Tamara Shulgina

Web-system for processing and visualization of meteorological data for Siberian environment research

Abstract At present, mainly GIS software is used for exploration and visualization of spatially distributed data. At the same time an approach based on the combination of advanced web technologies along with the standard rules of information-computational system development is more suitable for performing tasks requiring more sophisticated data analysis. In this report, functional capabilities of the information-computational system created for meteorological and climatic data processing and online visualization are introduced. The system represents a dedicated web-interface, which allows performing of mathematical and statistical operations on the diverse observational and model data and to determine characteristics of global and regional climate changes. Currently such datasets as NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis, ECMWF ERA-40 Reanalysis, etc. are available for processing. In particular, the system allows calculating of temporal average and extremum values, time trends, etc. at arbitrary spatial and temporal ranges for different meteorological parameters. The possibility of online intercomparison of meteorological characteristics calculated for different datasets is also realized in the system. The final version of the system being developed is supposed to find application in meteorological and climatological investigations and should help researchers to save time during performing routine analytical tasks by simplifying handling of huge arrays of spatially distributed meteorological data.

Development of Information-Computational Infrastructure for Environmental Research in Siberia as a Baseline Component of the Northern Eurasia Earth Science Partnership Initiative (NEESPI) Studies

This chapter provides a brief description of the information resources currently supporting environmental studies of Siberia including key references and points of contact. It describes environmental, hydrological, and meteorological datasets available for Siberia as well as the tools developed to organize and seamlessly deliver these data to the international research community for studying regional environmental and climatic dynamics of the ongoing global changes. Three-hour and daily datasets of major meteorological characteristics measured at the Siberian weather stations and relevant metadata sets are the first tangible resources available to the researchers. However, most of the Siberian territory is sparsely populated and the observational networks that provide regional in situ observations are also sparse. Therefore, other information resources described below are based upon, or include as their integral part, remote sensing and model output data. These resources are (a) land information system for Siberia that includes cartographical materials, data of different inventories and surveys, diverse databases of in situ measurements and remote sensing products, and numerous auxiliary models for assessment of relevant biophysical indicators of Siberian ecosystems; (b) remote sensing Earth observation products and tools for data search, data access, data visualization, and analysis over Siberia; and (c) a suite of online systems to monitor, process, visualize, analyze, and access Earth science remote sensing products and regional climatic and meteorological geospatial datasets, as well as a variety of geospatial data on climate, climate forecast, hydrology, hydrological forecast, environmental remote sensing, socioeconomic information, etc.