The University of California at Santa Barbara is awarded a grant to advance cyberinfrastructure for environmental observatories by combining scientific workflow systems with dynamic real-time data grids associated with multiple sensor networks. The project goal is to provide scientists with an analysis and modeling tool that can easily integrate distributed heterogeneous data streams for use in simulation and forecast models. This near real-time environment for analytical processing will provide an open-source, extensible and customizable framework for designing and executing scientific models that consume data streams from sensor networks. Project investigators will build upon prior advances in real-time data grids, scientific workflow systems, embedded sensor networks, and semantic data integration to extend the scientific workflow system Kepler to meet the needs of scientists that analyze and model observatory data, systems engineers that create and maintain observatory sensor networks, and public users that access data and results from observatories. To drive the research and development, investigators will carry out this work in the context of two case studies; the interrelationship between infectious disease and invasive species, and the use of in situ sensors to analyze and validate sea surface temperature field datasets. This project will make fundamental technology development advances in information technology at the intersection of real-time data processing, scientific workflow systems, and data integration. By incorporating real-time data streams into an observatory-oriented workflow environment, the system will allow scientists, educators, government officials, and the public to access, analyze, and understand the rich information provided by sensor networks and analytical models.
