User requirements Massive Point Clouds for eSciences (WP1)

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Suijker, P.M.; Alkemade, I.; Kodde, M.P.; Nonhebel, A.E.

2014-01-01

This report is a milestone in work package 1 (WP1) of the project Massive point clouds for eSciences. In WP1 the basic functionalities needed for a new Point Cloud Spatial Database Management System are identified. This is achieved by (1) literature research, (2) discussions with the project

NASA’s Universe of Learning: Engaging Subject Matter Experts to Support Museum Alliance Science Briefings

Science.gov (United States)

Marcucci, Emma; Slivinski, Carolyn; Lawton, Brandon L.; Smith, Denise A.; Squires, Gordon K.; Biferno, Anya A.; Lestition, Kathleen; Cominsky, Lynn R.; Lee, Janice C.; Rivera, Thalia; Walker, Allyson; Spisak, Marilyn

2018-06-01

NASA's Universe of Learning creates and delivers science-driven, audience-driven resources and experiences designed to engage and immerse learners of all ages and backgrounds in exploring the universe for themselves. The project is a unique partnership between the Space Telescope Science Institute, Caltech/IPAC, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, and Sonoma State University and is part of the NASA SMD Science Activation Collective. The NASA’s Universe of Learning projects pull on the expertise of subject matter experts (scientist and engineers) from across the broad range of NASA Astrophysics themes and missions. One such project, which draws strongly on the expertise of the community, is the NASA’s Universe of Learning Science Briefings, which is done in collaboration with the NASA Museum Alliance. This collaboration presents a monthly hour-long discussion on relevant NASA astrophysics topics or events to an audience composed largely of informal educators from informal learning environments. These professional learning opportunities use experts and resources within the astronomical community to support increased interest and engagement of the informal learning community in NASA Astrophysics-related concepts and events. Briefings are designed to create a foundation for this audience using (1) broad science themes, (2) special events, or (3) breaking science news. The NASA’s Universe of Learning team engages subject matter experts to be speakers and present their science at these briefings to provide a direct connection to NASA Astrophysics science and provide the audience an opportunity to interact directly with scientists and engineers involved in NASA missions. To maximize the usefulness of the Museum Alliance Science Briefings, each briefing highlights resources related to the science theme to support informal educators in incorporating science content into their venues and/or interactions with the public. During this

Using Cloud-based Storage Technologies for Earth Science Data

Science.gov (United States)

Michaelis, A.; Readey, J.; Votava, P.

2016-12-01

Cloud based infrastructure may offer several key benefits of scalability, built in redundancy and reduced total cost of ownership as compared with a traditional data center approach. However, most of the tools and software systems developed for NASA data repositories were not developed with a cloud based infrastructure in mind and do not fully take advantage of commonly available cloud-based technologies. Object storage services are provided through all the leading public (Amazon Web Service, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, etc.) and private (Open Stack) clouds, and may provide a more cost-effective means of storing large data collections online. We describe a system that utilizes object storage rather than traditional file system based storage to vend earth science data. The system described is not only cost effective, but shows superior performance for running many different analytics tasks in the cloud. To enable compatibility with existing tools and applications, we outline client libraries that are API compatible with existing libraries for HDF5 and NetCDF4. Performance of the system is demonstrated using clouds services running on Amazon Web Services.

On the Large-Scaling Issues of Cloud-based Applications for Earth Science Dat

Science.gov (United States)

Hua, H.

2016-12-01

Next generation science data systems are needed to address the incoming flood of data from new missions such as NASA's SWOT and NISAR where its SAR data volumes and data throughput rates are order of magnitude larger than present day missions. Existing missions, such as OCO-2, may also require high turn-around time for processing different science scenarios where on-premise and even traditional HPC computing environments may not meet the high processing needs. Additionally, traditional means of procuring hardware on-premise are already limited due to facilities capacity constraints for these new missions. Experiences have shown that to embrace efficient cloud computing approaches for large-scale science data systems requires more than just moving existing code to cloud environments. At large cloud scales, we need to deal with scaling and cost issues. We present our experiences on deploying multiple instances of our hybrid-cloud computing science data system (HySDS) to support large-scale processing of Earth Science data products. We will explore optimization approaches to getting best performance out of hybrid-cloud computing as well as common issues that will arise when dealing with large-scale computing. Novel approaches were utilized to do processing on Amazon's spot market, which can potentially offer 75%-90% costs savings but with an unpredictable computing environment based on market forces.

Facilitating NASA Earth Science Data Processing Using Nebula Cloud Computing

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, A.; Pham, L.; Kempler, S.; Theobald, M.; Esfandiari, A.; Campino, J.; Vollmer, B.; Lynnes, C.

2011-12-01

Cloud Computing technology has been used to offer high-performance and low-cost computing and storage resources for both scientific problems and business services. Several cloud computing services have been implemented in the commercial arena, e.g. Amazon's EC2 & S3, Microsoft's Azure, and Google App Engine. There are also some research and application programs being launched in academia and governments to utilize Cloud Computing. NASA launched the Nebula Cloud Computing platform in 2008, which is an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) to deliver on-demand distributed virtual computers. Nebula users can receive required computing resources as a fully outsourced service. NASA Goddard Earth Science Data and Information Service Center (GES DISC) migrated several GES DISC's applications to the Nebula as a proof of concept, including: a) The Simple, Scalable, Script-based Science Processor for Measurements (S4PM) for processing scientific data; b) the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) data process workflow for processing AIRS raw data; and c) the GES-DISC Interactive Online Visualization ANd aNalysis Infrastructure (GIOVANNI) for online access to, analysis, and visualization of Earth science data. This work aims to evaluate the practicability and adaptability of the Nebula. The initial work focused on the AIRS data process workflow to evaluate the Nebula. The AIRS data process workflow consists of a series of algorithms being used to process raw AIRS level 0 data and output AIRS level 2 geophysical retrievals. Migrating the entire workflow to the Nebula platform is challenging, but practicable. After installing several supporting libraries and the processing code itself, the workflow is able to process AIRS data in a similar fashion to its current (non-cloud) configuration. We compared the performance of processing 2 days of AIRS level 0 data through level 2 using a Nebula virtual computer and a local Linux computer. The result shows that Nebula has significantly

Enabling Analytics in the Cloud for Earth Science Data

Science.gov (United States)

Ramachandran, Rahul; Lynnes, Christopher; Bingham, Andrew W.; Quam, Brandi M.

2018-01-01

The purpose of this workshop was to hold interactive discussions where providers, users, and other stakeholders could explore the convergence of three main elements in the rapidly developing world of technology: Big Data, Cloud Computing, and Analytics, [for earth science data].

Math and Science Teachers: Recruiting and Retaining California's Workforce. Policy Brief

Science.gov (United States)

EdSource, 2008

2008-01-01

Middle and high school math and science teachers provide the foundation for education in the growing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields. They are crucial to California's efforts to remain competitive in a global economy. This policy brief looks at the shortage and challenges involved in recruiting and retaining fully prepared…

Hybrid cloud and cluster computing paradigms for life science applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Qiu, Judy; Ekanayake, Jaliya; Gunarathne, Thilina; Choi, Jong Youl; Bae, Seung-Hee; Li, Hui; Zhang, Bingjing; Wu, Tak-Lon; Ruan, Yang; Ekanayake, Saliya; Hughes, Adam; Fox, Geoffrey

2010-12-21

Clouds and MapReduce have shown themselves to be a broadly useful approach to scientific computing especially for parallel data intensive applications. However they have limited applicability to some areas such as data mining because MapReduce has poor performance on problems with an iterative structure present in the linear algebra that underlies much data analysis. Such problems can be run efficiently on clusters using MPI leading to a hybrid cloud and cluster environment. This motivates the design and implementation of an open source Iterative MapReduce system Twister. Comparisons of Amazon, Azure, and traditional Linux and Windows environments on common applications have shown encouraging performance and usability comparisons in several important non iterative cases. These are linked to MPI applications for final stages of the data analysis. Further we have released the open source Twister Iterative MapReduce and benchmarked it against basic MapReduce (Hadoop) and MPI in information retrieval and life sciences applications. The hybrid cloud (MapReduce) and cluster (MPI) approach offers an attractive production environment while Twister promises a uniform programming environment for many Life Sciences applications. We used commercial clouds Amazon and Azure and the NSF resource FutureGrid to perform detailed comparisons and evaluations of different approaches to data intensive computing. Several applications were developed in MPI, MapReduce and Twister in these different environments.

Challenges and opportunities of cloud computing for atmospheric sciences

Science.gov (United States)

Pérez Montes, Diego A.; Añel, Juan A.; Pena, Tomás F.; Wallom, David C. H.

2016-04-01

Cloud computing is an emerging technological solution widely used in many fields. Initially developed as a flexible way of managing peak demand it has began to make its way in scientific research. One of the greatest advantages of cloud computing for scientific research is independence of having access to a large cyberinfrastructure to fund or perform a research project. Cloud computing can avoid maintenance expenses for large supercomputers and has the potential to 'democratize' the access to high-performance computing, giving flexibility to funding bodies for allocating budgets for the computational costs associated with a project. Two of the most challenging problems in atmospheric sciences are computational cost and uncertainty in meteorological forecasting and climate projections. Both problems are closely related. Usually uncertainty can be reduced with the availability of computational resources to better reproduce a phenomenon or to perform a larger number of experiments. Here we expose results of the application of cloud computing resources for climate modeling using cloud computing infrastructures of three major vendors and two climate models. We show how the cloud infrastructure compares in performance to traditional supercomputers and how it provides the capability to complete experiments in shorter periods of time. The monetary cost associated is also analyzed. Finally we discuss the future potential of this technology for meteorological and climatological applications, both from the point of view of operational use and research.

Cloud Computing in the Curricula of Schools of Computer Science and Information Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Lawler, James P.

2011-01-01

The cloud continues to be a developing area of information systems. Evangelistic literature in the practitioner field indicates benefit for business firms but disruption for technology departments of the firms. Though the cloud currently is immature in methodology, this study defines a model program by which computer science and information…

Fast Track to the Cloud: Design Patterns for 12-Factor Earth Sciences Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Pawloski, Andrew; McLaughlin, Brett; Lynnes, Christopher

2016-01-01

As expanding service offerings and decreasing prices make the cloud increasingly attractive to Earth Science applications, there are nontrivial practical considerations which can hinder its meaningful use. In this talk, we will discuss architectural recommendations and lessons learned while working on EOSDIS' cloud efforts, particularly the NASA-compliant General Application Platform (NGAP) and its associated applications. Prominent in our findings is the importance of 12-factor design patterns and the powerful "wins" they enable in the cloud. We will share our strategies for "fast-tracking" applications to the cloud --whether they be legacy, planned for the future, or somewhere in between.

The Basics of Cloud Computing

Science.gov (United States)

Kaestner, Rich

2012-01-01

Most school business officials have heard the term "cloud computing" bandied about and may have some idea of what the term means. In fact, they likely already leverage a cloud-computing solution somewhere within their district. But what does cloud computing really mean? This brief article puts a bit of definition behind the term and helps one…

Next Generation Cloud-based Science Data Systems and Their Implications on Data and Software Stewardship, Preservation, and Provenance

Science.gov (United States)

Hua, H.; Manipon, G.; Starch, M.

2017-12-01

NASA's upcoming missions are expected to be generating data volumes at least an order of magnitude larger than current missions. A significant increase in data processing, data rates, data volumes, and long-term data archive capabilities are needed. Consequently, new challenges are emerging that impact traditional data and software management approaches. At large-scales, next generation science data systems are exploring the move onto cloud computing paradigms to support these increased needs. New implications such as costs, data movement, collocation of data systems & archives, and moving processing closer to the data, may result in changes to the stewardship, preservation, and provenance of science data and software. With more science data systems being on-boarding onto cloud computing facilities, we can expect more Earth science data records to be both generated and kept in the cloud. But at large scales, the cost of processing and storing global data may impact architectural and system designs. Data systems will trade the cost of keeping data in the cloud with the data life-cycle approaches of moving "colder" data back to traditional on-premise facilities. How will this impact data citation and processing software stewardship? What are the impacts of cloud-based on-demand processing and its affect on reproducibility and provenance. Similarly, with more science processing software being moved onto cloud, virtual machines, and container based approaches, more opportunities arise for improved stewardship and preservation. But will the science community trust data reprocessed years or decades later? We will also explore emerging questions of the stewardship of the science data system software that is generating the science data records both during and after the life of mission.

Theoretical development of information science: A brief history

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hjørland, Birger

2017-01-01

the strongest “paradigms” in the field is a tradition derived from the Cranfield experiments in the 1960s and the bibliometric research following the publication of Science Citation Index from 1963 and forward. Among the competing theoretical frameworks, ‘the cognitive view’ became influential from the 1970s......This paper presents a brief history of information science (IS) as viewed by the author. The term ‘information science’ goes back to 1955 and evolved in the aftermath of Claude Shannon’s ‘information theory’ (1948), which also inspired research into problems in fields of library science...... and documentation. These subjects were a main focus of what became established as ‘information science’, which from 1964 onwards was often termed ‘library and information science’ (LIS). However, the usefulness of Shannon’s information theory as the theoretical foundation of the field was been challenged. Among...

The fourth International Conference on Information Science and Cloud Computing

Science.gov (United States)

This book comprises the papers accepted by the fourth International Conference on Information Science and Cloud Computing (ISCC), which was held from 18-19 December, 2015 in Guangzhou, China. It has 70 papers divided into four parts. The first part focuses on Information Theory with 20 papers; the second part emphasizes Machine Learning also containing 21 papers; in the third part, there are 21 papers as well in the area of Control Science; and the last part with 8 papers is dedicated to Cloud Science. Each part can be used as an excellent reference by engineers, researchers and students who need to build a knowledge base of the most current advances and state-of-practice in the topics covered by the ISCC conference. Special thanks go to Professor Deyu Qi, General Chair of ISCC 2015, for his leadership in supervising the organization of the entire conference; Professor Tinghuai Ma, Program Chair, and members of program committee for evaluating all the submissions and ensuring the selection of only the highest quality papers; and the authors for sharing their ideas, results and insights. We sincerely hope that you enjoy reading papers included in this book.

