GeoNet: building science gateway alliances for the GeoHazard community
Date Issued
2017
Author(s)
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•
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Alessandro Tibaldi
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Mel Krokos
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Derek Rust
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Malcolm Whitworth
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Paraskevi Nomikou
Abstract
Science Gateway (SG) technology supports web-based
information systems offering scientific communities
mechanisms for customised and easy access to data collections,
computational tools and collaborative services on large-scale
Distributed Computing Infrastructures (DCIs). More
importantly any low-level details of the underlying e-infrastructures are hidden appropriately so that end-users are
not required to install anything on their personal desktops or
mobile devices, and independently of the geographical location
DCIs can be accessed in order to run applications and services
on them.
Typically, realizing a single SG for a scientific community
is sufficient assuming that its needs in terms of applications
and services are homogeneous. Nevertheless to cater for largescale diverse scientific communities Science Gateway
Alliances (SGAs) are necessary requiring extra functionalities,
e.g. common sign in, open sharing of data and applications
across widely distributed e-infrastructures. StarNet is an
SGA built to support the needs of the Astrophysics community
and other satellite communities (e.g. Nuclear Physics) which
has successfully prototyped and tested a number of challenging
applications.
We report on initial efforts on repurposing StarNet for
building a spin-off SGA (called GeoNet) to support the
Geohazard Community (GHC). The GHC routinely deals with
a multitude of diverse data (e.g. images and maps from field
measurements) that need to be processed via complex pipelines
to get an insight into natural (e.g. ash from a volcano) and manmade (e.g. dust from landfill sites) phenomena and thus map
relevant geo-hazard zones and alert levels. To support recent
scientific advances sophisticated SGAs are required
underpinned by innovative networking, data and computing
intensive tools and services for processing and visualisation in
exploring highly heterogeneous, complex datasets.
The vision for GeoNet is to address complex scientific
problems dealing with state of the art simulations of volcanic
ash dispersion, study of geological structures on active
faults for seismic hazards, analysis of landslides for
hydrogeological hazards, collection of volcanic deposits and
structures for volcanic hazards, study of underwater volcanoes and simulation of eruptions, and collection of
morphological, geological and geochemical datasets for
underwater volcanic hazards. We expect to leverage
similarities between use-cases, e.g. in the data analytics and
organisation domains, so that GeoNet will not only offer
community-wide solutions but will also work towards bridging
the gap with adjacent communities.
We are developing a prototype ecosystem by integrating
and adapting StarNet components as necessary within an open
space containing workflows and applications, to advance use of
cloud technologies in order to facilitate application
development and deployment including application usage as
SaaS, PaaS, IaaS. Although StarNet already contains several
core services for data organisation and management these need
adaptation to handle GHC data sources. Furthermore core
services for processing data through complex workflows also
have to be adapted for GHC needs as they require non-trivial
processing pipelines, e.g. innovative visualizations for quick
exploration of regions surrounding volcanic areas to interpret
regional volcanic settings. The ultimate vision is to build novel
mechanisms for seamless glueing of customised gateways
enabling deployment of a fully federated approach to
applications, services and e-infrastructure layers.
Coverage
IWSG 2017 9th International Workshop on Science Gateways
Conferenece
IWSG 2017 9th International Workshop on Science Gateways
Conferenece place
Poznań, Poland
Conferenece date
19-21 June, 2017
Rights
open.access
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