SAON Board Meeting, Tromsø, 24.-25. January 2011
Agenda item 3
SAON Task Proposal
1: Task Title:
IPA-IASC-SAON-SCAR workshop on data user requirements definition for permafrost observing in GTN-P
2: Name of leader and partners (leader’s e-mail address and partner names, affiliation and country):
Hugues Lantuit (), International Permafrost Association
Hans-Wolfgang Hubberten, Germany
Hanne Christiansen, Norway
Anatoly Brouchkov, Russia
Dmitriy Drozdov, Russia
Sharon Smith, Canada
Vladimir Romanovsky, USA
Partners:
International Arctic Science Committee
Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research
Global Climate Observing System
Global Terrestrial Observing System
Global Cryoshere Watch
3: Objective (please be clear and specific):
The International Permafrost Association will organize a workshop to establish data user requirements for the dissemination and visualization of the permafrost data products of the Global Terrestrial Network on Permafrost (GTN-P).
4: The need (please state briefly which need will be met by your proposal, and who has the need)
GTN-P was until now operated on a voluntary basis and has been redesigned to meet the expectations arising in the science community and the wider public. Its strategy and implementation plan, published for the period 2011-2016 explicitly addresses this issue by professionalizing the network, its structure and governance. It also clearly pleads for strengthened collaboration with regional observing networks and regional science organizations such as SAON. To kick-off the new structure network and deliver the best possible products to the community, GTN-P, together with IASC will organize a workshop in June 2011 to define the user needs and requirements for the production, archival, storage, dissemination and visualization of the data products its manages. It is crucial that the dissemination of permafrost products be stemming directly from the organisation maintaining the observing networks and that the needs from the user community be known to develop the interface of the data dissemination and visualization interface.
5: Short description (please limit to one page, use attachment if strictly needed):
The Global Terrestrial Network on Permafrost (GTN-P) is the observing network for permafrost sponsored by GCOS and GTOS and managed by the IPA. It monitors the two Essential Climate Variables (ECVs) permafrost temperature and active layer thickness through a series of sites (over 860 boreholes globally) located in all permafrost regions (but overwhelmingly in the Arctic). GTN-P has gained considerable visibility in the science community in providing the baseline against which models are validated globally and incorporated in climate assessments. It was dramatically overhauled during the IPY.
The workshop will take place in June 2011 and consist of a series of well-articulated breakout sessions bringing together representatives from a wide range of scientific specialties, observing system organizations, and from the wider public. The goal of the workshop will be to define in detail the technical wishes and requirements of field scientists and modelers interested in permafrost research, but also to address the needs of the broader science community and of the public to ensure that the GTN-P outputs form a lasting legacy widely used by these target groups.
The workshop will first let representatives of specific communities (Field scientists, modelers, remote sensing specialists) elaborate a set of requirements and push these communities to agree on a consolidated set of standards and products to be provided by GTN-P. In a second phase, the workshop will bring together in breakout sessions addressing issues spanning the whole spectrum of science communities involved in the workshop: Data archival, data storage, data dissemination and visualization, search tools, online vs. offline data delivery, confidentiality, compatibility with existing ISO and PIC standards, etc.
The results of this stakeholder meeting will be summarized in a document forming the basis upon which GTN-P and its partners will rely to build and professionalize the network, and specifically its technical framework. The resulting document will be submitted to IASC as well as the sponsor organizations of GTN-P for feedback and validation, before being put into motion by the GTN-P executive committee.
6: Funding (estimated budget and likely funding sources):
Funding will consist of personnel, through the IPA Secretariat, and the IPA Task force on GTN-P.
It will be complemented for the workshop by funding from the IPA and other international organizations to be involved in the workshop.
7: Time line (start and ending):
The Strategy and Implementation Plan of the Global Terrestrial Network on Permafrost will be submitted to GCOS and GTOS in January 2011. It sets the time for a workshop on data user requirements for June 2011. Following on the workshop a white paper on data user requirements will be published in the fall of 2011.
8: Expected outcome/product:
The workshop will lead to the creation of a white paper on data user requirements, which will form the basis upon which GTN-P will build its new data portal.