"helix Nebula - the Science Cloud", a European Science Driven Cross-Domain Initiative Implemented in via AN Active Ppp Set-Up

Science.gov (United States)

Lengert, W.; Mondon, E.; Bégin, M. E.; Ferrer, M.; Vallois, F.; DelaMar, J.

2015-12-01

Helix Nebula, a European science cross-domain initiative building on an active PPP, is aiming to implement the concept of an open science commons[1] while using a cloud hybrid model[2] as the proposed implementation solution. This approach allows leveraging and merging of complementary data intensive Earth Science disciplines (e.g. instrumentation[3] and modeling), without introducing significant changes in the contributors' operational set-up. Considering the seamless integration with life-science (e.g. EMBL), scientific exploitation of meteorological, climate, and Earth Observation data and models open an enormous potential for new big data science. The work of Helix Nebula has shown that is it feasible to interoperate publicly funded infrastructures, such as EGI [5] and GEANT [6], with commercial cloud services. Such hybrid systems are in the interest of the existing users of publicly funded infrastructures and funding agencies because they will provide "freedom and choice" over the type of computing resources to be consumed and the manner in which they can be obtained. But to offer such freedom and choice across a spectrum of suppliers, various issues such as intellectual property, legal responsibility, service quality agreements and related issues need to be addressed. Finding solutions to these issues is one of the goals of the Helix Nebula initiative. [1] http://www.egi.eu/news-and-media/publications/OpenScienceCommons_v3.pdf [2] http://www.helix-nebula.eu/events/towards-the-european-open-science-cloud [3] e.g. https://sentinel.esa.int/web/sentinel/sentinel-data-access [5] http://www.egi.eu/ [6] http://www.geant.net/

CE-ACCE: The Cloud Enabled Advanced sCience Compute Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Cinquini, L.; Freeborn, D. J.; Hardman, S. H.; Wong, C.

2017-12-01

Traditionally, Earth Science data from NASA remote sensing instruments has been processed by building custom data processing pipelines (often based on a common workflow engine or framework) which are typically deployed and run on an internal cluster of computing resources. This approach has some intrinsic limitations: it requires each mission to develop and deploy a custom software package on top of the adopted framework; it makes use of dedicated hardware, network and storage resources, which must be specifically purchased, maintained and re-purposed at mission completion; and computing services cannot be scaled on demand beyond the capability of the available servers.More recently, the rise of Cloud computing, coupled with other advances in containerization technology (most prominently, Docker) and micro-services architecture, has enabled a new paradigm, whereby space mission data can be processed through standard system architectures, which can be seamlessly deployed and scaled on demand on either on-premise clusters, or commercial Cloud providers. In this talk, we will present one such architecture named CE-ACCE ("Cloud Enabled Advanced sCience Compute Environment"), which we have been developing at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory over the past year. CE-ACCE is based on the Apache OODT ("Object Oriented Data Technology") suite of services for full data lifecycle management, which are turned into a composable array of Docker images, and complemented by a plug-in model for mission-specific customization. We have applied this infrastructure to both flying and upcoming NASA missions, such as ECOSTRESS and SMAP, and demonstrated deployment on the Amazon Cloud, either using simple EC2 instances, or advanced AWS services such as Amazon Lambda and ECS (EC2 Container Services).

Canopy in the Clouds: Integrating Science and Media to Inspire a New Generation of Scientists

Science.gov (United States)

Goldsmith, G. R.; Fulton, A. D.; Witherill, C. D.

2008-12-01

Innovative approaches to science education are critical for inspiring a new generation of scientists. In a world where students are inundated with digital media inviting them to explore exciting, emerging disciplines, science often lags behind in using progressive media techniques. Additionally, science education media often neglects to include the scientists conducting research, thereby disconnecting students from the excitement, adventure, and beauty of conducting research in the field. Here we present initial work from a science education media project entitled Canopy in the Clouds. In particular, we address the goals and approach of the project, the logistics associated with generating educational material at a foreign field site, and the challenges associated with effectively integrating science and media. Canopy in the Clouds is designed to engage students in research, motivate a new generation of young scientists, and promote conservation from the perspective of a current research project being conducted in the canopy of a tropical montane cloud forest located in Monteverde, Costa Rica. The project seeks to generate curriculum based on multiple, immersive forms of novel digital media that attract and maintain student attention. By doing so from the perspective of an adventurous research project in a beautiful and highly biodiverse region, we hope to engage students in science and enhance bioliteracy. However, there are considerable logistic considerations associated with such an approach, including safety, travel, permitting, and equipment maintenance. Additionally, the goals of both the scientific research and the educational media project must be balanced in order to meet objectives in a timely fashion. Finally, materials generated in the field must be translated to viable final products and distributed. Work associated with Canopy in the Clouds will thus provide insight into this process and can serve to inform future science education and outreach

STORMVEX: The Storm Peak Lab Cloud Property Validation Experiment Science and Operations Plan

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mace, J; Matrosov, S; Shupe, M; Lawson, P; Hallar, G; McCubbin, I; Marchand, R; Orr, B; Coulter, R; Sedlacek, A; Avallone, L; Long, C

2010-09-29

During the Storm Peak Lab Cloud Property Validation Experiment (STORMVEX), a substantial correlative data set of remote sensing observations and direct in situ measurements from fixed and airborne platforms will be created in a winter season, mountainous environment. This will be accomplished by combining mountaintop observations at Storm Peak Laboratory and the airborne National Science Foundation-supported Colorado Airborne Multi-Phase Cloud Study campaign with collocated measurements from the second ARM Mobile Facility (AMF2). We describe in this document the operational plans and motivating science for this experiment, which includes deployment of AMF2 to Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The intensive STORMVEX field phase will begin nominally on 1 November 2010 and extend to approximately early April 2011.

An Analysis of Cloud Computing with Amazon Web Services for the Atmospheric Science Data Center

Science.gov (United States)

Gleason, J. L.; Little, M. M.

2013-12-01

NASA science and engineering efforts rely heavily on compute and data handling systems. The nature of NASA science data is such that it is not restricted to NASA users, instead it is widely shared across a globally distributed user community including scientists, educators, policy decision makers, and the public. Therefore NASA science computing is a candidate use case for cloud computing where compute resources are outsourced to an external vendor. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a commercial cloud computing service developed to use excess computing capacity at Amazon, and potentially provides an alternative to costly and potentially underutilized dedicated acquisitions whenever NASA scientists or engineers require additional data processing. AWS desires to provide a simplified avenue for NASA scientists and researchers to share large, complex data sets with external partners and the public. AWS has been extensively used by JPL for a wide range of computing needs and was previously tested on a NASA Agency basis during the Nebula testing program. Its ability to support the Langley Science Directorate needs to be evaluated by integrating it with real world operational needs across NASA and the associated maturity that would come with that. The strengths and weaknesses of this architecture and its ability to support general science and engineering applications has been demonstrated during the previous testing. The Langley Office of the Chief Information Officer in partnership with the Atmospheric Sciences Data Center (ASDC) has established a pilot business interface to utilize AWS cloud computing resources on a organization and project level pay per use model. This poster discusses an effort to evaluate the feasibility of the pilot business interface from a project level perspective by specifically using a processing scenario involving the Clouds and Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) project.

Cloud computing: vývoj a současný stav

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Václav Sova Martinovský

2018-06-01

Full Text Available This article introduces the area of cloud computing with emphasis on businesses and organizations. It includes research of published papers on topic of cloud computing based on metaanalysis and SLR. Summary of relevant advantages both from the user and provider perspective was assembled as well as a list of barriers to even broader adoption of the cloud computing technology. Three databases (EBSCO, ProQuest and Web of Science were used as a source of data for the literature review phase. An analysis of the number of articles dealing with the cloud computing top has been carried out to date. The annual number of publications is compared to the size of the cloud computing market. Frequency analysis at a keyword level was performed in the 25,000-records dataset gathered from the WoS database. This analysis was conducted over the entire monitored period, and only for 2017, to capture the latest trends. There were identified the most frequently used key words in publications about cloud computing: virtualization, security, big data, mobile cloud computing and internet of things. For each of these keywords, a brief summary is given based on the literature search, with an emphasis on the outlook for the future and market position.

Development of a turn-key cloud chamber in collaboration with non-academic science enthusiasts

Science.gov (United States)

Muenkel, Jessica; Harrington, Meghan; Bellis, Matthew; Waldman, Ariel; Bergey, Nathan; Cooper, Ivan; Bombosch, Juliane

2014-03-01

Science Hack Day is an event that brings together scientists and science enthusiasts for 24 hours to ``hack'' a science project. These events serve two purposes. The first and most obvious is to provide a structured environment for science outreach. Academics and researchers have the opportunity for ``boots-on-the-ground'' interactions with the general public. The second purpose, though more challenging, is to enable science enthusiasts to donate their skills so that they are able to push back to educators and researchers in a fashion that that benefits their work. We discuss our experiences at the 2013 San Francisco Science Hack Day at the California Academy of Sciences. We worked with attendees of the conference to create a cloud chamber that worked with Peltier thermocoolers, rather than dry ice. In this fashion, we educated attendees about radiation and particle physics, while also benefitting from the experience and knowledge of the attendees in constructing the device. This ``turn-key'' cloud chamber is now in use at Siena College as an outreach and educational device. The properties of this device and the story of its construction will be presented. Representing CMS.

Coupled fvGCM-GCE Modeling System, 3D Cloud-Resolving Model and Cloud Library

Science.gov (United States)

Tao, Wei-Kuo

2005-01-01

Recent GEWEX Cloud System Study (GCSS) model comparison projects have indicated that cloud- resolving models (CRMs) agree with observations better than traditional single-column models in simulating various types of clouds and cloud systems from different geographic locations. Current and future NASA satellite programs can provide cloud, precipitation, aerosol and other data at very fine spatial and temporal scales. It requires a coupled global circulation model (GCM) and cloud-scale model (termed a super-parameterization or multi-scale modeling framework, MMF) to use these satellite data to improve the understanding of the physical processes that are responsible for the variation in global and regional climate and hydrological systems. The use of a GCM will enable global coverage, and the use of a CRM will allow for better and more sophisticated physical parameterization. NASA satellite and field campaign cloud related datasets can provide initial conditions as well as validation for both the MMF and CRMs. A seed fund is available at NASA Goddard to build a MMF based on the 2D Goddard Cumulus Ensemble (GCE) model and the Goddard finite volume general circulation model (fvGCM). A prototype MMF in being developed and production runs will be conducted at the beginning of 2005. In this talk, I will present: (1) A brief review on GCE model and its applications on precipitation processes, ( 2 ) The Goddard MMF and the major difference between two existing MMFs (CSU MMF and Goddard MMF), (3) A cloud library generated by Goddard MMF, and 3D GCE model, and (4) A brief discussion on the GCE model on developing a global cloud simulator.

Fault Tolerance and Scaling in e-Science Cloud Applications: Observations from the Continuing Development of MODISAzure

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Li, Jie [Univ. of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA (United States). Dept. of Computer Science; Humphrey, Marty [Univ. of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA (United States). Dept. of Computer Science; Cheah, You-Wei [Indiana Univ., Bloomington, IN (United States); Ryu, Youngryel [Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management; Agarwal, Deb [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Jackson, Keith [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); van Ingen, Catharine [Microsoft Research. San Francisco, CA (United States)

2010-04-01

It can be natural to believe that many of the traditional issues of scale have been eliminated or at least greatly reduced via cloud computing. That is, if one can create a seemingly wellfunctioning cloud application that operates correctly on small or moderate-sized problems, then the very nature of cloud programming abstractions means that the same application will run as well on potentially significantly larger problems. In this paper, we present our experiences taking MODISAzure, our satellite data processing system built on the Windows Azure cloud computing platform, from the proof-of-concept stage to a point of being able to run on significantly larger problem sizes (e.g., from national-scale data sizes to global-scale data sizes). To our knowledge, this is the longest-running eScience application on the nascent Windows Azure platform. We found that while many infrastructure-level issues were thankfully masked from us by the cloud infrastructure, it was valuable to design additional redundancy and fault-tolerance capabilities such as transparent idempotent task retry and logging to support debugging of user code encountering unanticipated data issues. Further, we found that using a commercial cloud means anticipating inconsistent performance and black-box behavior of virtualized compute instances, as well as leveraging changing platform capabilities over time. We believe that the experiences presented in this paper can help future eScience cloud application developers on Windows Azure and other commercial cloud providers.

CLOUD COMPUTING OVERVIEW AND CHALLENGES: A REVIEW PAPER

OpenAIRE

Satish Kumar*, Vishal Thakur, Payal Thakur, Ashok Kumar Kashyap

2017-01-01

Cloud computing era is the most resourceful, elastic, utilized and scalable period for internet technology to use the computing resources over the internet successfully. Cloud computing did not provide only the speed, accuracy, storage capacity and efficiency for computing but it also lead to propagate the green computing and resource utilization. In this research paper, a brief description of cloud computing, cloud services and cloud security challenges is given. Also the literature review o...

Uncover the Cloud for Geospatial Sciences and Applications to Adopt Cloud Computing

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, C.; Huang, Q.; Xia, J.; Liu, K.; Li, J.; Xu, C.; Sun, M.; Bambacus, M.; Xu, Y.; Fay, D.

2012-12-01

Cloud computing is emerging as the future infrastructure for providing computing resources to support and enable scientific research, engineering development, and application construction, as well as work force education. On the other hand, there is a lot of doubt about the readiness of cloud computing to support a variety of scientific research, development and educations. This research is a project funded by NASA SMD to investigate through holistic studies how ready is the cloud computing to support geosciences. Four applications with different computing characteristics including data, computing, concurrent, and spatiotemporal intensities are taken to test the readiness of cloud computing to support geosciences. Three popular and representative cloud platforms including Amazon EC2, Microsoft Azure, and NASA Nebula as well as a traditional cluster are utilized in the study. Results illustrates that cloud is ready to some degree but more research needs to be done to fully implemented the cloud benefit as advertised by many vendors and defined by NIST. Specifically, 1) most cloud platform could help stand up new computing instances, a new computer, in a few minutes as envisioned, therefore, is ready to support most computing needs in an on demand fashion; 2) the load balance and elasticity, a defining characteristic, is ready in some cloud platforms, such as Amazon EC2, to support bigger jobs, e.g., needs response in minutes, while some are not ready to support the elasticity and load balance well. All cloud platform needs further research and development to support real time application at subminute level; 3) the user interface and functionality of cloud platforms vary a lot and some of them are very professional and well supported/documented, such as Amazon EC2, some of them needs significant improvement for the general public to adopt cloud computing without professional training or knowledge about computing infrastructure; 4) the security is a big concern in

Science in the cloud (SIC): A use case in MRI connectomics.

