Integrated Access to Solar Data using EGSO
Abstract
The European Grid of Solar Observations (EGSO) is a virtual observatory based on Grid technology that will change the way users analyze solar data. EGSO is funded under the IST (Information Society Technologies) thematic priority of the European Commission's Fifth Framework Programme (FP5). It started in March 2002 and will last for 3 years. The EGSO Consortium comprises eleven groups from five countries in Europe and the US, and is led by the Mullard Space Science Laboratory of University College London. The project aims to overcome one of the major hurdles in the analysis of solar data - finding what data are available and retrieving those that are needed. EGSO is creating layers of metadata catalogues that will for the first time provide the ability to select solar data based on phenomena and events. It is also integrating access to solar data by building a Grid including solar archives around the world. This combination of metadata and tools for selecting, processing and retrieving distributed and heterogeneous solar data, will radically change the way that data are distributed and analyzed. EGSO is collaborating closely with groups in the US who are working on similar virtual observatory projects for the solar, solar-terrestrial and heliospheric communities with the objective of providing integrated access to these data. In particular, strong synergies between the EGSO and CoSEC projects are producing innovative ways of accessing the data that will be deployed in both projects. Since the first release of EGSO in September 2003, members of the solar community have been involved in product testing. The constant testing and feedback allows us to continue to improve the quality and usability of the system. The capabilities of the latest release (R4) will be described, and the scientific problems that it addresses discussed.
- Publication:
-
35th COSPAR Scientific Assembly
- Pub Date:
- 2004
- Bibcode:
- 2004cosp...35.3935B