c yberinfrastructure c enter for p olar s cience (cicps) cyberinfrastructure for remote sensing of...

CYBERINFRASTRUCTURE CENTER FOR POLAR SCIENCE (CICPS)

Cyberinfrastructure for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets

Dr. Linda Hayden [email protected]

Dr. Geoffrey Fox [email protected]

Dr. Prasad Gogineni [email protected]

(NSF CI-TEAM Implementation project)


The Alliance for Equity in Higher Education, which includes the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC), the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU), and the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO), received funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to establish a pilot program for a CyberInfrastructure (CI) institute that serves the MSI community.

(NSF CI-TEAM Demonstration project)


The Alliance is currently seeking twelve MSI faculty members (four each from the Black, Hispanic, and Native-American/Tribal college and university communities) to participate in a one-year case study to learn and apply distributed research and education techniques to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) research and education projects. Participants will attend the San Diego Supercomputing Center in late-2005/early-2006.

In spring 2006, all of the selected participants will attend a five-day residential program designed to provide the skills and training necessary to continue institute participation and CI-related research after the participants return to their home institutions.

The residential program participants will be required to complete within the one-year duration of the pilot, a research project, computer science development project, or an educational project using the information/research techniques taken from the residential program. Each participant (or team of participants in the same discipline) will be paired with an appropriate mentor/research collaborator that will assist participants in designing and implementing their project.

CI activities began with this notice of opportunity from MCI-C(I)2


Step 1: Training of faculty and IT staff at SDSC Jan. 2006


Step 2: More training for IT staff

The Minority-Serving Institutions Cyberinfrastructure Institute MCI-C(I)2

June 26-30, 2006 SDSC


Open Grid Forum 19 – Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Elizabeth City State University was represented by Jeff Wood, ECSU graduate student, at the Open Grid Forum meeting in Chapel Hill, NC. Jeff was sponsored by a grant for Minority Serving Institutions.

Gwen Nichols-WhiteOGF Program Manager, eScience and Enterprise

Ian Chang-Yen (left)University of Louisiana at Lafayette

Jeff Wood (right)Elizabeth City State University


Applying the training to research

Science and engineering research and education are foundational drivers of Cyberinfrastructure.

Understanding the relationship between sea level rise and melting ice sheets is the application domain of this project. It is an issue of global importance, especially for the populations living in coastal regions.

These polar scientists are in need of computationally intensive tools and models that will help them measure and predict the response of ice sheets to climate change.


The Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS) is a Science and Technology Center established by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 2005, with the mission of developing new technologies and computer models to measure and predict the response sea level change to the mass balance of ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica. NSF’s Science and Technology Center (STC) program combines the efforts of scientists and engineers to respond to problems of global significance, supporting the intense, sustained, collaborative work that is required to achieve progress in these areas.


CReSIS is comprised of six partner universities, with the headquarters located at the lead institution, the University of Kansas. The other universities are Elizabeth City State University, Haskell Indian Nations University, The Ohio State University, The Pennsylvania State University, and the University of Maine. In addition to this core group, CReSIS collaborates with several international institutions and industry partners.

ECSU’s CERSER lab contributes to the:

Satellite Measurements Research Team

Data Products & Modeling Research Team


Student and Faculty CReSIS Related Research Projects at ECSU

*Antarctic Temperature Mapping *Holistic Ice Sheet Modeling *Airborne measurements of snow thickness over ice *Robotic simulation


Vision and Goals

The vision and goals of the NSF CI-TEAM project, “Cyberinfrastructure for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets,” are based on the fact that :

“educational settings, audiences, and goals are too important to be adequately addressed as afterthoughts or add-ons to Cyberinfrastructure projects and, instead, must be treated as high priorities integrated in a project’s overall design” … Geoscience Education and Cyberinfrastructure NSF Report



PI: Dr. Linda HaydenPI: Dr. Linda HaydenCo-PIs:Dr. Geoffrey Fox and Dr. Prasad GogineniCo-PIs:Dr. Geoffrey Fox and Dr. Prasad Gogineni

Establishes a virtual classroom environment and a CReSIS TeraGrid Establishes a virtual classroom environment and a CReSIS TeraGrid

Science Gateway for working with Minority-Serving Institution.Science Gateway for working with Minority-Serving Institution.