Science.gov (United States)

Kiar, Gregory; Gorgolewski, Krzysztof J; Kleissas, Dean; Roncal, William Gray; Litt, Brian; Wandell, Brian; Poldrack, Russel A; Wiener, Martin; Vogelstein, R Jacob; Burns, Randal; Vogelstein, Joshua T

2017-05-01

Modern technologies are enabling scientists to collect extraordinary amounts of complex and sophisticated data across a huge range of scales like never before. With this onslaught of data, we can allow the focal point to shift from data collection to data analysis. Unfortunately, lack of standardized sharing mechanisms and practices often make reproducing or extending scientific results very difficult. With the creation of data organization structures and tools that drastically improve code portability, we now have the opportunity to design such a framework for communicating extensible scientific discoveries. Our proposed solution leverages these existing technologies and standards, and provides an accessible and extensible model for reproducible research, called 'science in the cloud' (SIC). Exploiting scientific containers, cloud computing, and cloud data services, we show the capability to compute in the cloud and run a web service that enables intimate interaction with the tools and data presented. We hope this model will inspire the community to produce reproducible and, importantly, extensible results that will enable us to collectively accelerate the rate at which scientific breakthroughs are discovered, replicated, and extended. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press.

When cloud computing meets bioinformatics: a review.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Shuigeng; Liao, Ruiqi; Guan, Jihong

2013-10-01

In the past decades, with the rapid development of high-throughput technologies, biology research has generated an unprecedented amount of data. In order to store and process such a great amount of data, cloud computing and MapReduce were applied to many fields of bioinformatics. In this paper, we first introduce the basic concepts of cloud computing and MapReduce, and their applications in bioinformatics. We then highlight some problems challenging the applications of cloud computing and MapReduce to bioinformatics. Finally, we give a brief guideline for using cloud computing in biology research.

Science in the cloud (SIC): A use case in MRI connectomics

Science.gov (United States)

Gorgolewski, Krzysztof J.; Kleissas, Dean; Roncal, William Gray; Litt, Brian; Wandell, Brian; Poldrack, Russel A.; Wiener, Martin; Vogelstein, R. Jacob; Burns, Randal

2017-01-01

Abstract Modern technologies are enabling scientists to collect extraordinary amounts of complex and sophisticated data across a huge range of scales like never before. With this onslaught of data, we can allow the focal point to shift from data collection to data analysis. Unfortunately, lack of standardized sharing mechanisms and practices often make reproducing or extending scientific results very difficult. With the creation of data organization structures and tools that drastically improve code portability, we now have the opportunity to design such a framework for communicating extensible scientific discoveries. Our proposed solution leverages these existing technologies and standards, and provides an accessible and extensible model for reproducible research, called ‘science in the cloud’ (SIC). Exploiting scientific containers, cloud computing, and cloud data services, we show the capability to compute in the cloud and run a web service that enables intimate interaction with the tools and data presented. We hope this model will inspire the community to produce reproducible and, importantly, extensible results that will enable us to collectively accelerate the rate at which scientific breakthroughs are discovered, replicated, and extended. PMID:28327935

Cloud Pedagogy: Utilizing Web-Based Technologies for the Promotion of Social Constructivist Learning in Science Teacher Preparation Courses

Science.gov (United States)

Barak, Miri

2017-10-01

The new guidelines for science education emphasize the need to introduce computers and digital technologies as a means of enabling visualization and data collection and analysis. This requires science teachers to bring advanced technologies into the classroom and use them wisely. Hence, the goal of this study was twofold: to examine the application of web-based technologies in science teacher preparation courses and to examine pre-service teachers' perceptions of "cloud pedagogy"—an instructional framework that applies technologies for the promotion of social constructivist learning. The study included university teachers ( N = 48) and pre-service science teachers ( N = 73). Data were collected from an online survey, written reflections, and interviews. The findings indicated that university teachers use technologies mainly for information management and the distribution of learning materials and less for applying social constructivist pedagogy. University teachers expect their students (i.e., pre-service science teachers) to use digital tools in their future classroom to a greater extent than they themselves do. The findings also indicated that the "cloud pedagogy" was perceived as an appropriate instructional framework for contemporary science education. The application of the cloud pedagogy fosters four attributes: the ability to adapt to frequent changes and uncertain situations, the ability to collaborate and communicate in decentralized environments, the ability to generate data and manage it, and the ability to explore new venous.

Submm-Wave Radiometry for Cloud/Humidity/Precipitation Sciences

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Dong L.

2011-01-01

Although active sensors can provide cloud profiles at good vertical resolution, clouds are often coupled with dynamics to form fast and organized structures. Lack of understanding of these organized systems leads to great challenge for numerical models. The deficiency is partly reflected, for example, in poorly modeled intraseasonal variations (e.g., MJD). Remote sensing clouds in the middle and upper troposphere has been challenging from space. Vis/IR sensors are sensitive to the topmost cloud layers whereas low-frequency MW techniques are sensitivity to liquid and precipitation at the bottom of cloud layers. The middle-level clouds, mostly in the ice phase, require a sensor that has moderate penetration and sensitivity to cloud scattering, in order to measure cloud water content. Sensors at submm wavelengths provide promising sensitivity and coverage with the spatial resolution needed to measure cloud water content floating in the upper air. In addition, submm-wave sensors are able to provide better measurements of upper-tropospheric humidity than traditional microwave instruments.

The JASMIN Cloud: specialised and hybrid to meet the needs of the Environmental Sciences Community

Science.gov (United States)

Kershaw, Philip; Lawrence, Bryan; Churchill, Jonathan; Pritchard, Matt

2014-05-01

Cloud computing provides enormous opportunities for the research community. The large public cloud providers provide near-limitless scaling capability. However, adapting Cloud to scientific workloads is not without its problems. The commodity nature of the public cloud infrastructure can be at odds with the specialist requirements of the research community. Issues such as trust, ownership of data, WAN bandwidth and costing models make additional barriers to more widespread adoption. Alongside the application of public cloud for scientific applications, a number of private cloud initiatives are underway in the research community of which the JASMIN Cloud is one example. Here, cloud service models are being effectively super-imposed over more established services such as data centres, compute cluster facilities and Grids. These have the potential to deliver the specialist infrastructure needed for the science community coupled with the benefits of a Cloud service model. The JASMIN facility based at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory was established in 2012 to support the data analysis requirements of the climate and Earth Observation community. In its first year of operation, the 5PB of available storage capacity was filled and the hosted compute capability used extensively. JASMIN has modelled the concept of a centralised large-volume data analysis facility. Key characteristics have enabled success: peta-scale fast disk connected via low latency networks to compute resources and the use of virtualisation for effective management of the resources for a range of users. A second phase is now underway funded through NERC's (Natural Environment Research Council) Big Data initiative. This will see significant expansion to the resources available with a doubling of disk-based storage to 12PB and an increase of compute capacity by a factor of ten to over 3000 processing cores. This expansion is accompanied by a broadening in the scope for JASMIN, as a service available to

A brief review of advances in complex networks of nuclear science and technology field

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fang Jinqing

2010-01-01

A brief review of advances in complex networks of nuclear science and technology field at home and is given and summarized. These complex networks include: nuclear energy weapon network, network centric warfare, beam transport networks, continuum percolation evolving network associated with nuclear reactions, global nuclear power station network, (nuclear) chemistry reaction networks, radiological monitoring and anti-nuclear terror networks, and so on. Some challenge issues and development prospects of network science are pointed out finally. (authors)

A Highly Scalable Data Service (HSDS) using Cloud-based Storage Technologies for Earth Science Data

Science.gov (United States)

Michaelis, A.; Readey, J.; Votava, P.; Henderson, J.; Willmore, F.

2017-12-01

Cloud based infrastructure may offer several key benefits of scalability, built in redundancy, security mechanisms and reduced total cost of ownership as compared with a traditional data center approach. However, most of the tools and legacy software systems developed for online data repositories within the federal government were not developed with a cloud based infrastructure in mind and do not fully take advantage of commonly available cloud-based technologies. Moreover, services bases on object storage are well established and provided through all the leading cloud service providers (Amazon Web Service, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, etc…) of which can often provide unmatched "scale-out" capabilities and data availability to a large and growing consumer base at a price point unachievable from in-house solutions. We describe a system that utilizes object storage rather than traditional file system based storage to vend earth science data. The system described is not only cost effective, but shows a performance advantage for running many different analytics tasks in the cloud. To enable compatibility with existing tools and applications, we outline client libraries that are API compatible with existing libraries for HDF5 and NetCDF4. Performance of the system is demonstrated using clouds services running on Amazon Web Services.

Aerosol and Cloud Experiments in Eastern North Atlantic (ACE-ENA) Science Plan

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Jian [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Dong, Xiquan [Univ. of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND (United States); Wood, Robert [Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)

2016-04-01

for comprehensive in situ characterizations of boundary-layer structure, and associated vertical distributions and horizontal variabilities of low clouds and aerosol over the Azores. ARM Aerial Facility (AAF) Gulfstream-1 (G-1) aircraft will be deployed at the ENA site during two intensive operational periods (IOPs) of early summer (June to July) of 2017 and winter (January to February) of 2018, respectively. Deployments during both seasons allow for examination of key aerosol and cloud processes under a variety of representative meteorological and cloud conditions. The science themes for the deployments include: 1) Budget of MBL CCN and its seasonal variation; 2) Effects of aerosol on cloud and precipitation; 3) Cloud microphysical and macrophysical structures, and entrainment mixing; 4) Advancing retrievals of turbulence, cloud, and drizzle; and 5) Model evaluation and processes studies. A key advantage of the deployments is the strong synergy between the measurements onboard the G-1 and the routine measurements at the ENA site, including state-of-the-art profiling and scanning radars. The 3D cloud structures provided by the scanning radars will put the detailed in situ measurements into mesoscale and cloud lifecycle contexts. On the other hand, high quality in situ measurements will enable validation and improvements of ground-based retrieval algorithms at the ENA site, leading to high-quality and statistically robust data sets from the routine measurements. The deployments, combined with the routine measurements at the ENA site, will have a long lasting impact on the research and modeling of low clouds and aerosols in the remote marine environment.

Identifying Key Features, Cutting Edge Cloud Resources, and Artificial Intelligence Tools to Achieve User-Friendly Water Science in the Cloud

Science.gov (United States)

Pierce, S. A.

2017-12-01

Decision making for groundwater systems is becoming increasingly important, as shifting water demands increasingly impact aquifers. As buffer systems, aquifers provide room for resilient responses and augment the actual timeframe for hydrological response. Yet the pace impacts, climate shifts, and degradation of water resources is accelerating. To meet these new drivers, groundwater science is transitioning toward the emerging field of Integrated Water Resources Management, or IWRM. IWRM incorporates a broad array of dimensions, methods, and tools to address problems that tend to be complex. Computational tools and accessible cyberinfrastructure (CI) are needed to cross the chasm between science and society. Fortunately cloud computing environments, such as the new Jetstream system, are evolving rapidly. While still targeting scientific user groups systems such as, Jetstream, offer configurable cyberinfrastructure to enable interactive computing and data analysis resources on demand. The web-based interfaces allow researchers to rapidly customize virtual machines, modify computing architecture and increase the usability and access for broader audiences to advanced compute environments. The result enables dexterous configurations and opening up opportunities for IWRM modelers to expand the reach of analyses, number of case studies, and quality of engagement with stakeholders and decision makers. The acute need to identify improved IWRM solutions paired with advanced computational resources refocuses the attention of IWRM researchers on applications, workflows, and intelligent systems that are capable of accelerating progress. IWRM must address key drivers of community concern, implement transdisciplinary methodologies, adapt and apply decision support tools in order to effectively support decisions about groundwater resource management. This presentation will provide an overview of advanced computing services in the cloud using integrated groundwater management case

HNSciCloud - Overview and technical Challenges

Science.gov (United States)

Gasthuber, Martin; Meinhard, Helge; Jones, Robert

2017-10-01

HEP is only one of many sciences with sharply increasing compute requirements that cannot be met by profiting from Moore’s law alone. Commercial clouds potentially allow for realising larger economies of scale. While some small-scale experience requiring dedicated effort has been collected, public cloud resources have not been integrated yet with the standard workflows of science organisations in their private data centres; in addition, European science has not ramped up to significant scale yet. The HELIX NEBULA Science Cloud project - HNSciCloud, partly funded by the European Commission, addresses these points. Ten organisations under CERN’s leadership, covering particle physics, bioinformatics, photon science and other sciences, have joined to procure public cloud resources as well as dedicated development efforts towards this integration. The HNSciCloud project faces the challenge to accelerate developments performed by the selected commercial providers. In order to guarantee cost efficient usage of IaaS resources across a wide range of scientific communities, the technical requirements had to be carefully constructed. With respect to current IaaS offerings, dataintensive science is the biggest challenge; other points that need to be addressed concern identity federations, network connectivity and how to match business practices of large IaaS providers with those of public research organisations. In the first section, this paper will give an overview of the project and explain the findings so far. The last section will explain the key points of the technical requirements and present first results of the experience of the procurers with the services in comparison to their’on-premise’ infrastructure.

CloudSat Education Network: Partnerships for Outreach

Science.gov (United States)

TeBockhorst, D.

