This grant supports a workshop entitled "EarthCube Domain End-User Workshop: Integrating Real-time Data into the EarthCube Framework" to be held in June 2013 in Boulder, Colorado. The primary objective of this meeting is to bring together users and providers of real-time data across geosciences disciplines to address community needs for effectively and efficiently handling and applying this type of data. Through oral presentations and in breakout sessions, attendees from universities, federal agencies and industry will develop example cases and explore issues related to gathering and quality control of real-time data that can be used to inform the cyber-infrastructure development within EarthCube.
Real-time geoscientific data has the potential to revolutionize the application of scientific data in contexts of importance to a broader audience. Such data streams are key inputs, for example, to operational forecast models and warning systems that inform the general public of impending hazardous weather. This workshop will have a broader impact by helping to build capacity among the community of real-time technologists and researchers whose work affects a wide range of users, including water resource managers, energy planners, farmers, school districts, disaster mitigation and relief planners, urban managers, utilities, cities, etc.
The importance of scientific data that is accessed immediately as it becomes available (i.e. in real-time) has been increasing, particularly in mission critical scenarios, where informed decisions about next steps must be made rapidly. Scientists need access to data just as soon as it becomes available in order to sample, analyze and predict dynamic and moving phenomenon such as hurricanes, severe storms and tornados, earthquakes and flood events. The EarthCube initiative (www.nsf.gov/geo/earthcube) was launched in June 2011 to seek "transformative concepts and approaches to create integrated data management infrastructures across the geosciences". The EarthCube Real-time Data Workshop sought to bring together a very diverse group of software and data professionals as well as geoscientists (e.g. seismologists, hydrologists, atmospheric and ocean scientists, etc.) to characterize the role of real-time data and improve its access within the scientific community. Today, with the availability of advanced computer networking (such a satellite communications onboard aircraft), more real-time data is available than ever before. These real-time streams of geoscience data have the potential to revolutionize the utility and quality of scientific data to non-scientists and the broader public. For example, they are key inputs to operational forecast models and warning systems that inform the general public of pending disasters. Many researchers, policy makers and other members of the public need access to high quality real-time data. Examples include, but are not limited to, water resource managers, energy planners, farmers, school districts, disaster mitigation and relief planners, urban managers, utilities, cities, and larger municipalities. This workshop has built capacity and sharing among the community of real-time technologists and researchers and helped define the needs of these groups to make real-time data more easily accessible and compatible. It is clear that the recommendations and developments that have come out of this workshop will assist in advancing research in the geosciences and beyond.
