Dissemination and exploitation of grids in Earth science

Russian Journal of Earth Sciences, 2010

The term Grid emerged in the nineties, when the rapid increase of network speeds facilitated the time-efficient integration of distributed computers and storage resources [Foster and Kesselmann, 1998]. In the meantime, the resources shared through Grids have been extended to personal computers, servers, compute clusters, supercomputers, storage systems and services like databases and so forth. In 2000 the first European project, DataGrid, to deploy a Grid over Europe was launched, followed up to now by other European projects, called EGEEI, EGEEII and EGEEIII. Since the beginning, 2000, the Earth Science community has started using the Grid. The experience acquired via academic and R&D applications has demonstrated that Grid infrastructure could respond to the ES requirements. However, the interface between the ES software environment and Grid middleware is not simple for many applications. After nearly a decade of European Grid projects like EGEE, that have developed the infrastructure and put it in production for various scientific communities, the next challenge is to find a sustainable model for a continued operational phase. For this purpose, an organizational structure with a central office, called EGI (European Grid Initiative), was founded. In this structure, the provisioning of infrastructure and related services is based on the National Grid Initiatives (NGI) of the participating countries. The user communities are organized according to their scientific domain in so called Grid Virtual Research Communities.

Earth Science Informatics, 2009

The Earth Sciences (ES) community, with its mosaic of disciplines and players such as academia, industry, national surveys, international organizations, has specific requirements described next. In particular, any observation depends on four coordinates (three spatial dimensions and time) and then needs geospatial tools for its use. The data policy is very complex and strict, as many real-time data may be strategic for the country and/or have an economic impact. In addition, the ES community provides short-term and medium-term predictions of weather and natural hazards in real-time and requires for those tasks immediate availability of resources by advance reservation or preemption. Model simulations of a host of phenomena relating to the Earth and its space environment need access to various large sets of data distributed geographically in different data centres. The various sources of data, among others, include satellite missions, observational networks, large instruments and simulations.

Earth Science Informatics, 2010

Due to its intensive data processing and highly distributed organization, the multidisciplinary Earth Science applications community is uniquely positioned for the uptake and exploitation of Grid technologies. Currently Enabling Grids for E-sciencE, and other large Grid infrastructures are already deployed and capable of operational services. So far however, the adoption and exploitation of Grid technology throughout the Earth Science community has been slower than expected. The Dissemination and Exploitation of GRids in Earth sciencE project, proposed by the European Commission to assist and accelerate this process in a number of different ways, had between its main goals the creation of a roadmap towards Earth Science Grid platform. This paper presents the resulting roadmap.

2020

Journal of Geoscience Education, 2008

The Master's of Earth Science Education is available to certified teachers who already have the equivalent of a minor in Earth Science. The program has 15 credits of required courses that include doing research for a professional paper and going on field trips. The other 15 credits are electives. The entire program is offered online through the Office of Continuing Education at Eastern Michigan University.

Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 2017

The exigencies of the global community toward Earth system science will increase in the future as the human population, economies, and the human footprint on the planet continue to grow. This growth, combined with intensifying urbanization, will inevitably exert increasing pressure on all ecosystem services. A unified interdisciplinary approach to Earth system science is required that can address this challenge, integrate technical demands and long-term visions, and reconcile user demands with scientific feasibility. Together with the research arms of the World Meteorological Organization, the Young Earth System Scientists community has gathered early-career scientists from around the world to initiate a discussion about frontiers of Earth system science. To provide optimal information for society, Earth system science has to provide a comprehensive understanding of the physical processes that drive the Earth system and anthropogenic influences. This understanding will be reflected ...

Science Education, 2011

2009

The ongoing technological development since the introduction of computerized data processing and increased access to the Internet has increasingly blurred the boundaries among the individual disciplines in the geo-sciences. As a consequence, some traditionally interdisciplinary areas such as remote sensing, geoinformatics and cartography have become particularly active or partly revitalized. In this paper we document two examples of International Master Study Programs at the Technical University Munich (TUM). One is the “ESPACE” (Earth-Oriented Space Science and Technology) program that started in 2005. The other is the international master program on “Cartography and Geoinformatics” that is intended to start in 2010. Both programs are rooted in the traditional German Diploma program “Geodesy and Geoinformation”, but have been progressively reshaped as interdisciplinary and non-consecutive Master programs. While ESPACE has already become a successful story, the curriculum of “Cartog...

Journal of the Geological Society of India