2014-12-01

CloudSat Education Network (CEN): Partnerships to improve the understanding of clouds in formal and informal settings. Since The CloudSat satellite launched in 2006 the Formal and Informal education programs for the mission have been focused on bringing an understanding about the mission science and the importance of clouds, climate & weather science. This has been done by creating and strengthening partnership and collaboration within scientific and educational communities around the country and the world. Because CloudSat was formally recognized as a Earth System Science Pathfinder campaign with the GLOBE program, the CEN developed a set of field protocols for student observations that augmented the GLOBE atmosphere protocols when there was a satellite overpass. This shared process between GLOBE & CloudSat resulted in the training & creation of CEN schools that are both GLOBE schools and CloudSat schools, and also produced three GLOBE partnerships that specialize in cloud science education and outreach. In addition, the CEN has developed productive relationships with other NASA missions and EPO teams. Specifically, in collaboration with the NASA CERES mission projects S'Cool and MyNASAData, we have co-presented at NSTA conferences and with schools participating in a NASA EPOESS-funded formal education project. This collaborative work has been a very real benefit to a wide variety of audiences needing to strengthen their understanding of clouds and their roles in the earth system, and we hope will serve as a model to future missions looking to involve the public in mission science.

Cloud, Aerosol, and Complex Terrain Interactions (CACTI) Preliminary Science Plan

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Varble, Adam [Univ. of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (United States); Nesbitt, Steve [Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States); Salio, Paola [Univ. of Buenos Aires (Argentina); Zipser, Edward [Univ. of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (United States); van den Heever, Susan [Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States); McFarquhar, Greg [Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States); Kollias, Pavlos [Stony Brook Univ., NY (United States); Kreidenweis, Sonia [Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States); DeMott, Paul [Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States); Jensen, Michael [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Houze, Jr., Robert [Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States); Rasmussen, Kristen [Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States); Leung, Ruby [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Romps, David [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Gochis, David [National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States); Avila, Eldo [National Univ. of Cordoba (Argentina); Williams, Christopher [Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States); National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States)

2017-02-01

well as blowing dust are common in the austral spring, while changes in land surface properties as the wet season progresses impact surface fluxes and boundary layer evolution on daily and seasonal time scales that feed back to cloud and rainfall generation. This range of environmental conditions and cloud properties coupled with a high frequency of events makes this an ideal location for improving our understanding of cloud-environment interactions. The following primary science questions will be addressed through coordinated first ARM Mobile Facility (AMF1), mobile C-band Scanning ARM Precipitation Radar (C-SAPR2), guest instrumentation, and potential ARM Aerial Facility (AAF) Gulfstream-1 (G-1) observations: 1. How are the properties and lifecycles of orographically generated cumulus humulis, mediocris, and congestus clouds affected by environmental kinematics, thermodynamics, aerosols, and surface properties? How do these cloud types alter these environmental conditions? 2. How do environmental kinematics, thermodynamics, and aerosols impact deep convective initiation, upscale growth, and mesoscale organization? How are soil moisture, surface fluxes, and aerosol properties altered by deep convective precipitation events and seasonal accumulation of precipitation? This multi-faceted experiment involves a long term 8.5-month Extended Observing Period (EOP, 15 August, 2018-30 April, 2019) as well as a 6-week Intensive Observation Period (IOP, 1 November-15 December) that will coincide with the international multi-agency RELAMPAGO field campaign.

Giovanni in the Cloud: Earth Science Data Exploration in Amazon Web Services

Science.gov (United States)

Hegde, M.; Petrenko, M.; Smit, C.; Zhang, H.; Pilone, P.; Zasorin, A. A.; Pham, L.

2017-12-01

Giovanni (https://giovanni.gsfc.nasa.gov/giovanni/) is a popular online data exploration tool at the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data Information Services Center (GES DISC), providing 22 analysis and visualization services for over 1600 Earth Science data variables. Owing to its popularity, Giovanni has experienced a consistent growth in overall demand, with periodic usage spikes attributed to trainings by education organizations, extensive data analysis in response to natural disasters, preparations for science meetings, etc. Furthermore, the new generation of spaceborne sensors and high resolution models have resulted in an exponential growth in data volume with data distributed across the traditional boundaries of datacenters. Seamless exploration of data (without users having to worry about data center boundaries) has been a key recommendation of the GES DISC User Working Group. These factors have required new strategies for delivering acceptable performance. The cloud-based Giovanni, built on Amazon Web Services (AWS), evaluates (1) AWS native solutions to provide a scalable, serverless architecture; (2) open standards for data storage in the Cloud; (3) a cost model for operations; and (4) end-user performance. Our preliminary findings indicate that the use of serverless architecture has a potential to significantly reduce development and operational cost of Giovanni. The combination of using AWS managed services, storage of data in open standards, and schema-on-read data access strategy simplifies data access and analytics, in addition to making data more accessible to the end users of Giovanni through popular programming languages.

Giovanni in the Cloud: Earth Science Data Exploration in Amazon Web Services

Science.gov (United States)

Petrenko, Maksym; Hegde, Mahabal; Smit, Christine; Zhang, Hailiang; Pilone, Paul; Zasorin, Andrey A.; Pham, Long

2017-01-01

Giovanni is an exploration tool at the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data Information Services Center (GES DISC), providing 22 analysis and visualization services for over 1600 Earth Science data variables. Owing to its popularity, Giovanni has experienced a consistent growth in overall demand, with periodic usage spikes attributed to trainings by education organizations, extensive data analysis in response to natural disasters, preparations for science meetings, etc. Furthermore, the new generation of spaceborne sensors and high resolution models have resulted in an exponential growth in data volume with data distributed across the traditional boundaries of data centers. Seamless exploration of data (without users having to worry about data center boundaries) has been a key recommendation of the GES DISC User Working Group. These factors have required new strategies for delivering acceptable performance. The cloud-based Giovanni, built on Amazon Web Services (AWS), evaluates (1) AWS native solutions to provide a scalable, serverless architecture; (2) open standards for data storage in the Cloud; (3) a cost model for operations; and (4) end-user performance. Our preliminary findings indicate that the use of serverless architecture has a potential to significantly reduce development and operational cost of Giovanni. The combination of using AWS managed services, storage of data in open standards, and schema-on-read data access strategy simplifies data access and analytics, in addition to making data more accessible to the end users of Giovanni through popular programming languages.

A Brief History of the Most Remarkable Numbers "e," "i" and "?" in Mathematical Sciences with Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Debnath, Lokenath

2015-01-01

This paper deals with a brief history of the most remarkable Euler numbers "e,"?"i"?and?"?" in mathematical sciences. Included are many properties of the constants "e,"?"i"?and?"?" and their applications in algebra, geometry, physics, chemistry, ecology, business and industry. Special…

Exploiting NASA's Cumulus Earth Science Cloud Archive with Services and Computation

Science.gov (United States)

Pilone, D.; Quinn, P.; Jazayeri, A.; Schuler, I.; Plofchan, P.; Baynes, K.; Ramachandran, R.

2017-12-01

NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) houses nearly 30PBs of critical Earth Science data and with upcoming missions is expected to balloon to between 200PBs-300PBs over the next seven years. In addition to the massive increase in data collected, researchers and application developers want more and faster access - enabling complex visualizations, long time-series analysis, and cross dataset research without needing to copy and manage massive amounts of data locally. NASA has started prototyping with commercial cloud providers to make this data available in elastic cloud compute environments, allowing application developers direct access to the massive EOSDIS holdings. In this talk we'll explain the principles behind the archive architecture and share our experience of dealing with large amounts of data with serverless architectures including AWS Lambda, the Elastic Container Service (ECS) for long running jobs, and why we dropped thousands of lines of code for AWS Step Functions. We'll discuss best practices and patterns for accessing and using data available in a shared object store (S3) and leveraging events and message passing for sophisticated and highly scalable processing and analysis workflows. Finally we'll share capabilities NASA and cloud services are making available on the archives to enable massively scalable analysis and computation in a variety of formats and tools.

MODEL OF THE IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS OF DESIGNING A CLOUD-BASED LEARNING ENVIRONMENT FOR THE PREPARATION OF BACHELOR OF COMPUTER SCIENCE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vakaliuk T.

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The article presents the model of the process of implementation of the design of a cloud-oriented learning environment (CBLE for the preparation of bachelor of computer science, which consists of seven stages: analysis, setting goals and objectives, formulating requirements for the cloud-oriented learning environment, modeling the CBLE, developing CBLE, using CBLE in the educational Bachelor of Computer Science and Performance Testing. Each stage contains sub-steps. The analysis stage is considered in three aspects: psychological, pedagogical and technological. The formulation of the requirements for the CBLE was carried out taking into account the content and objectives of the training; experience of using CBLE; the personal qualities and knowledge, skills and abilities of students. The simulation phase was divided into sub-stages: the development of a structural and functional model of the CBLE for the preparation of bachelors of computer science; development of a model of cloud-oriented learning support system (COLSS; development of a model of interaction processes in CBLE. The fifth stage was also divided into the following sub-steps: domain registration and customization of the appearance of COLSS; definition of the disciplines provided by the curriculum preparation of bachelors of computer science; creation of own cabinets of teachers and students; download educational and methodological and accompanying materials; the choice of traditional and cloud-oriented forms, methods, means of training. The verification of the functioning of the CBLE will be carried out in the following areas: the functioning of the CBLE; results of students' educational activity; formation of information and communication competence of students.

Engaging observers to look at clouds from both sides: connecting NASA mission science with authentic STEM experiences

Science.gov (United States)

Chambers, L. H.; Taylor, J.; Ellis, T. D.; McCrea, S.; Rogerson, T. M.; Falcon, P.

2016-12-01

In 1997, NASA's Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) team began engaging K-12 schools as ground truth observers of clouds. CERES seeks to understand cloud effects on Earth's energy budget; thus accurate detection and characterization of clouds is key. While satellite remote sensing provides global information about clouds, it is limited in time and resolution. Ground observers, on the other hand, can observe clouds at any time of day (and sometimes night), and can see small and thin clouds that are challenging to detect from space. In 2006, two active sensing satellites, CloudSat and CALIPSO, were launched into the A-Train, which already contained 2 CERES instruments on the Aqua spacecraft. The CloudSat team also engaged K-12 schools to observe clouds, through The GLOBE Program, with a specialized observation protocol customized for the narrow radar swath. While providing valuable data for satellite assessment, these activities also engage participants in accessible, authentic science that gets people outdoors, helps them develop observation skills, and is friendly to all ages. The effort has evolved substantially since 1997, adopting new technology to provide a more compelling experience to citizen observers. Those who report within 15 minutes of the passage of a wide range of satellites (Terra, Aqua, CloudSat, CALIPSO, NPP, as well as a number of geostationary satellites) are sent a satellite image centered on their location and are invited to extend the experience beyond simple observation to include analysis of the two different viewpoints. Over the years these projects have collected large amounts of cloud observations from every continent and ocean basin on Earth. A number of studies have been conducted comparing the ground observations to the satellite results. This presentation will provide an overview of those results and also describe plans for a coordinated, thematic cloud observation and data analysis activity going forward.

Cloud computing applications for biomedical science: A perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Navale, Vivek; Bourne, Philip E

2018-06-01

Biomedical research has become a digital data-intensive endeavor, relying on secure and scalable computing, storage, and network infrastructure, which has traditionally been purchased, supported, and maintained locally. For certain types of biomedical applications, cloud computing has emerged as an alternative to locally maintained traditional computing approaches. Cloud computing offers users pay-as-you-go access to services such as hardware infrastructure, platforms, and software for solving common biomedical computational problems. Cloud computing services offer secure on-demand storage and analysis and are differentiated from traditional high-performance computing by their rapid availability and scalability of services. As such, cloud services are engineered to address big data problems and enhance the likelihood of data and analytics sharing, reproducibility, and reuse. Here, we provide an introductory perspective on cloud computing to help the reader determine its value to their own research.

The Challenge of Private Cloud for the Digital Business

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eugen Petac

2016-01-01

Full Text Available For various organizations, a Private Cloud represents a stepping stone to a fully public model,while others consider it to be the ideal solution. Organizations such as the governmentalinstitutions that have stringent data security needs might choose the Private Cloud model. Itsqualities such as availability, security, compliance may convince other organizations to look at aprivate cloud model as well. In this paper we propose an integrated solution within the privatecloud area, based on open source software. In section 2 we provide brief characterizations of theexisting types of Clouds, focusing then on Private Cloud. In section 3 we address the security issuesin Private Cloud. In section 4 we present and analyze different open source software solutionswithin Private Cloud. Section 5 encompasses some conclusions regarding the benefits anddownsides of this technology, along with some detail information on how to set up an organizationthat runs in a Private Cloud.

A brief simulation intervention increasing basic science and clinical knowledge

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria L. Sheakley

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Background: The United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE is increasing clinical content on the Step 1 exam; thus, inclusion of clinical applications within the basic science curriculum is crucial. Including simulation activities during basic science years bridges the knowledge gap between basic science content and clinical application. Purpose: To evaluate the effects of a one-off, 1-hour cardiovascular simulation intervention on a summative assessment after adjusting for relevant demographic and academic predictors. Methods: This study was a non-randomized study using historical controls to evaluate curricular change. The control group received lecture (n l=515 and the intervention group received lecture plus a simulation exercise (nl+s=1,066. Assessment included summative exam questions (n=4 that were scored as pass/fail (≥75%. USMLE-style assessment questions were identical for both cohorts. Descriptive statistics for variables are presented and odds of passage calculated using logistic regression. Results: Undergraduate grade point ratio, MCAT-BS, MCAT-PS, age, attendance at an academic review program, and gender were significant predictors of summative exam passage. Students receiving the intervention were significantly more likely to pass the summative exam than students receiving lecture only (P=0.0003. Discussion: Simulation plus lecture increases short-term understanding as tested by a written exam. A longitudinal study is needed to assess the effect of a brief simulation intervention on long-term retention of clinical concepts in a basic science curriculum.

Brief communication

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

2011-03-14

Mar 14, 2011 ... 1Department of Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences, 2Department of Horticulture, University of Arkansas, ... controlled by the soybean heat-shock promoter is an effective tool for conditional removal ... Brief communication ...

Guidelines for Building a Private Cloud Infrastructure

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ali Babar, Muhammad; Pantić, Zoran

on open source software. One of the key objectives of this project was to create relevant material for providing a reference guide on the use of open source software for designing and implementing a private cloud. The primary focus on this document is to provide a brief background on different theoretical......, and a view on the different aspects of cloud computing in this document. Defining the cloud computing; analysis of the economical, security, legality, privacy, confidentiality aspects. There is also a short discussion about the potential impact on the employee’s future roles, and the challenges of migrating...... to a private cloud. The management of the instances and the related subjects are out of the scope of this document. This document is accompanied by three supplemental books that contain material from our experiences of scaling out in the virtual environment and cloud implementation in a physical environment...