ECSU will establish a minimal Grid configuration and a virtual classroom environment with broadcast and receiving capabilities. With regards to the Grid, access will be implemented through web and research portals for use of computational and data resources. The portals will be customized with educational and science interfaces while still allowing access to large amounts of data.


The Association of Computer and Information Science/Engineering Departments at Minority Institutions (ADMI) was founded in August 1989. (http://www.admi.us) Represented on the Board of ADMI are Spelman College, Mississippi Valley State University, North Carolina Central University, ECSU, Howard University, Jackson State University, University of the District of Columbia, Hampton University, Fisk University and Florida A&M University.


ADMI Involvement

ADMI’s role in the proposed ECSU Grid project will be to establish capability within their institutions to allow students and faculty to participate in the virtual workshops, training and courses. In addition, students from the ADMI institutions will participate in an 8-week Grid technology workshop to be conducted during the summers at ECSU and academic year projects, workshops and seminars



With particular attention to the current and next generation of traditionally underrepresented minority scientists engineers and educators, the NSF CI-TEAM project prepares students with the knowledge and skills necessary to conduct interdisciplinary research in areas including Cyberinfrastructure, remote sensing, engineering and modeling related to glaciers and ice sheets.

• Summer Research Training in GRID and CReSIS related science•


Virtual Classroom


ComponentsThe virtual classroom configuration will consist of a Polycom 8000S system with 14-kHz wideband audio, 2 channels of 14-kHz audio, stand-alone audio conferencing phone, IP (H.232 and SIP) interfaces and Global Management System collaborative communications.


The PolarGrid Project(NSF MRI pending)

PI: Dr. Geoffrey FoxPI: Dr. Geoffrey Fox Co-PI: Dr. Linda HaydenCo-PI: Dr. Linda Hayden

Co-PI: Dr. Prasad GogineniCo-PI: Dr. Prasad Gogineni


PolarGridPolarGrid as proposed, deploys the Cyberinfrastructure which provides the polar community with a state-of-the-art computing facility to process the large volumes of data to be collected by CReSIS field operations and support large-scale ice-sheet models.

Jacobshavn Channel


PolarGrid - Key Areas

a) Field data collection systems to be taken with Polar Science researchers as they collect data.

b) A base camp 64-core cluster, allowing near real-time analysis of radar data by the polar field teams.

c) A large 17 Teraflops cluster, to be integrated with the NSF-funded TeraGrid, to serve the polar research community in final processing of data and supporting simulations. This is split between IU and ECSU to support research and education/training respectively.

d) The implementation of new improvements to the speed and capabilities of ice sheet models, and implementation of web portals to make the data, data products, and resources easily accessible to the polar research community.

e) An educational videoconferencing Grid to support educational activities.

The PolarGrid implementation and development will focus on the following key areas:


PolarGrid Rational

In past years, most of the data collected in the polar regions were not processed in real time. Instead, data were shipped to computing facilities in the continental US and analyzed well after collection. Real-time processing and data analysis are urgently needed, both in the field and at supporting computing centers, to adjust collection strategies in response to new information contained in the data.

The polar community must have access to a state-of-the-art computing facility to process the large volumes of data to be collected by the polar community in 2007-08 as a part of the International Polar Year (IPY) activities, and to support large-scale ice-sheet models.


• The field program consist of coordinated satellite, airborne and in situ measurements. Satellite data acquisitions are being planned as a part of the Global Interagency IPY Polar Snapshot Year. In addition, surface-based observations including ice cores, seismics and fine-resolution radars are planned.

• Initial CReSIS SAR data collection flights may produce in excess of 6 million complex samples per second per receiver channel. A single 5-hour flight mission could collect as much as one terabyte of raw SAR data.


Software

IU will lead the design and development of PolarGrid software.


Glacial Change DataWhile there is considerable evidence now that fast glacial changes occur and have occurred in the past, there is no consensus yet regarding how this takes place. Better understanding will only come from an ambitious campaign to collect more data, and develop new and better models using such data.

