David W. Fulker

SuomiNet: A Real–Time National GPS Network for Atmospheric Research and Education

“SuomiNet,” a university-based, real-time, national Global Positioning System (GPS) network, is being developed for atmospheric research and education with funding from the National Science Foundation and with cost share from collaborating universities. The network, named to honor meteorological satellite pioneer Verner Suomi, will exploit the recently shown ability of ground-based GPS receivers to make thousands of accurate upper- and lower-atmospheric measurements per day. Phase delays induced in GPS signals by the ionosphere and neutral atmosphere can be measured with high precision simultaneously along a dozen or so GPS ray paths in the field of view. These delays can be converted into integrated water vapor (if surface pressure data or estimates are available) and total electron content (TEC), along each GPS ray path. The resulting continuous, accurate, all-weather, real-time GPS moisture data will help advance university research in mesoscale modeling and data assimilation, severe weather, precipita...

The digital library for earth system education: building community, building the library

Science educators have called repeatedly for an information system that can effectively deliver quality educational materials in readily accessible formats, with a high degree of confidence in their usefulness, interest, and effectiveness [4]. In the past 18 months, the Earth system education community has begun development of the Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE). Earth system educators and key agency officials at NSF and NASA have recognized that the convergence of information and learning technologies , the maturation of basic digital library research, and the increasing ubiquity of the Web in classrooms has made the DLESE both possible and timely. Representatives of the Earth system education community came together in August 1999 to institute a governance system and an operational arm (the DLESE Program Center, or DPC) to design and develop a community-sponsored and community-owned digital library [3]. DLESE will serve the unique needs of Earth system educators and learners at all academic levels , in both formal and informal settings, by providing: Interfaces and tools to allow student exploration of geospatial materials and Earth data sets. Though a wealth of Earth data exists on the Web, much of it is difficult for educators to use. DLESE will provide student-friendly access to a wide variety of archived and real-time data sets. Rapid, sophisticated access to collections of peer-reviewed teaching and learning resources. Earth science educators have been frustrated in attempts to find high-quality teaching resources appropriate for their teaching style and educational level on the Web in a timely manner. This resource discovery challenge is being met with the creation of metadata schemas, controlled vocabularies, and cataloging best practice recommendations , all informed by community participation [2]. Services to help users effectively create and use materials. A full array of digital services and human-mediated services for both users and contributors to the library is critical to the vision of DLESE as an active organization that both builds and serves its community. A community center to facilitate sharing and collaboration. DLESE will serve as an intellectual commons for the global Earth system community by being the primary contact for educators, learners , and citizens who seek reliable information about the Earth. A federated collection of holdings. DLESE is being designed from the beginning to support resource discovery across a diverse, federated net

PROJECT CRAFT A Real-Time Delivery System for Nexrad Level II Data Via The Internet

Abstract The NOAA NWS announced at the annual meeting of the American Meteorological Society in February 2003 its intent to create an Internet-based pseudo-operational system for delivering Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) Level II data. In April 2004, the NWS deployed the Next-Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD) level II central collection functionality and set up a framework for distributing these data. The NWS action was the direct result of a successful joint government, university, and private sector development and test effort called the Collaborative Radar Acquisition Field Test (CRAFT) project. Project CRAFT was a multi-institutional effort among the Center for Analysis and Prediction of Storms, the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, the University of Washington, and the three NOAA organizations, National Severe Storms Laboratory, WSR-88D Radar Operations Center (ROC), and National Climatic Data Center. The principal goal of CRAFT was to demonstrate the real-time compr...

Java distributed components for numerical visualization in VisAD

Combining a flexible data model and distributed objects, they support the sharing of data, visualizations, and user interfaces among multiple data sources, computers, and scientific disciplines.