On the edge of a cloud

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Heus, T.

2008-01-01

Cumulus clouds have since long been one of the greatest challenges in the atmospheric sciences. For a correct representation of clouds in weather and climate models, where they are the largest unknowns, a good understanding of interaction between cloud and environment is of prime importance. In this

The Community Cloud Atlas - Building an Informed Cloud Watching Community

Science.gov (United States)

Guy, N.; Rowe, A.

2014-12-01

The sky is dynamic, from long lasting cloud systems to ethereal, fleeting formations. After years of observing the sky and growing our personal collections of cloud photos, we decided to take to social media to share pictures, as well as build and educate a community of cloud enthusiasts. We began a Facebook page, the Community Cloud Atlas, described as "...the place to show off your pictures of the sky, identify clouds, and to discuss how specific cloud types form and what they can tell you about current and future weather." Our main goal has been to encourage others to share their pictures, while we describe the scenes from a meteorological perspective and reach out to the general public to facilitate a deeper understanding of the sky. Nearly 16 months later, we have over 1400 "likes," spanning 45 countries with ages ranging from 13 to over 65. We have a consistent stream of submissions; so many that we decided to start a corresponding blog to better organize the photos, provide more detailed explanations, and reach a bigger audience. Feedback from users has been positive in support of not only sharing cloud pictures, but also to "learn the science as well as admiring" the clouds. As one community member stated, "This is not 'just' a place to share some lovely pictures." We have attempted to blend our social media presence with providing an educational resource, and we are encouraged by the response we have received. Our Atlas has been informally implemented into classrooms, ranging from a 6th grade science class to Meteorology courses at universities. NOVA's recent Cloud Lab also made use of our Atlas as a supply of categorized pictures. Our ongoing goal is to not only continue to increase understanding and appreciation of the sky among the public, but to provide an increasingly useful tool for educators. We continue to explore different social media options to interact with the public and provide easier content submission, as well as software options for

The Geospatial Data Cloud: An Implementation of Applying Cloud Computing in Geosciences

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xuezhi Wang

2014-11-01

Full Text Available The rapid growth in the volume of remote sensing data and its increasing computational requirements bring huge challenges for researchers as traditional systems cannot adequately satisfy the huge demand for service. Cloud computing has the advantage of high scalability and reliability, which can provide firm technical support. This paper proposes a highly scalable geospatial cloud platform named the Geospatial Data Cloud, which is constructed based on cloud computing. The architecture of the platform is first introduced, and then two subsystems, the cloud-based data management platform and the cloud-based data processing platform, are described.  ––– This paper was presented at the First Scientific Data Conference on Scientific Research, Big Data, and Data Science, organized by CODATA-China and held in Beijing on 24-25 February, 2014.

SSNTD applications in science and technology - A brief review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khan, H.A.; Qureshi, I.E.

1999-01-01

The technique of Solid State Nuclear Track Detection (SSNTD) has matured since long as a viable method of charged particle detection. The usage of this method has been successfully extended to neutron detection and gamma dose measurements as well. The etch-track mechanism has been further exploited to generate a major application area of nuclear track filters. In spite of the remarkable diversity of SSNTD applications that have emerged over the years in different fields, its potential is by no means saturated. In this article, a brief review of SSNTD applications is presented with reference to contemporary interests in science and technology. For convenience, the coverage of topics is organized under broad categories of Nuclear Physics, Materials Research, Geology, Environmental Science and allied technologies. While identifying high interest areas, those with limited but innovative applications are also mentioned. In some cases, the important results are quoted for the purpose of illustrating the strength of track detection method. In general, the presentation is aimed at providing a broad perspective of current SSNTD uses instead of detailed description of individual applications. The coverage is selective rather than exhaustive and portrays authors' preferences. Some comments related to the adoption of this technique as a mainstream method of detection are also given

Resource management in utility and cloud computing

CERN Document Server

Zhao, Han

2013-01-01

This SpringerBrief reviews the existing market-oriented strategies for economically managing resource allocation in distributed systems. It describes three new schemes that address cost-efficiency, user incentives, and allocation fairness with regard to different scheduling contexts. The first scheme, taking the Amazon EC2? market as a case of study, investigates the optimal resource rental planning models based on linear integer programming and stochastic optimization techniques. This model is useful to explore the interaction between the cloud infrastructure provider and the cloud resource c

Beyond the Flipped Classroom: A Highly Interactive Cloud-Classroom (HIC) Embedded into Basic Materials Science Courses

Science.gov (United States)

Liou, Wei-Kai; Bhagat, Kaushal Kumar; Chang, Chun-Yen

2016-01-01

The present study compares the highly interactive cloud-classroom (HIC) system with traditional methods of teaching materials science that utilize crystal structure picture or real crystal structure model, in order to examine its learning effectiveness across three dimensions: knowledge, comprehension and application. The aim of this study was to…

Perspectives of Blockchain Technology, its Relation to the Cloud and its Potential Role in Computer Science Education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. Purdon

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Blockchain ledgers and the Cloud are a perfect match. On the one hand, there is an inherent requirement for multiple separate authentication nodes to validate every Blockchain transaction with each node requiring substantial encryption calculation capability. On the other hand, massive economies of scale can bring down the cost per transaction, and provide service continuity. Additionally, the Cloud provides a perfect incubator for proof-of-concept projects. This paper considers the future implications of Blockchain, as the concept of disintermediated trustless ledgers stimulates the imagination of computer scientists and innovators. The Cloud’s role in implementing this new paradigm is also highlighted, as a new decentralized P2P-Cloud model. Finally, this paper discusses how Blockchain may be integrated into the university level computer science and information technology curriculum.

Cloud4Psi: cloud computing for 3D protein structure similarity searching.

Science.gov (United States)

Mrozek, Dariusz; Małysiak-Mrozek, Bożena; Kłapciński, Artur

2014-10-01

Popular methods for 3D protein structure similarity searching, especially those that generate high-quality alignments such as Combinatorial Extension (CE) and Flexible structure Alignment by Chaining Aligned fragment pairs allowing Twists (FATCAT) are still time consuming. As a consequence, performing similarity searching against large repositories of structural data requires increased computational resources that are not always available. Cloud computing provides huge amounts of computational power that can be provisioned on a pay-as-you-go basis. We have developed the cloud-based system that allows scaling of the similarity searching process vertically and horizontally. Cloud4Psi (Cloud for Protein Similarity) was tested in the Microsoft Azure cloud environment and provided good, almost linearly proportional acceleration when scaled out onto many computational units. Cloud4Psi is available as Software as a Service for testing purposes at: http://cloud4psi.cloudapp.net/. For source code and software availability, please visit the Cloud4Psi project home page at http://zti.polsl.pl/dmrozek/science/cloud4psi.htm. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press.

MERRA Analytic Services: Meeting the Big Data Challenges of Climate Science through Cloud-Enabled Climate Analytics-as-a-Service

Science.gov (United States)

Schnase, J. L.; Duffy, D.; Tamkin, G. S.; Nadeau, D.; Thompson, J. H.; Grieg, C. M.; McInerney, M.; Webster, W. P.

2013-12-01

Climate science is a Big Data domain that is experiencing unprecedented growth. In our efforts to address the Big Data challenges of climate science, we are moving toward a notion of Climate Analytics-as-a-Service (CAaaS). We focus on analytics, because it is the knowledge gained from our interactions with Big Data that ultimately produce societal benefits. We focus on CAaaS because we believe it provides a useful way of thinking about the problem: a specialization of the concept of business process-as-a-service, which is an evolving extension of IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS enabled by Cloud Computing. Within this framework, Cloud Computing plays an important role; however, we see it as only one element in a constellation of capabilities that are essential to delivering climate analytics as a service. These elements are essential because in the aggregate they lead to generativity, a capacity for self-assembly that we feel is the key to solving many of the Big Data challenges in this domain. MERRA Analytic Services (MERRA/AS) is an example of cloud-enabled CAaaS built on this principle. MERRA/AS enables MapReduce analytics over NASA's Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) data collection. The MERRA reanalysis integrates observational data with numerical models to produce a global temporally and spatially consistent synthesis of 26 key climate variables. It represents a type of data product that is of growing importance to scientists doing climate change research and a wide range of decision support applications. MERRA/AS brings together the following generative elements in a full, end-to-end demonstration of CAaaS capabilities: (1) high-performance, data proximal analytics, (2) scalable data management, (3) software appliance virtualization, (4) adaptive analytics, and (5) a domain-harmonized API. The effectiveness of MERRA/AS has been demonstrated in several applications. In our experience, Cloud Computing lowers the barriers and risk to

MERRA Analytic Services: Meeting the Big Data Challenges of Climate Science Through Cloud-enabled Climate Analytics-as-a-service

Science.gov (United States)

Schnase, John L.; Duffy, Daniel Quinn; Tamkin, Glenn S.; Nadeau, Denis; Thompson, John H.; Grieg, Christina M.; McInerney, Mark A.; Webster, William P.

2014-01-01

Climate science is a Big Data domain that is experiencing unprecedented growth. In our efforts to address the Big Data challenges of climate science, we are moving toward a notion of Climate Analytics-as-a-Service (CAaaS). We focus on analytics, because it is the knowledge gained from our interactions with Big Data that ultimately produce societal benefits. We focus on CAaaS because we believe it provides a useful way of thinking about the problem: a specialization of the concept of business process-as-a-service, which is an evolving extension of IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS enabled by Cloud Computing. Within this framework, Cloud Computing plays an important role; however, we it see it as only one element in a constellation of capabilities that are essential to delivering climate analytics as a service. These elements are essential because in the aggregate they lead to generativity, a capacity for self-assembly that we feel is the key to solving many of the Big Data challenges in this domain. MERRA Analytic Services (MERRAAS) is an example of cloud-enabled CAaaS built on this principle. MERRAAS enables MapReduce analytics over NASAs Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) data collection. The MERRA reanalysis integrates observational data with numerical models to produce a global temporally and spatially consistent synthesis of 26 key climate variables. It represents a type of data product that is of growing importance to scientists doing climate change research and a wide range of decision support applications. MERRAAS brings together the following generative elements in a full, end-to-end demonstration of CAaaS capabilities: (1) high-performance, data proximal analytics, (2) scalable data management, (3) software appliance virtualization, (4) adaptive analytics, and (5) a domain-harmonized API. The effectiveness of MERRAAS has been demonstrated in several applications. In our experience, Cloud Computing lowers the barriers and risk to

Mobile web browsing using the cloud

CERN Document Server

Zhao, Bo; Cao, Guohong

2013-01-01

This brief surveys existing techniques to address the problem of long delays and high power consumption for web browsing on smartphones, which can be due to the local computational limitation at the smartphone (e.g., running java scripts or flash objects) level. To address this issue, an architecture called Virtual-Machine based Proxy (VMP) is introduced, shifting the computing from smartphones to the VMP which may reside in the cloud. Mobile Web Browsing Using the Cloud illustrates the feasibility of deploying the proposed VMP system in 3G networks through a prototype using Xen virtual machin

Benchmark Comparison of Cloud Analytics Methods Applied to Earth Observations

Science.gov (United States)

Lynnes, Chris; Little, Mike; Huang, Thomas; Jacob, Joseph; Yang, Phil; Kuo, Kwo-Sen

2016-01-01

Cloud computing has the potential to bring high performance computing capabilities to the average science researcher. However, in order to take full advantage of cloud capabilities, the science data used in the analysis must often be reorganized. This typically involves sharding the data across multiple nodes to enable relatively fine-grained parallelism. This can be either via cloud-based file systems or cloud-enabled databases such as Cassandra, Rasdaman or SciDB. Since storing an extra copy of data leads to increased cost and data management complexity, NASA is interested in determining the benefits and costs of various cloud analytics methods for real Earth Observation cases. Accordingly, NASA's Earth Science Technology Office and Earth Science Data and Information Systems project have teamed with cloud analytics practitioners to run a benchmark comparison on cloud analytics methods using the same input data and analysis algorithms. We have particularly looked at analysis algorithms that work over long time series, because these are particularly intractable for many Earth Observation datasets which typically store data with one or just a few time steps per file. This post will present side-by-side cost and performance results for several common Earth observation analysis operations.

Benchmark Comparison of Cloud Analytics Methods Applied to Earth Observations

Science.gov (United States)

Lynnes, C.; Little, M. M.; Huang, T.; Jacob, J. C.; Yang, C. P.; Kuo, K. S.

2016-12-01

Cloud computing has the potential to bring high performance computing capabilities to the average science researcher. However, in order to take full advantage of cloud capabilities, the science data used in the analysis must often be reorganized. This typically involves sharding the data across multiple nodes to enable relatively fine-grained parallelism. This can be either via cloud-based filesystems or cloud-enabled databases such as Cassandra, Rasdaman or SciDB. Since storing an extra copy of data leads to increased cost and data management complexity, NASA is interested in determining the benefits and costs of various cloud analytics methods for real Earth Observation cases. Accordingly, NASA's Earth Science Technology Office and Earth Science Data and Information Systems project have teamed with cloud analytics practitioners to run a benchmark comparison on cloud analytics methods using the same input data and analysis algorithms. We have particularly looked at analysis algorithms that work over long time series, because these are particularly intractable for many Earth Observation datasets which typically store data with one or just a few time steps per file. This post will present side-by-side cost and performance results for several common Earth observation analysis operations.

Reducing Time to Science: Unidata and JupyterHub Technology Using the Jetstream Cloud

Science.gov (United States)

Chastang, J.; Signell, R. P.; Fischer, J. L.

