[ESP] Invitation to next ESP Meeting

[Bryan Lawrence]

Folks

I think Glenn's provided a list of issues which most of us would agree are 
important in one way or another. However, I suspect there are too many of 
them for a two day meeting, and we would end up with a show and tell, and 
we'd all walk away, with no progress on the issues and no real momentum with 
which to go forward.  Meanwhile, I'll follow up on some of Glenn's issues in 
another email.

Do we have any consensus about what this meeting is for? My feeling is that 
this meeting is about portals. I would rather we concentrated on what 
technology we have available for portals, what the portals should be doing, 
who is doing what, and how we can interoperate etc. I'd be happy to propose 
some more specific items for an agenda if that's a consensus opinion about 
what this meeting should achieve.

Bryan

On Thursday 03 July 2003 15:04, Glenn Rutledge wrote:
> Chris-
> Here's my input for the subject meeting.  They are somewhat random
> thoughts, but hopefully will help you develop the Agenda for further
> discussion and consideration.
>
> 1) the selection and development or support of several
> standards/conventions for multiple data formats and metadata.
>
> Particularly NetCDF and GRIB/BUFR formats; and COARDS/CF conventions.
> WHere do these fall short?  How to leverage this work with other
> projects efforts such as THREDDS.
>
> 2) Long term goal?--- The adoption and promotion of a WMO based
> convergence of formats.  While NetCDF has gained popularity, it is not a
> good archive format (volume). It's also a pblm for NCEP.  While GRIB is
> a good archive and processing format, it does not have the utilities, or
> ease of use that NetCDF has.  Data/File management systems such as MARS
> are good examples of the need for a single format / description- however
> is it realistic in a distributed environment at least in the short term
> for us to pursue?   Thus the need to at least propose WMO based
> convergence for our data.  I don't believe in this for the short term,
> and who will champion this?  So, in the meantime:
>
> 3) The interoperability between the CLimate (NetCDF) and Weather
> (GRIB/BUFR) communities is requested and needs to be considered.
>
> 4) Discussion on attribution to agencies/data centers and providers is
> needed.  How should we approach this?  How should I (NOMADS) operate
> under / with ESG, NCAR, CDC, the Ocean side (NVODS or GODAE) or NERC
> DataGrid, PRISM and CAPRI project or BADC?
>
> 5) intercomparison btwn gridded models and btwn gridded models and
> observational (in-situ) datasets needs consideration.
>
> 6) The aspect of a common portal may be difficult to achieve.  UNder
> NOMADS, the framework allows multiple portals representing each
> participating centers own unique interests, but provides
> interoperabiltiy based upon DODS/ and hopefully a metadata convention
> that this group addresses.  One single entry point maybe showing logo's
> of participating centers/project as discussed in the past may suffice:
> "Powered by ESG" or "Powered by NOMADS or DODS", etc. The point is to
> provide the framework for new users and more importantly new data
> providers under a distributed network.  The grid is the logical
> extension of this but of course has some development yet to achieve.  As
> does search capabilities outlined in THREDDS or the Digital Libraries
> efforts.  I still look to these efforts for resolve- so their efforts
> and directions should be considered.
>
> 7) real-world science projects or experiments need to be forged using
> these technologies between collaborating centers (e.g., ECMWF or Hadley
> and NCAR, GFDL, PCMDI).
>
> Regards, Glenn
>
> Christopher Kerr wrote:
> > ESP Member:
> >
> > The next Earth Science Portal Meeting is going to be held on September 29
> > and 30, 2003 at the Daresbury Laboratory, England. The workshop will
> > focus on Data Portal Design and Meta Data. (That title should not
> > supprise anyone!)
> >
> > Following the format of our last meeting at NCAR, we would like to keep
> > the discussions highly interactive and hence keep the number of
> > partipants to a reasonable number. If you have any colleagues from other
> > institutions who you think should attend, let me know and I will send
> > them an invitation.
> >
> > Please send me the title of a talk that you would like to give and any
> > other thoughts on the format of the meeting.
> >
> > I look forward to hearing from you soon.
> >
> > Christopher
>
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-- 
Bryan Lawrence, Head NCAS/British Atmospheric Data Centre
web: www.badc.nerc.ac.uk  phone: +44 1235 445012
CLRC: Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Didcot, OX110QX, UK