Lambert Glacier, Antarctica Acceleration


Synthetic Aperture Radars (SAR)Synthetic Aperture Radars (SAR) imaging of the ice-bed interface has the potential to make a significant contribution to glaciology by providing insights regarding the conditions at this critical boundary, including terrain relief and roughness as well as presence and distribution of liquid water. However, SAR image formation is computationally intensive. While the raw radar data, called phase histories, can be collected and stored for post-processing analysis, the image formation process requires a significant amount of signal processing, regardless of whether it is done in real-time or in post-processing. SAR imaging of the ice-bed interface through 3-km thick ice may require iterative focusing to compensate for the unknown variability in the electrical properties of the intervening ice.

Jakobshavn bed profile


Data Collection Flights

Initial CReSIS SAR data collection flights may produce in excess of 6 million complex samples per second per receiver channel. A single 5-hour flight mission could collect as much as one terabyte of raw SAR data.

CReSIS field programs are designed to perform geophysical measurements in the transition region (from deformation to streaming flow) of areas in Greenland and Antarctica undergoing rapid changes. The real-time field processing will allow the field team to adjust location and flight patterns to collect optimum data sets. Thus, access to a state-of-the-art computing facility that can be used to process data to generate quick-look images will allow the team to collect optimum SAR data. .


Current UAV Design Concept

Aircraft Summary:– WTO = 1,083 lbs– WE = 618 lbs– WF = 295 lbs– WPL = 165 lbs– Wingspan = 26.4 ft– Length = 17 ft– Range = 1,750 km (950 nm)– Endurance = 13 hours

The most critical design requirements are:– Payload Integration (Antennae Size)– Takeoff/Landing Distance– Size limitations

• Shipping• Hangar Size

– Fuel Type– Cold Weather Requirements (Anti-Icing)


Capability

The PolarGrid we propose will transform the capabilities of US polar researchers by enabling them to process and evaluate data as they are collected. This capability is achieved through a combination of laptop computers carried by researchers as they collect data in the field, a 64-core computer cluster to be added to the polar research base camp, and a larger cluster located in the continental US for final data processing and modeling work.


To address the Cyberinfrastructure challenges presented immediately by the Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS) and the polar science community in general, the Cyberinfrastructure Center for Polar Science (CICPS), with experts in Polar Science, Remote Sensing and Cyberinfrastructure, has been established.

Partners• University of Indiana• Elizabeth City State University (location of CISPS)• University of Kansas• Other CReSIS institutions

• Pennsylvania State Univ. Dept of Geosciences and EMS Environment Institute

• Byrd Polar Science Center at Ohio State University• University of Maine Climate Change Institute• GIS Lab at Haskell Indian Nation University

• ADMI Institutions• SDSC

Cyberinfrastructure Center for Polar Science (CICPS)


CICPS Projects

CICPS is committed to the effort needed to build the portal, workflow and Grid (Web) services that are required to make PolarGrid real. Two CICPS projects are being implemented and proposed in support of this effort.

1. Cyberinfrastructure for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets

( a second generation CI-TEAM implementation project)

2. POLARGRID ( a pending NSF MRI project)

In addition, a CyberInfrastructure Day @ ECSU is planned for Fall’07.


Highlights from the Distinguished Lecture featuring Dr. Fox and CI-TEAM strategy session at ECSU.

http://cerser.ecsu.edu/06events/061019dls/dls_lecture.htmlhttp://cerser.ecsu.edu/06events/061019dls/tg_vmg.html

Hayden, L., Braaten, D., Development of Educational Partnerships Dedicated to Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets Cyberinfrastructure, IEEE-IGARSS Conference, Barcelona, Spain, July 1007.

M. R. Marlino, T. R. Sumner, and M. J. Wright (2004). Geoscience Education and Cyberinfrastructure. Report of a workshop sponsored by the National Science Foundation, April 19-20, Boulder, CO: Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE) Program Center; University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), 43p. Available at: http://www.dlese.org/documents/reports/GeoEd-CI.html.

References:

c yberinfrastructure c enter for p olar s cience (cicps) cyberinfrastructure for remote sensing of...

Documents