2017-12-01

Cloud computing can accelerate scientific workflows, discovery, and collaborations by reducing research and data friction. We describe the deployment of Unidata and JupyterHub technologies on the NSF-funded XSEDE Jetstream cloud. With the aid of virtual machines and Docker technology, we deploy a Unidata JupyterHub server co-located with a Local Data Manager (LDM), THREDDS data server (TDS), and RAMADDA geoscience content management system. We provide Jupyter Notebooks and the pre-built Python environments needed to run them. The notebooks can be used for instruction and as templates for scientific experimentation and discovery. We also supply a large quantity of NCEP forecast model results to allow data-proximate analysis and visualization. In addition, users can transfer data using Globus command line tools, and perform their own data-proximate analysis and visualization with Notebook technology. These data can be shared with others via a dedicated TDS server for scientific distribution and collaboration. There are many benefits of this approach. Not only is the cloud computing environment fast, reliable and scalable, but scientists can analyze, visualize, and share data using only their web browser. No local specialized desktop software or a fast internet connection is required. This environment will enable scientists to spend less time managing their software and more time doing science.

Beyond the Flipped Classroom: A Highly Interactive Cloud-Classroom (HIC) Embedded into Basic Materials Science Courses

Science.gov (United States)

Liou, Wei-Kai; Bhagat, Kaushal Kumar; Chang, Chun-Yen

2016-06-01

The present study compares the highly interactive cloud-classroom (HIC) system with traditional methods of teaching materials science that utilize crystal structure picture or real crystal structure model, in order to examine its learning effectiveness across three dimensions: knowledge, comprehension and application. The aim of this study was to evaluate the (HIC) system, which incorporates augmented reality, virtual reality and cloud-classroom to teach basic materials science courses. The study followed a pretest-posttest quasi-experimental research design. A total of 92 students (aged 19-20 years), in a second-year undergraduate program, participated in this 18-week-long experiment. The students were divided into an experimental group and a control group. The experimental group (36 males and 10 females) was instructed utilizing the HIC system, while the control group (34 males and 12 females) was led through traditional teaching methods. Pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest scores were evaluated by multivariate analysis of covariance. The results indicated that participants in the experimental group who used the HIC system outperformed the control group, in the both posttest and delayed posttest, across three learning dimensions. Based on these results, the HIC system is recommended to be incorporated in formal materials science learning settings.

Seeking Missing Pieces in Science Concept Assessments: Reevaluating the Brief Electricity and Magnetism Assessment through Rasch Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Ding, Lin

2014-01-01

Discipline-based science concept assessments are powerful tools to measure learners' disciplinary core ideas. Among many such assessments, the Brief Electricity and Magnetism Assessment (BEMA) has been broadly used to gauge student conceptions of key electricity and magnetism (E&M) topics in college-level introductory physics courses.…

Towards Constraint-based High Performance Cloud System in the Process of Cloud Computing Adoption in an Organization

OpenAIRE

Simalango, Mikael Fernandus; Kang, Mun-Young; Oh, Sangyoon

2010-01-01

Cloud computing is penetrating into various domains and environments, from theoretical computer science to economy, from marketing hype to educational curriculum and from R&D lab to enterprise IT infrastructure. Yet, the currently developing state of cloud computing leaves several issues to address and also affects cloud computing adoption by organizations. In this paper, we explain how the transition into the cloud can occur in an organization and describe the mechanism for transforming lega...

Cloud computing theory and practice

CERN Document Server

Marinescu, Dan C

2013-01-01

Cloud Computing: Theory and Practice provides students and IT professionals with an in-depth analysis of the cloud from the ground up. Beginning with a discussion of parallel computing and architectures and distributed systems, the book turns to contemporary cloud infrastructures, how they are being deployed at leading companies such as Amazon, Google and Apple, and how they can be applied in fields such as healthcare, banking and science. The volume also examines how to successfully deploy a cloud application across the enterprise using virtualization, resource management and the ri

A Brief History of CME Science

Science.gov (United States)

Alexander, David; Richardson, Ian G.; Zurbuchen, Thomas H.

2006-01-01

We present here a brief summary of the rich heritage of observational and theoretical research leading to the development of our current understanding of the initiation, structure, and evolution of Coronal Mass Ejections.

Macquarie Island Cloud and Radiation Experiment (MICRE) Science Plan

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Marchand, RT [University of Washington; Protat, A [Australian Bureau of Meterology; Alexander, SP [Australian Antarctic Division

2015-12-01

Clouds over the Southern Ocean are poorly represented in present day reanalysis products and global climate model simulations. Errors in top-of-atmosphere (TOA) broadband radiative fluxes in this region are among the largest globally, with large implications for modeling both regional and global scale climate responses (e.g., Trenberth and Fasullo 2010, Ceppi et al. 2012). Recent analyses of model simulations suggest that model radiative errors in the Southern Ocean are due to a lack of low-level postfrontal clouds (including clouds well behind the front) and perhaps a lack of supercooled liquid water that contribute most to the model biases (Bodas-Salcedo et al. 2013, Huang et al. 2014). These assessments of model performance, as well as our knowledge of cloud and aerosol properties over the Southern Ocean, rely heavily on satellite data sets. Satellite data sets are incomplete in that the observations are not continuous (i.e., they are acquired only when the satellite passes nearby), generally do not sample the diurnal cycle, and view primarily the tops of cloud systems (especially for the passive instruments). This is especially problematic for retrievals of aerosol, low-cloud properties, and layers of supercooled water embedded within (rather than at the top of) clouds, as well as estimates of surface shortwave and longwave fluxes based on these properties.

A Survey on Cloud Security Issues and Techniques

OpenAIRE

Sharma, Shubhanjali; Gupta, Garima; Laxmi, P. R.

2014-01-01

Today, cloud computing is an emerging way of computing in computer science. Cloud computing is a set of resources and services that are offered by the network or internet. Cloud computing extends various computing techniques like grid computing, distributed computing. Today cloud computing is used in both industrial field and academic field. Cloud facilitates its users by providing virtual resources via internet. As the field of cloud computing is spreading the new techniques are developing. ...

ATLAS computing operations within the GridKa Cloud

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kennedy, J; Walker, R; Olszewski, A; Nderitu, S; Serfon, C; Duckeck, G

2010-01-01

The organisation and operations model of the ATLAS T1-T2 federation/Cloud associated to the GridKa T1 in Karlsruhe is described. Attention is paid to Cloud level services and the experience gained during the last years of operation. The ATLAS GridKa Cloud is large and divers spanning 5 countries, 2 ROC's and is currently comprised of 13 core sites. A well defined and tested operations model in such a Cloud is of the utmost importance. We have defined the core Cloud services required by the ATLAS experiment and ensured that they are performed in a managed and sustainable manner. Services such as Distributed Data Management involving data replication,deletion and consistency checks, Monte Carlo Production, software installation and data reprocessing are described in greater detail. In addition to providing these central services we have undertaken several Cloud level stress tests and developed monitoring tools to aid with Cloud diagnostics. Furthermore we have defined good channels of communication between ATLAS, the T1 and the T2's and have pro-active contributions from the T2 manpower. A brief introduction to the GridKa Cloud is provided followed by a more detailed discussion of the operations model and ATLAS services within the Cloud.

A Brief Analysis of Development Situations and Trend of Cloud Computing

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Wenyan

2017-12-01

in recent years, the rapid development of Internet technology has radically changed people's work, learning and lifestyles. More and more activities are completed by virtue of computers and networks. The amount of information and data generated is bigger day by day, and people rely more on computer, which makes computing power of computer fail to meet demands of accuracy and rapidity from people. The cloud computing technology has experienced fast development, which is widely applied in the computer industry as a result of advantages of high precision, fast computing and easy usage. Moreover, it has become a focus in information research at present. In this paper, the development situations and trend of cloud computing shall be analyzed and researched.

Satellite Cloud and Radiative Property Processing and Distribution System on the NASA Langley ASDC OpenStack and OpenShift Cloud Platform

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, L.; Chee, T.; Palikonda, R.; Smith, W. L., Jr.; Bedka, K. M.; Spangenberg, D.; Vakhnin, A.; Lutz, N. E.; Walter, J.; Kusterer, J.

2017-12-01

Cloud Computing offers new opportunities for large-scale scientific data producers to utilize Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) IT resources to process and deliver data products in an operational environment where timely delivery, reliability, and availability are critical. The NASA Langley Research Center Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) is building and testing a private and public facing cloud for users in the Science Directorate to utilize as an everyday production environment. The NASA SatCORPS (Satellite ClOud and Radiation Property Retrieval System) team processes and derives near real-time (NRT) global cloud products from operational geostationary (GEO) satellite imager datasets. To deliver these products, we will utilize the public facing cloud and OpenShift to deploy a load-balanced webserver for data storage, access, and dissemination. The OpenStack private cloud will host data ingest and computational capabilities for SatCORPS processing. This paper will discuss the SatCORPS migration towards, and usage of, the ASDC Cloud Services in an operational environment. Detailed lessons learned from use of prior cloud providers, specifically the Amazon Web Services (AWS) GovCloud and the Government Cloud administered by the Langley Managed Cloud Environment (LMCE) will also be discussed.

Grids, Clouds, and Virtualization

Science.gov (United States)

Cafaro, Massimo; Aloisio, Giovanni

This chapter introduces and puts in context Grids, Clouds, and Virtualization. Grids promised to deliver computing power on demand. However, despite a decade of active research, no viable commercial grid computing provider has emerged. On the other hand, it is widely believed - especially in the Business World - that HPC will eventually become a commodity. Just as some commercial consumers of electricity have mission requirements that necessitate they generate their own power, some consumers of computational resources will continue to need to provision their own supercomputers. Clouds are a recent business-oriented development with the potential to render this eventually as rare as organizations that generate their own electricity today, even among institutions who currently consider themselves the unassailable elite of the HPC business. Finally, Virtualization is one of the key technologies enabling many different Clouds. We begin with a brief history in order to put them in context, and recall the basic principles and concepts underlying and clearly differentiating them. A thorough overview and survey of existing technologies provides the basis to delve into details as the reader progresses through the book.

Developing Cloud Chambers with High School Students

Science.gov (United States)

Ishizuka, Ryo; Tan, Nobuaki; Sato, Shoma; Zeze, Syoji

The result and outcome of the cloud chamber project, which aims to develop a cloud chamber useful for science education is reported in detail. A project includes both three high school students and a teacher as a part of Super Science High School (SSH) program in our school. We develop a dry-ice-free cloud chamber using salt and ice (or snow). Technical details of the chamber are described. We also argue how the project have affected student's cognition, motivation, academic skills and behavior. The research project has taken steps of professional researchers, i.e., in planning research, applying fund, writing a paper and giving a talk in conferences. From interviews with students, we have learnt that such style of scientific activity is very effective in promoting student's motivation for learning science.

Rackspace: Significance of Cloud Computing to CERN

CERN Multimedia

CERN. Geneva

2015-01-01

The research collaboration between Rackspace and CERN is contributing to how OpenStack cloud computing will move science work around the world for CERN, and to reducing the barriers between clouds for Rackspace.

High energy physics and cloud computing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cheng Yaodong; Liu Baoxu; Sun Gongxing; Chen Gang

2011-01-01

High Energy Physics (HEP) has been a strong promoter of computing technology, for example WWW (World Wide Web) and the grid computing. In the new era of cloud computing, HEP has still a strong demand, and major international high energy physics laboratories have launched a number of projects to research on cloud computing technologies and applications. It describes the current developments in cloud computing and its applications in high energy physics. Some ongoing projects in the institutes of high energy physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, including cloud storage, virtual computing clusters, and BESⅢ elastic cloud, are also described briefly in the paper. (authors)

ACID Astronomical and Physics Cloud Interactive Desktop: A Prototype of VUI for CTA Science Gateway

Science.gov (United States)

Massimino, P.; Costa, A.; Becciani, U.; Vuerli, C.; Bandieramonte, M.; Petta, C.; Riggi, S.; Sciacca, E.; Vitello, F.; Pistagna, C.

2014-05-01

The Astronomical & Physics Cloud Interactive Desktop, developed for the prototype of CTA Science Gateway in Catania, Italy, allows to use many software packages without any installation on the local desktop. The users will be able to exploit, if applicable, the native Graphical User Interface (GUI) of the programs that are available in the ACID environment. For using interactively the remote programs, ACID exploits an "ad hoc" VNC-based User Interface (VUI).

A MAS-Based Cloud Service Brokering System to Respond Security Needs of Cloud Customers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jamal Talbi

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Cloud computing is becoming a key factor in computer science and an important technology for many organizations to deliver different types of services. The companies which provide services to customers are called as cloud service providers. The cloud users (CUs increase and require secure, reliable and trustworthy cloud service providers (CSPs from the market. So, it’s a challenge for a new customer to choose the highly secure provider. This paper presents a cloud service brokering system in order to analyze and rank the secured cloud service provider among the available providers list. This model uses an autonomous and flexible agent in multi-agent system (MASs that have an intelligent behavior and suitable tools for helping the brokering system to assess the security risks for the group of cloud providers which make decision of the more secured provider and justify the business needs of users in terms of security and reliability.

Unidata Cyberinfrastructure in the Cloud

Science.gov (United States)

Ramamurthy, M. K.; Young, J. W.

2016-12-01

Data services, software, and user support are critical components of geosciences cyber-infrastructure to help researchers to advance science. With the maturity of and significant advances in cloud computing, it has recently emerged as an alternative new paradigm for developing and delivering a broad array of services over the Internet. Cloud computing is now mature enough in usability in many areas of science and education, bringing the benefits of virtualized and elastic remote services to infrastructure, software, computation, and data. Cloud environments reduce the amount of time and money spent to procure, install, and maintain new hardware and software, and reduce costs through resource pooling and shared infrastructure. Given the enormous potential of cloud-based services, Unidata has been moving to augment its software, services, data delivery mechanisms to align with the cloud-computing paradigm. To realize the above vision, Unidata has worked toward: * Providing access to many types of data from a cloud (e.g., via the THREDDS Data Server, RAMADDA and EDEX servers); * Deploying data-proximate tools to easily process, analyze, and visualize those data in a cloud environment cloud for consumption by any one, by any device, from anywhere, at any time; * Developing and providing a range of pre-configured and well-integrated tools and services that can be deployed by any university in their own private or public cloud settings. Specifically, Unidata has developed Docker for "containerized applications", making them easy to deploy. Docker helps to create "disposable" installs and eliminates many configuration challenges. Containerized applications include tools for data transport, access, analysis, and visualization: THREDDS Data Server, Integrated Data Viewer, GEMPAK, Local Data Manager, RAMADDA Data Server, and Python tools; * Leveraging Jupyter as a central platform and hub with its powerful set of interlinking tools to connect interactively data servers

NASA's EOSDIS Cumulus: Ingesting, Archiving, Managing, and Distributing Earth Science Data from the Commercial Cloud

Science.gov (United States)

Baynes, Katie; Ramachandran, Rahul; Pilone, Dan; Quinn, Patrick; Gilman, Jason; Schuler, Ian; Jazayeri, Alireza

2017-01-01

NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) has been working towards a vision of a cloud-based, highly-flexible, ingest, archive, management, and distribution system for its ever-growing and evolving data holdings. This system, Cumulus, is emerging from its prototyping stages and is poised to make a huge impact on how NASA manages and disseminates its Earth science data. This talk will outline the motivation for this work, present the achievements and hurdles of the past 18 months and will chart a course for the future expansion of the Cumulus expansion. We will explore on not just the technical, but also the socio-technical challenges that we face in evolving a system of this magnitude into the cloud and how we are rising to meet those challenges through open collaboration and intentional stakeholder engagement.

