPICE Workshop:
SPICE Overview
Getting and installing the toolkit
Simple getting started examples
Time Kernels - ephemeris time
Time conversion to and from MET to UTC
Frame Kernels
Coordinate transform overview
Specific coordinate transforms space-craft to earth-centric etc.
Instrument kernels
Instrument pointing/coincidence
Advanced topics if we have time: dynamic coordinate transforms
Topics to be covered by the CDF workshop:
Introduction to generating CDF files
CDF metadata
Creating SPASE Meta-data from CDF files
PRBEM extensions to the ISTP CDF format.
Working with SPDF
Lessons learned
Topics to be covered by the VirBO Workshop:
ViRBO capabilities - an overview of what we will be doing in the next two years. What it can be used for now and the capabilities available at launch.
Creating and editing metadata
Creating data views with Autoplot - creating meta-data from data views and accessing data services including remote, ASCII and CDF files.
Metadata management tools - operation and capabilities of VxOware
Getting and running VxOware and Autoplot in Eclipse
If you are planning on coming to the workshop, please confirm by emailing me (robin.barnes@jhuapl.edu). Please let me know what your preferred development platform is (C, IDL, etc.), and your particular interest. This workshop is planned to be a "hands on" exercise, even if you are already fluent in SPICE, CDF and VirBO, you may still wish to come and exchange your experiences.
Please forward this on to anyway else you think would be interested.
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| 2010-07-28T04:02:17 |
Many in the scientific and defense community are concerned about the status of the National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS). NPOESS was created in 1994 as a joint project between the Department of Defense (DOD), NASA, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to eliminate redundancy and lower costs among the government’s polar-orbiting systems. NPOESS is low earth orbiting environmental satellites that circle the Earth approximately every 100 minutes, providing global coverage, monitoring environmental conditions, and collecting data about the Earth’s weather, atmosphere, oceans, land, and near-space environment.
However, the project has suffered many delays and scale backs due to the different priorities and management structures of DOD, NASA, and NOAA. In response to those concerns, the House Committee on Science and Technology’s Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight held a hearing on 29 June 2010, entitled “Setting New Courses for Polar Weather Satellites and Earth Observations.”
The proposed restructuring discussed at the hearing creates two separate polar satellite programs. NOAA and NASA will run the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) which will run an afternoon orbit, while DOD’s Defense Weather Satellite System (DWSS) will run an early morning orbit.
The Chairman of the Subcommittee, Rep. Brad Miller (D-NC), began by stating, “NPOESS suffered from major performance problems and schedule delays for the primary imaging instrument, and these spawned cost overruns. However, the real problem with the program was that it was crippled by a management structure that delayed decisions at critical moments.” Among the witnesses were Shere Abbott from the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), Mary Glackin from NOAA, Christopher Scolese from NASA, Gil Klinger from DOD, and David Powner from the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
Members of the subcommittee were frustrated that NPOESS was over schedule and over budget, even though it was originally created to lower costs. Meanwhile, the witnesses representing DOD, NASA, NOAA, and OSTP seemed hopeful that the separation of NPOESS into JPSS and DWSS will solve many of the current problems while still meeting their observational requirements.
However, David Powner from GAO cited a recent GAO report that offered several potential problems with the proposed restructuring. These problems include the loss of key staff and capabilities, delays in negotiating contract changes and establishing new programs, and insufficient oversight of new program management. Powner noted, “The major issues that led to NPOESS’s failure are still relevant to the new programs.” Witnesses were also concerned about the potential for a “data gap” if the satellites are launched behind schedule. Restructuring the program may take longer than expected and so scheduling slips remain a threat. All witnesses and Members agreed this must be avoided.
On 15 July, at a meeting of the Friends of NOAA, of which AGU is a member, NOAA’s Director of External Affairs, Andrew Winer, said NOAA and NASA are working together on a “Plan B” if a data gap is unavoidable. However, Winer did not say what the Plan B might look like. He said more information would be available on the subject in four to six weeks.
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/notes/american-geophysical-union-agu/the-future-of-npoess/432915940488 |
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| 2010-07-06T19:12:17 |
AGU's ESSI Focus Group serves to facilitate communications and coordinate activities related to issues of data management and analysis, large-scale computational experimentation and modeling, and the hardware and software infrastructure needs to span the range of scientific topics of interest to the Union.
http://virbo.org/ESSI |
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| 2010-07-06T19:02:40 |
The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) and the Dublin Core
Metadata Initiative (DCMI) are pleased to announce a new educational
partnership, starting with an educational webinar on "Dublin Core: The Road
from Metadata Formats to Linked Data," to be held Wednesday, August 25th,
from 1:00 - 2:30 p.m. (eastern time).
Created in 1995, the Dublin Core was a result of the early phase of the web
revolution. While most saw the Dublin Core as a simple metadata format, or as
a set of descriptive headers embedded in web pages, a few of its founders saw
it as a cornerstone of a fundamentally new approach to metadata. In the
shadow of search engines, a Semantic Web approach developed in the early
2000s, reaching maturity in 2006 with the Linked Data movement, which uses
Dublin Core as one of its key vocabularies.
This webinar will discuss the difference between traditional approaches based
on record formats and the Linked Data approach, based on metadata
"statements" designed to be merged across data silo boundaries. Focusing on
the dual role of Dublin Core as a format and as a Semantic Web vocabulary,
this webinar will discuss new technologies for bridging the gap between
traditional and Linked Data approaches, highlighting how old ideas such as
embedded metadata have been reinvented with new web technologies and tools to
solve practical problems of resource discovery and navigation.
SPEAKERS AND TOPICS
. Dublin Core in the Early Web Revolution
Makx Dekkers, Managing Director and CEO, Dublin Core Metadata Initiative Ltd.
(DCMI)
Makx will describe how the early history of the Dublin Core illustrates an
emerging split between two quite different paradigms for metadata – one based
on closed systems and record formats and the other based on recombinational
metadata with an "open-world" assumption.
. What Makes the Linked Data Approach Different
Thomas Baker, Chief Information Officer, DCMI Ltd.
Tom will demonstrate how metadata can be designed for merging across the
boundaries of repositories and data silos.
. Designing Interoperable Metadata on Linked Data Principles
Thomas Baker, Chief Information Officer, DCMI Ltd.
Tom will show how good metadata design is rooted in well-articulated
requirements and how the interoperability of metadata depends on shared
underlying vocabularies in the context of a shared "grammar" for metadata.
. Bridging the Gap to the Linked Data Cloud
Makx Dekkers, Managing Director and CEO, Dublin Core Metadata Initiative Ltd.
(DCMI)
Makx will describe how existing metadata applications can participate in the
Linked Data cloud with emphasis on the role of simple, generic vocabularies
such as the Dublin Core in providing a common denominator for
interoperability.
REGISTRATION
Registration is per site (defined as access for one computer). NISO and NASIG
members may register at a discounted rate. A student discount is also
available. Can't make it on the scheduled date or time? Registrants receive
access to the recorded version for one year, which can be viewed at your
convenience. For more information or to register, visit the event webpage:
www.niso.org/news/events/2010/dublincore/.
Cynthia Hodgson
NISO Technical Editor Consultant
National Information Standards Organization
Email: chodgson@niso.org
Phone: 301-654-2512
http://www.niso.org/news/events/2010/dublincore/ |
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