Successful transition into a (robust and vibrant) enterprise realization of the Global Earth Observing System of Systems (GEOSS), and the Integrated Earth Observations System (IEOS) as the US component, spans a domain that includes: (1) the transition from research to operations across the "valleys of death and lost opportunities"; (2) the linkage of observations, analysis and modeling systems through data assimilation and the global forecast system; (3) stakeholders aligned along an "axis of good" that includes NSF, NASA, NOAA and its Cooperative Institutes, and end users who deliver socioeconomic benefits. An often-overlooked, yet critical, element of this enterprise is the bidirectional nature of the interfaces; specifically, the transition from operations to research. It is this return path that empowers the iterative and continuously improving nature of the enterprise. This paper evaluates three "best of breed" systems that are designed to exploit and enable the operations-to-research transition: the University of Wisconsin- Madison's Man computer Interactive Data Access System (McIDAS) V, the NOAA/National Weather Service's Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS) II, and the Air Force's Joint Environmental Toolkit (JET). From these, lessons learned and common attributes are identified. These provide a set of demonstrated and success-oriented best practices that future environmental systems may consider for incorporation into their objectives and requirements.

Date Published: 27 October 2007
PDF: 4 pages
Proc. SPIE 6684, Atmospheric and Environmental Remote Sensing Data Processing and Utilization III: Readiness for GEOSS, 668406 (27 October 2007); doi: 10.1117/12.736235

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 6684:
Atmospheric and Environmental Remote Sensing Data Processing and Utilization III: Readiness for GEOSS
Mitchell D. Goldberg; Hal J. Bloom; Allen H.-L. Huang; Philip E. Ardanuy, Editor(s)