EarthCube
Transforming the Geosciences
A Joint Venture of the NSF Directorate of Geosciences
and Office of Cyberinfrastructure
UCGIS Symposium - George Mason U: May 23, 2013
Big Questions, Big Problems!!
continental evolution &
changes thru time
Community: Crazy, Complicated, Fascinating
YOU ARE HERE!
Age of Enlightenment
Modern Age
Geospatial/Cyberinfrastructure Communities
Atmospheric and Climate Science Communities
the 15%
Industrial Age
Seismology/Earthquake and
Physical Oceanography Communities
I am here
the 85%
Bronze Age
Nearly all other Geoscience groups
Present Relative State of Cyber-Sophistication and Knowledge
in the Geosciences
Read It and Weep
The 85% spend about 80% of their time looking for, collecting, and
getting the necessary data together in a format they can use and
about 20% of their time actually thinking/doing science
The 15% spend an increasing amount of time having problems
wrestling with unmanageably large data arrays and problems
scaling from global to regional or local scales
Neither are well integrated with each other and both types of data
and types of geoscience disciplines are required to solve the
complex, inter-related, and pressing environmental problems we
and the earth are facing
The Problem (the 15% vs the 85%)
Two very different types of data
 sensor, bit-stream, real-time: GB/TB size (satellite, radar, seismic)
 point-based, observations, images, multi informational, hard to describe
Two very different relationships with data
 Array-based: No personal ownership, don’t care about any given data
point, computationally intensive processing and modeling
 Point-based: intense personal ownership, care deeply about each point,
can interpret directly or simply
Two very different levels of investment
 HPC, big iron, federal archives, modeling centers, data repositories,
dedicated personnel and facilities
 Excel spreadsheets, hero code, dark data, cultural issues, no sustainability
The Geosciences: Diverse Communities, Data Types,
Cultures, and Levels of Cyber Sophistication
Interoperability
Visualization
Communities
Modeling
Analytics
Software
Multi-disciplinary & multi-scale integration
Our Biggest Present Problem
What Is EarthCube?
Dynamic
Earth
• Transform the conduct of
data-enabled geosciencerelated research.
Changing
Climate
Water:
Changing
Perspectives
Earth & Life
GeosphereBiospheric
Connection
• Create effective
community-driven
cyberinfrastructure.
• Allow global data
discovery and knowledge
management.
• Achieve interoperability
and data integration
across disciplines.
Who Is EarthCube? You Are!!!
Polar
Programs
Solar
Terrestial
Tectonics
Structure
Geochemistry
Cyber
Computer
Science
EarthScope
Earth
Science
Education
Aeronomy
Meteorology
Space
Physics
Geodetics
Paleoclimate
Geophysics
Tectonics
Structure.
Sedimentology
Climate
Dynamics
Hydrology
Geobiology
Geomorphology
NCAR
Atmosphere
Chemistry
EarthCube CI
Physical
Ocaenography
Marine
Geology
Biology
Chemical
Oceanography
Ocean
Drilling
Ecosystem
Glaciology
HPC, super
computing
Geospatial
Software
Engineering
Data
management
Ocean
Education
Biological
Oceanography
Marine
Geophysics
Path to the Vision
CUASHI
Unidata
An alternative approach
to respond to daunting
science and CI challenges
OOI
IEDA
IRIS
NCAR
EarthCube is
an outcome
AND a process
EarthCube will
require broad
community
involvement;
new ways of
doing
Important Features:
• Builds off existing data/modeling systems/cyberinfrastructure investments
• Provides tools/approaches that enhance data discovery, access, and
integration
• Addresses serious cyber needs in fields where individual data points and
observations are important
• Leverages investments across fields
• Allows for more integrative and interdisciplinary science
Convergence Using Spiral Development
Given: Technology improves and
changes over time.
Result: EarthCube being
designed in a step-wise, modular
fashion to accommodate change
and allow refreshing over time.
Timeline 2013 - 2014
GEO End-User Workshops
Phase 1
Release of
umbrella
Solicitation w/
1st Amendment
Nov 2012
Deadline of
1st & release
of 2nd
Amendment
Feb 2013
Proto-Gov
& EC-RCN
Awards –
1st Amend
Building Blocks &
Concept Design
Architecture
Awards – 2nd
Amend
FY 2014-FY 2016
(cycle repeats)
End-User Workshops
Phase 2
Community
Meeting
Release of 3rd
Amendment
Nov 2013
Feel Our Pain!
help me!
Seven Modes of Failure
Unrealistic or misaligned expectations among people presently involved in EarthCube
“Build it and they will come” mindset – users don’t show up, data is not shared, etc.
Not valuing what presently exists – current cyber/geo science efforts and initiatives
that represent parts of the EarthCube vision
Not advancing the frontier in transformative ways relative to what presently exists –
only automating the current state
Not engaging the 120,000+ geoscience and cyber stakeholders not presently involved
in EarthCube
Not anticipating the needs of the next generation of geoscience and cyber stakeholders
(todays doctoral students and post docs, as well as the generation behind them)
“Unknown Unknowns” – additional unknown unknowns including transformational changes in
the technology, catastrophic shifts in the policy arena, etc.
Barriers to Progress
Lack of cyber-readiness for some; and lack of unawareness of tools and approaches that could
speed discovery and analysis from those other than “the usual suspects”
Interoperability of disparate data types and formats; bringing dark data to light and
allowing “power processing”
Need for automation and smart tools to create metadata and facilitate direct lab/lab
notebook data delivery to data systems in the appropriate format for ingestion
Need for vastly improved handling of “big data” and ability to extract the needed
information that may only be a tiny part of the whole dataset
Overcoming cultural and semantic barriers between cyber/computer scientists and
geoscientists to allow acceleration of development and identification of user needs
Anticipating the needs of the next generation of geoscientists and questions/models
focusing on more realistically simulating complex natural systems
“Unknown Unknowns” including extensibility into transformational changes in the technology,
catastrophic shifts in the policy, etc.
Blue-Skying the Future
Now:
• Imagine a world with easy, unlimited access to scientific
data from any field.
• Imagine a world where anyone can easily plot data of
interest and display it any way they want.
• Imagine a world with where people can easily model
their results and explore any ideas they might have.
What science could they do?
What discoveries could you help them make?