Foundations for a Virtual Heliospheric Observatory: United L1 data sets, prototypical searching and distributed data processing

Recent work involving the L1 data sets has led to the automated synchronization of data among many of the L1 principal investigators. This in turn has led to combined data sets as well as more efficient processing and calibration and ultimately to high quality data products for the community. In addition, this work has been combined with initial and ongoing efforts to develop a Virtual Heliospheric Observatory (VHO). The current capabilities that include multiple search techniques through Simple Object Access Protocol and XML applications will be discussed. Additionally, we present our initial steps in building a prototype data processing environment for use within the VHO. Specifically, we incorporate a peer-to-peer architecture that contains basic services, such as coordinate transformations, and demonstrate its use through high-level data access tools from the ACE Science Center.