LIDAR, Point Clouds, and their Archaeological Applications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

White, Devin A [ORNL

2013-01-01

It is common in contemporary archaeological literature, in papers at archaeological conferences, and in grant proposals to see heritage professionals use the term LIDAR to refer to high spatial resolution digital elevation models and the technology used to produce them. The goal of this chapter is to break that association and introduce archaeologists to the world of point clouds, in which LIDAR is only one member of a larger family of techniques to obtain, visualize, and analyze three-dimensional measurements of archaeological features. After describing how point clouds are constructed, there is a brief discussion on the currently available software and analytical techniques designed to make sense of them.

High performance cloud auditing and applications

CERN Document Server

Choi, Baek-Young; Song, Sejun

2014-01-01

This book mainly focuses on cloud security and high performance computing for cloud auditing. The book discusses emerging challenges and techniques developed for high performance semantic cloud auditing, and presents the state of the art in cloud auditing, computing and security techniques with focus on technical aspects and feasibility of auditing issues in federated cloud computing environments.   In summer 2011, the United States Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) CyberBAT Cloud Security and Auditing Team initiated the exploration of the cloud security challenges and future cloud auditing research directions that are covered in this book. This work was supported by the United States government funds from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), the AFOSR Summer Faculty Fellowship Program (SFFP), the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Visiting Faculty Research Program (VFRP), the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institute of Health (NIH). All chapters were partially suppor...

The environmental virtual observatory pilot (EVOp): a cloud solution demonstrating effective science for efficient decisions

Science.gov (United States)

Gurney, R. J.; Emmett, B.; McDonald, A.

2012-12-01

Environmental managers and policy makers face a challenging future trying to accommodate growing expectations of environmental well-being, while subject to maturing regulation, constrained budgets and a public scrutiny that expects easier and more meaningful access to data and decision logic. To support such a challenge requires new tools and new approaches. The EVOp is an initiative from the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) designed to deliver proof of concept for these new tools and approaches. A series of exemplar 'big catchment science questions' are posed and the prospects for their solution are assessed. These are then used to develop cloud solutions for serving data, models, visualisation and analysis tools to scientists, regulators, private companies and the public, all of whom have different expectations of what environmental information is important. Approaches are tested regularly with users using SCRUM. The VO vision encompasses seven key ambitions: i. being driven by the need to contribute to the solution of major environmental issues that impinge on, or link to, catchment science ii. having the flexibility and adaptability to address future problems not yet defined or fully clarified iii. being able to communicate issues and solutions to a range of audiences iv. supporting easy access by a variety of users v. drawing meaningful information from data and models and identifying the constraints on application in terms of errors, uncertainties, etc vi. adding value and cost effectiveness to current investigations by supporting transfer and scale adjustment thus limiting the repetition of expensive field monitoring addressing essentially the same issues in varying locations vii. promoting effective interfacing of robust science with a variety of end users by using terminology or measures familiar to the user (or required by regulation), including financial and carbon accounting, whole life or fixed period costing, risk as probability or as

Practical cloud evaluation from a Nordic eScience user perspective

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Edlund, Åke; Koopmans, Maarten; Shah, Zeeshan Ali

2011-01-01

In this paper, we describe the findings of the NEON project - a cross-Nordic - Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland - project evaluating the usefulness of private versus public cloud services for HPC users. Our findings are briefly that private cloud technology is not mature enough yet...... to provide a transparent user experience. It is expected that this will be the case mid 2012. The cost efficiency of both public and private cloud should be continuously monitored as there is a strong downward trend. This conclusion is supported by NEON experimenting as well as larger initiatives e.......g. StratusLab reports. Public cloud technology is mature enough but lacks certain features that will be necessary to include cloud resources in a transparent manner in a national infrastructure like the Norwegian NOTUR (www.notur.no) case, e.g. with respect to quota management. These features are expected...

Cloud computing for data-intensive applications

CERN Document Server

Li, Xiaolin

2014-01-01

This book presents a range of cloud computing platforms for data-intensive scientific applications. It covers systems that deliver infrastructure as a service, including: HPC as a service; virtual networks as a service; scalable and reliable storage; algorithms that manage vast cloud resources and applications runtime; and programming models that enable pragmatic programming and implementation toolkits for eScience applications. Many scientific applications in clouds are also introduced, such as bioinformatics, biology, weather forecasting and social networks. Most chapters include case studie

Proposed scheduling algorithm for deployment of fail-safe cloud services

OpenAIRE

Kollberg, Simon

2014-01-01

The cloud is a fairly new concept in computer science, altough almost everyone has been or is in contact with it on a regular basis. As more and more systems and applications are migrating from the desktop and into the cloud, keeping a high availability in cloud services is becoming increasingly important. Seeing that the cloud users are dependant on the cloud services being online and accessable via the Internet, creating fault tolerant cloud systems is key to keeping the cloud stable and tr...

Islands in the Sky: Ecophysiological Cloud-Vegetation Linkages in Southern Appalachian Mountain Cloud Forests

Science.gov (United States)

Reinhardt, K.; Emanuel, R. E.; Johnson, D. M.

2013-12-01

photosynthesis occurs during high-light, diffuse-light conditions such as occurs during diffuse 'sunflecks' inside the cloud fog. Additionally, the capacity to respond to brief, intermittent sunflecks ('photosynthetic induction', e.g., time to maximum photosynthesis) was high in our MCF species. 3) Data quantifying limitations to photosynthesis were contradictory, underscoring complex relationships among photosynthesis, light, carbon and water relations. While stomatal response to atmospheric moisture demand was sensitive (e.g., 80% drop in stomatal conductance in a conifer species), stem xylem hydraulic conductivity suggested strong drought tolerance capabilities. CONCLUSIONS: Clouds and cloud-fog exert strong influence on canopy-tree and ecosystem carbon relations. MCF are dynamic light environments. In these highly variable but ultimately light-limited ecosystems, vegetation must be able to both fix carbon when cloudy and dark but also be able to capitalize on saturating sunlight when possible.

Treatment of cloud radiative effects in general circulation models

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, W.C.; Dudek, M.P.; Liang, X.Z.; Ding, M. [State Univ. of New York, Albany, NY (United States)] [and others

1996-04-01

We participate in the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program with two objectives: (1) to improve the general circulation model (GCM) cloud/radiation treatment with a focus on cloud verticle overlapping and layer cloud optical properties, and (2) to study the effects of cloud/radiation-climate interaction on GCM climate simulations. This report summarizes the project progress since the Fourth ARM Science Team meeting February 28-March 4, 1994, in Charleston, South Carolina.

Privacy and legal issues in cloud computing

CERN Document Server

Weber, Rolf H

2015-01-01

Adopting a multi-disciplinary and comparative approach, this book focuses on emerging and innovative attempts to tackle privacy and legal issues in cloud computing, such as personal data privacy, security and intellectual property protection. Leading international academics and practitioners in the fields of law and computer science examine the specific legal implications of cloud computing pertaining to jurisdiction, biomedical practice and information ownership. This collection offers original and critical responses to the rising challenges posed by cloud computing.

Large-Scale Sentinel-1 Processing for Solid Earth Science and Urgent Response using Cloud Computing and Machine Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Hua, H.; Owen, S. E.; Yun, S. H.; Agram, P. S.; Manipon, G.; Starch, M.; Sacco, G. F.; Bue, B. D.; Dang, L. B.; Linick, J. P.; Malarout, N.; Rosen, P. A.; Fielding, E. J.; Lundgren, P.; Moore, A. W.; Liu, Z.; Farr, T.; Webb, F.; Simons, M.; Gurrola, E. M.

2017-12-01

With the increased availability of open SAR data (e.g. Sentinel-1 A/B), new challenges are being faced with processing and analyzing the voluminous SAR datasets to make geodetic measurements. Upcoming SAR missions such as NISAR are expected to generate close to 100TB per day. The Advanced Rapid Imaging and Analysis (ARIA) project can now generate geocoded unwrapped phase and coherence products from Sentinel-1 TOPS mode data in an automated fashion, using the ISCE software. This capability is currently being exercised on various study sites across the United States and around the globe, including Hawaii, Central California, Iceland and South America. The automated and large-scale SAR data processing and analysis capabilities use cloud computing techniques to speed the computations and provide scalable processing power and storage. Aspects such as how to processing these voluminous SLCs and interferograms at global scales, keeping up with the large daily SAR data volumes, and how to handle the voluminous data rates are being explored. Scene-partitioning approaches in the processing pipeline help in handling global-scale processing up to unwrapped interferograms with stitching done at a late stage. We have built an advanced science data system with rapid search functions to enable access to the derived data products. Rapid image processing of Sentinel-1 data to interferograms and time series is already being applied to natural hazards including earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruptions, and land subsidence due to fluid withdrawal. We will present the status of the ARIA science data system for generating science-ready data products and challenges that arise from being able to process SAR datasets to derived time series data products at large scales. For example, how do we perform large-scale data quality screening on interferograms? What approaches can be used to minimize compute, storage, and data movement costs for time series analysis in the cloud? We will also

Science Programs

Science.gov (United States)

Laboratory Delivering science and technology to protect our nation and promote world stability Science & ; Innovation Collaboration Careers Community Environment Science & Innovation Facilities Science Pillars Research Library Science Briefs Science News Science Highlights Lab Organizations Science Programs Applied

Technologies and Business Value of Cloud Computing: Strategy for the Department of Information Processing

OpenAIRE

Manyando, Obyster

2013-01-01

This research focuses on the area of cloud computing, an important research area in computer and service science. The general aim of this research is to emphasize the business value of cloud computing to businesses. The objective of this research is to explore the economic benefits of cloud computing in order to promote its use in business and the education sector. Consequently, the research recommends the adoption of cloud computing by the Kemi-Tornio University of Applied Sciences. The ...

In Brief: Science teaching certificate

Science.gov (United States)

Showstack, Randy

2008-11-01

More than 200 educators will receive fellowships over the next 5 years to participate in NASA's Endeavor Science Teaching Certificate Project, the agency announced on 14 November. Through workshops, online and on-site graduate courses, and NASA educational materials, the project will expose educators to NASA science and engineering and support them in translating the information for use in classrooms. ``Through the program, educators will learn to deliver cutting-edge science into the classroom, promoting science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education,'' according to Joyce Winterton, assistant administrator for education at NASA Headquarters, in Washington, D. C. Project fellows will earn a certificate from Teachers College Innovations at Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, and graduate credit from other institutional partners. For more information, visit http://education.nasa.gov/home/index.html.

Facilitating NASA Earth Science Data Processing Using Nebula Cloud Computing

Science.gov (United States)

Pham, Long; Chen, Aijun; Kempler, Steven; Lynnes, Christopher; Theobald, Michael; Asghar, Esfandiari; Campino, Jane; Vollmer, Bruce

2011-01-01

Cloud Computing has been implemented in several commercial arenas. The NASA Nebula Cloud Computing platform is an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) built in 2008 at NASA Ames Research Center and 2010 at GSFC. Nebula is an open source Cloud platform intended to: a) Make NASA realize significant cost savings through efficient resource utilization, reduced energy consumption, and reduced labor costs. b) Provide an easier way for NASA scientists and researchers to efficiently explore and share large and complex data sets. c) Allow customers to provision, manage, and decommission computing capabilities on an as-needed bases

Green symbiotic cloud communications

CERN Document Server

Mustafa, H D; Desai, Uday B; Baveja, Brij Mohan

2017-01-01

This book intends to change the perception of modern day telecommunications. Communication systems, usually perceived as “dumb pipes”, carrying information / data from one point to another, are evolved into intelligently communicating smart systems. The book introduces a new field of cloud communications. The concept, theory, and architecture of this new field of cloud communications are discussed. The book lays down nine design postulates that form the basis of the development of a first of its kind cloud communication paradigm entitled Green Symbiotic Cloud Communications or GSCC. The proposed design postulates are formulated in a generic way to form the backbone for development of systems and technologies of the future. The book can be used to develop courses that serve as an essential part of graduate curriculum in computer science and electrical engineering. Such courses can be independent or part of high-level research courses. The book will also be of interest to a wide range of readers including b...

Lessons learned in deploying a cloud-based knowledge platform for the Earth Science Information Partners Federation (ESIP)

Science.gov (United States)

Pouchard, L. C.; Depriest, A.; Huhns, M.

