Eugene Yu

CyberConnector: a service-oriented system for automatically tailoring multisource Earth observation data to feed Earth science models

Feeding multisource Earth observation (EO) data into Earth science models (ESM) remains a daunting challenge. This paper presents a service-oriented approach as an alternative solution. It uses geospatial web services to process the EO data and geoprocessing workflow for automation. Different from existing approaches, it takes advantage of virtual data products (VDP) to release modelers from intensive data processing. It can directly connect ESMs to public EO sources via Cyberinfrastructure. A prototype called CyberConnector is implemented. CyberConnector supports intuitive building of VDP, automatic execution of workflows and effortless retrieval of model-ready input files. We used it to stream multiple datasets to several ESMs including finite-volume coastal ocean model (FVCOM) and cloud-resolving model (CRM). The results show that CyberConnector can truly benefit modelers on time saving and effort minimizing.

Coupling of Earth science models and earth observations through OGC interoperability specifications

Modeling, a common method in Earth science research, needs a significant amount of data for model initialization, validation, verification, and calibration. Most of those data requirements could be met by the Earth observation data and their derived products. However, currently the use of Earth observation data in modeling requires significant effort for data preparation. This paper presents a Web service based general framework for making Earth observation data easily accessible and usable by various Earth science models. The framework uses OGC and ISO geospatial standards and specifications for facilitating the interoperability between Earth observation data sources and Earth science models (ESMs), and geospatial processing modeling, web service workflow and product virtualizations for automatically producing model-specific data products. The framework has been implemented as CyberConnector, a building block of NSF EarthCube cyberinfrastructure. Case demonstration of CyberConnector with three representative ESMs shows the reduction of at least one order of magnitude in time and effort spent by modelers for data preparation.