Real-time national GPS networks for atmospheric sensing

Real-time national global positioning system (GPS) networks are being established in a number of countries for atmospheric sensing. The authors, in collaboration with participating universities, are developing one of these networks in the United States. The proposed network, named “SuomiNet” to honor meteorological satellite pioneer Verner Suomi, is funded by the US National Science Foundation to exploit the recently shown ability of ground-based GPS receivers to make thousands of accurate upper and lower atmospheric measurements per day. Phase delays induced in GPS signals by the ionosphere and neutral atmosphere can be measured with high precision simultaneously along a dozen or so GPS ray paths in the ;eld of view. These delays can be converted into integrated water-vapor (if surface pressure data or estimates are available) and total electron content (TEC), along each GPS ray path. The resulting continuous, accurate, all-weather, real-time GPS moisture data will help advance university research in mesoscale modeling and data assimilation, severe weather, precipitation, cloud dynamics, regional climate and hydrology. Similarly, continuous, accurate, all-weather, real-time TEC data have applications in modeling and prediction of severe terrestrial and space weather, detection and forecasting of low-latitude ionospheric scintillation activity and geomagnetic storm e=ects at ionospheric mid-latitudes, and detection of ionospheric e=ects induced by a variety of geophysical events. SuomiNet data also have potential applications in coastal meteorology, providing ground truth for satellite radiometry, correction of synthetic aperture radar data for crustal deformation and topography studies, and detection of scintillation associated with atmospheric turbulence in the lower troposphere. In this paper we describe SuomiNet, its applications, and the larger opportunity to coordinate national real-time GPS networks to maximize their scienti;c and operational impact. c � 2001 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.

Unidata: Enabling Universities to Acquire and Analyze Scientific Data

The Unidata program is described and the services and benefits it will provide to university educators and researchers are discussed.3

Real-time national GPS networks: Opportunities for atmospheric sensing

Real-time national Global Positioning System (GPS) networks are being established in a number of countries for atmospheric sensing. UCAR, in collaboration with participating universities, is developing one of these networks in the United States. The network, named “SuomiNet” to honor meteorological satellite pioneer Verner Suomi, is funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation. SuomiNet will exploit the recently-shown ability of ground-based GPS receivers to make thousands of accurate upper and lower atmospheric measurements per day. Phase delays induced in GPS signals by the ionosphere and neutral atmosphere can be measured with high precision simultaneously along up to a dozen GPS ray paths in the field of view. These delays can be converted into total electron content (TEC), and integrated water vapor (if surface pressure data or estimates are available), along each GPS ray path. The resulting continuous, accurate, all-weather, real-time upper and lower atmospheric data create a variety of opportunities for atmospheric research. In this letter we describe SuomiNet, its applications, and the opportunity to coordinate national real-time GPS networks to create a global network with larger scientific and operational potential.

Faculty Workshop on Using Instructional Technologies and Satellite Data for College-Level Education in the Atmospheric and Earth Sciences

An education-oriented workshop for college faculty in the atmospheric and related sciences was held in Boulder, Colorado, during June 1997 by three programs of the University Corporation for Atmosp...

Teaching Mesoscale Meteorology in the Age of the Modernized National Weather Service: A Report on the Unidata/COMET Workshop

Abstract This report summarizes discussions that took place during a Unidata Cooperative Program for Operational Meteorology, Education, and Training (COMET) workshop on Mesoscale Meteorology Instruction in the Age of the Modernized Weather Service. The workshop was held 13–17 June 1994 in Boulder, Colorado, and it was organized by the Unidata Users Committee, with help from Unidata, COMET, and the National Center for Atmospheric Research staff. The principal objective of the workshop was to assess the need for and to initiate those changes at universities that will be required if students are to learn mesoscale and synoptic meteorology more effectively in this era of rapid technological advances. Seventy-one participants took part in the workshop, which included invited lectures, breakout roundtable discussions on focused topics, electronic poster sessions, and a forum for discussing recommendations and findings in a plenary session. Leading scientists and university faculty in the area of synoptic and m...

Digital library collaborations in a world community

Digital libraries and their user communities are increasingly internat ional in nature. However - though technological progress and global education have brought American and European communities closer - cross-cultural and other crosscutting issues impede the formation of &lquo;world community&rquo; on larger scales. The pertinent issues include: collaboration in the presence of language and cultural barriers, international copyrights, international revenue streams, and universal access. This panel will examine notions of “community” from a variety of theoretical and practical perspectives, and discuss lessons that can be gleaned from applications of the community concept. Topics are expected to include scalability, sustainability, regenerative cycles in healthy communities, and examples of digital-library efforts that have international potential or implications.