2012-12-01

Ontologies and semantic technologies are an essential infrastructure component of systems supporting knowledge integration in the Earth Sciences. Numerous earth science ontologies exist, but are hard to discover because they tend to be hosted with the projects that develop them. There are often few quality measures and sparse metadata associated with these ontologies, such as modification dates, versioning, purpose, number of classes, and properties. Projects often develop ontologies for their own needs without considering existing ontology entities or derivations from formal and more basic ontologies. The result is mostly orthogonal ontologies, and ontologies that are not modular enough to reuse in part or adapt for new purposes, in spite of existing, standards for ontology representation. Additional obstacles to sharing and reuse include a lack of maintenance once a project is completed. The obstacles prevent the full exploitation of semantic technologies in a context where they could become needed enablers for service discovery and for matching data with services. To start addressing this gap, we have deployed BioPortal, a mature, domain-independent ontology and semantic service system developed by the National Center for Biomedical Ontologies (NCBO), on the ESIP Testbed under the governance of the ESIP Semantic Web cluster. ESIP provides a forum for a broad-based, distributed community of data and information technology practitioners and stakeholders to coordinate their efforts and develop new ideas for interoperability solutions. The Testbed provides an environment where innovations and best practices can be explored and evaluated. One objective of this deployment is to provide a community platform that would harness the organizational and cyber infrastructure provided by ESIP at minimal costs. Another objective is to host ontology services on a scalable, public cloud and investigate the business case for crowd sourcing of ontology maintenance. We deployed the

Frameworks for Performing on Cloud Automated Software Testing Using Swarm Intelligence Algorithm: Brief Survey

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammad Hossain

2018-04-01

Full Text Available This paper surveys on Cloud Based Automated Testing Software that is able to perform Black-box testing, White-box testing, as well as Unit and Integration Testing as a whole. In this paper, we discuss few of the available automated software testing frameworks on the cloud. These frameworks are found to be more efficient and cost effective because they execute test suites over a distributed cloud infrastructure. One of the framework effectiveness was attributed to having a module that accepts manual test cases from users and it prioritize them accordingly. Software testing, in general, accounts for as much as 50% of the total efforts of the software development project. To lessen the efforts, one the frameworks discussed in this paper used swarm intelligence algorithms. It uses the Ant Colony Algorithm for complete path coverage to minimize time and the Bee Colony Optimization (BCO for regression testing to ensure backward compatibility.

Simulation and Analysis of Microwave Transmission through an Electron Cloud, a Comparison of Results

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sonnad, Kiran; Sonnad, Kiran; Furman, Miguel; Veitzer, Seth; Stoltz, Peter; Cary, John

2007-01-01

Simulation studies for transmission of microwaves through electron clouds show good agreement with analytic results. The electron cloud produces a shift in phase of the microwave. Experimental observation of this phenomena would lead to a useful diagnostic tool for accessing the local density of electron clouds in an accelerator. These experiments are being carried out at the CERN SPS and the PEP-II LER at SLAC and is proposed to be done at the Fermilab main injector. In this study, a brief analysis of the phase shift is provided and the results are compared with that obtained from simulations

The harmonious relationship between faith and science from the perspective of some great saints: A brief comment.

Science.gov (United States)

Cortés, Manuel E; Del Río, Juan Pablo; Vigil, Pilar

2015-02-01

The objective of this editorial is to show that a harmonious relationship between science and faith is possible, as exemplified by great saints of the Catholic Church. It begins with the definitions of science and faith, followed by an explanation of the apparent conflict between them. A few saints that constitute an example that a fruitful relationship between these two seemingly opposed realities has been possible are Saint Albert the Great, Saint John of the Cross, Saint Giuseppe Moscati, and Saint Edith Stein, among others, and this editorial highlights their deep contributions to the dialogue between faith and reason. This editorial ends with a brief discussion on whether it is possible to be both a scientist and a man of faith.

HPC CLOUD APPLIED TO LATTICE OPTIMIZATION

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sun, Changchun; Nishimura, Hiroshi; James, Susan; Song, Kai; Muriki, Krishna; Qin, Yong

2011-03-18

As Cloud services gain in popularity for enterprise use, vendors are now turning their focus towards providing cloud services suitable for scientific computing. Recently, Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) introduced the new Cluster Compute Instances (CCI), a new instance type specifically designed for High Performance Computing (HPC) applications. At Berkeley Lab, the physicists at the Advanced Light Source (ALS) have been running Lattice Optimization on a local cluster, but the queue wait time and the flexibility to request compute resources when needed are not ideal for rapid development work. To explore alternatives, for the first time we investigate running the Lattice Optimization application on Amazon's new CCI to demonstrate the feasibility and trade-offs of using public cloud services for science.

HPC Cloud Applied To Lattice Optimization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sun, Changchun; Nishimura, Hiroshi; James, Susan; Song, Kai; Muriki, Krishna; Qin, Yong

2011-01-01

As Cloud services gain in popularity for enterprise use, vendors are now turning their focus towards providing cloud services suitable for scientific computing. Recently, Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) introduced the new Cluster Compute Instances (CCI), a new instance type specifically designed for High Performance Computing (HPC) applications. At Berkeley Lab, the physicists at the Advanced Light Source (ALS) have been running Lattice Optimization on a local cluster, but the queue wait time and the flexibility to request compute resources when needed are not ideal for rapid development work. To explore alternatives, for the first time we investigate running the Lattice Optimization application on Amazon's new CCI to demonstrate the feasibility and trade-offs of using public cloud services for science.

Electron Cloud Effects in Accelerators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Furman, M A

2013-01-01

We present a brief summary of various aspects of the electron-cloud effect (ECE) in accelerators. For further details, the reader is encouraged to refer to the proceedings of many prior workshops, either dedicated to EC or with significant EC contents, including the entire 'ECLOUD' series. In addition, the proceedings of the various flavors of Particle Accelerator Conferences contain a large number of EC-related publications. The ICFA Beam Dynamics Newsletter series contains one dedicated issue, and several occasional articles, on EC. An extensive reference database is the LHC website on EC. (author)

The Briefing Book Concept.

Science.gov (United States)

Minix, Dean A.

1990-01-01

Describes an open admissions program, a public university's nontraditional population, and their unique academic needs. Provides a political science briefing book assignment in which students research and write about one country. Claims the book is effective in helping students to organize and focus their thoughts and to improve their research and…

PEDAGOGICAL ASPECTS OF CLOUD COMPUTING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. Morze

2011-05-01

Full Text Available Recent progress in computer science in the field of redundancy and protection has led to the sharing of data in many different repositories. Modern infrastructure has made cloud computing safe and reliable, and advancement of such computations radically changes the understanding of the use of resources and services. The materials in this article are connected with the definition of pedagogical possibilities of using cloud computing to provide education on the basis of competence-based approach and monitoring of learners (students.

On the use of Cloud Computing and Machine Learning for Large-Scale SAR Science Data Processing and Quality Assessment Analysi

Science.gov (United States)

Hua, H.

2016-12-01

Geodetic imaging is revolutionizing geophysics, but the scope of discovery has been limited by labor-intensive technological implementation of the analyses. The Advanced Rapid Imaging and Analysis (ARIA) project has proven capability to automate SAR data processing and analysis. Existing and upcoming SAR missions such as Sentinel-1A/B and NISAR are also expected to generate massive amounts of SAR data. This has brought to the forefront the need for analytical tools for SAR quality assessment (QA) on the large volumes of SAR data-a critical step before higher-level time series and velocity products can be reliably generated. Initially leveraging an advanced hybrid-cloud computing science data system for performing large-scale processing, machine learning approaches were augmented for automated analysis of various quality metrics. Machine learning-based user-training of features, cross-validation, prediction models were integrated into our cloud-based science data processing flow to enable large-scale and high-throughput QA analytics for enabling improvements to the production quality of geodetic data products.

Layered Atlantic Smoke Interactions with Clouds (LASIC) Science Plan

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zuidema, P [University of Miami; Chiu, C [University of Reading; Fairall, CW [NOAA - Environmental Technology Laboratory; Ghan, SJ [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; Kollias, P [Stony Brook University; McFarguhar, GM; Mechem, DB [University of Kansas; Romps, DM [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Wong, H; Yuter, SE [North Carolina State University; Alvarado, MJ [Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc.; DeSzoeke, SP; Feingold, G [NOAA - Earth System Research Laboratory; Haywood, JM; Lewis, ER [Brookhaven National Laboratory; McComiskey, A [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; Redemann, J [NASA - Ames Research Center; Turner, DD [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; Wood, R [University of Washington; Zhu, P [Florida International University

2015-12-01

Southern Africa is the world’s largest emitter of biomass-burning (BB) aerosols. Their westward transport over the remote southeast Atlantic Ocean colocates some of the largest atmospheric loadings of absorbing aerosol with the least examined of the Earth’s major subtropical stratocumulus decks. Global aerosol model results highlight that the largest positive top-of-atmosphere forcing in the world occurs in the southeast Atlantic, but this region exhibits large differences in magnitude and sign between reputable models, in part because of high variability in the underlying model cloud distributions. Many uncertainties contribute to the highly variable model radiation fields: the aging of shortwave-absorbing aerosol during transport, how much of the aerosol mixes into the cloudy boundary layer, and how the low clouds adjust to smoke-radiation and smoke-cloud interactions. In addition, the ability of the BB aerosol to absorb shortwave radiation is known to vary seasonally as the fuel type on land changes.

Capabilities: Science Pillars

Science.gov (United States)

Alamos National Laboratory Delivering science and technology to protect our nation and promote world stability Science & Innovation Collaboration Careers Community Environment Science & Innovation Facilities Science Pillars Research Library Science Briefs Science News Science Highlights Lab Organizations

Faces of Science

Science.gov (United States)

Alamos National Laboratory Delivering science and technology to protect our nation and promote world stability Science & Innovation Collaboration Careers Community Environment Science & Innovation Facilities Science Pillars Research Library Science Briefs Science News Science Highlights Lab Organizations

Bradbury Science Museum

Science.gov (United States)

Alamos National Laboratory Delivering science and technology to protect our nation and promote world stability Science & Innovation Collaboration Careers Community Environment Science & Innovation Facilities Science Pillars Research Library Science Briefs Science News Science Highlights Lab Organizations

Office of Science

Science.gov (United States)

Alamos National Laboratory Delivering science and technology to protect our nation and promote world stability Science & Innovation Collaboration Careers Community Environment Science & Innovation Facilities Science Pillars Research Library Science Briefs Science News Science Highlights Lab Organizations

Bioinformatics clouds for big data manipulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Dai, Lin; Gao, Xin; Guo, Yan; Xiao, Jingfa; Zhang, Zhang

2012-11-28

As advances in life sciences and information technology bring profound influences on bioinformatics due to its interdisciplinary nature, bioinformatics is experiencing a new leap-forward from in-house computing infrastructure into utility-supplied cloud computing delivered over the Internet, in order to handle the vast quantities of biological data generated by high-throughput experimental technologies. Albeit relatively new, cloud computing promises to address big data storage and analysis issues in the bioinformatics field. Here we review extant cloud-based services in bioinformatics, classify them into Data as a Service (DaaS), Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and present our perspectives on the adoption of cloud computing in bioinformatics. This article was reviewed by Frank Eisenhaber, Igor Zhulin, and Sandor Pongor.

CLOUD COMPUTING: AN AMBIGUOUS WEATHER FORCAST IN THE MARKET

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Евгений Юрьевич Бакалдин

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Cloud computing is a pretty old idea according to the standards of IT, which, however, has only recently gained wide popularity and use. At that, according to most experts, the real "finest hour" of cloud computing is yet to come. However, the situation with the "clouds" in the global and domestic markets is not entirely cloudless.In this article (apart from a brief review of the history and the essence of cloud computing, we will focus on the immediate prospects of the development of cloud computing in Russia and in the world, and the main problems of their improvement and implementation, including the problems of not technical but legal implication.At the end of this article, it is concluded that at present the use of cloud technology in all spheres, from simple document storage users to large business systems - is a compromise between the broad capabilities on the one hand, and certain risks on the other. Of course, that's looking to the cloud and from the economic point of view: the balance between their apparent attraction of investment and financial risk of such investments is not yet found.On preparing this article we used the research data produced by such relevant research companies as Gartner and Forrester Research, as well as the reports of Russian experts in this field.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12731/2218-7405-2013-6-7

Cloud Macroscopic Organization: Order Emerging from Randomness

Science.gov (United States)

Yuan, Tianle

2011-01-01

Clouds play a central role in many aspects of the climate system and their forms and shapes are remarkably diverse. Appropriate representation of clouds in climate models is a major challenge because cloud processes span at least eight orders of magnitude in spatial scales. Here we show that there exists order in cloud size distribution of low-level clouds, and that it follows a power-law distribution with exponent gamma close to 2. gamma is insensitive to yearly variations in environmental conditions, but has regional variations and land-ocean contrasts. More importantly, we demonstrate this self-organizing behavior of clouds emerges naturally from a complex network model with simple, physical organizing principles: random clumping and merging. We also demonstrate symmetry between clear and cloudy skies in terms of macroscopic organization because of similar fundamental underlying organizing principles. The order in the apparently complex cloud-clear field thus has its root in random local interactions. Studying cloud organization with complex network models is an attractive new approach that has wide applications in climate science. We also propose a concept of cloud statistic mechanics approach. This approach is fully complementary to deterministic models, and the two approaches provide a powerful framework to meet the challenge of representing clouds in our climate models when working in tandem.

Direct Evidence of Reduction of Cloud Water after Spreading Diatomite Particles in Stratus Clouds in Beijing, China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qiang Zhang

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Artificial weather modification experiments have been intensively practiced in many years over China, and some progresses have been made, including more methodologies and advanced instruments. However, a challenge question still remains for providing convincing scientific evidence during these practices and experiments. This is a very difficult scientific issue, which is related to complicated cloud physical science, such as to accurately predict the large natural variability of cloud formation and precipitation. In this study, we report a clear evidence that the cloud water is reduced after spreading diatomite particles in stratus clouds during a field experiment in Beijing, China. The analysis shows that the diatomite particles (15–20 μm in radius are large and have strong hygroscopic property (absorbing cloud water. As a result, during the experiment, spreading large diatomite particles lead to downward motion (producing more stable atmospheric condition and reduction of cloud water. It is noted that due to lacks of instruments, this designed experiment only can provide a qualitative result (such as photo evidence, and no quantitative result can be drawn from this experiment.

THE USE OF «CLOUD COMPUTING» IS AT HIGHER SCHOOL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. Arkhipova

2013-08-01

Full Text Available To improve the training process is necessary to use such powerful technologies, as ‘cloud computing’. Supporting traditional training forms, it’s the new epoch of education development. It’s also economic, effective and flexible way to satisfy the needs of taught in new knowledge getting. ‘Cloud computing’ is a dynamically scaled way to access external resources for computing as a service provided with the help of Internet. The user does not need any special knowledge about the ‘cloud’ infrastructure or the control skills of this ‘cloud technology’. This article discusses the uses of ‘cloud computing’ by the teachers of the department of Computer Science in Kherson State University to train future professionals. Teachers often use a mixed hybrid model of cloud computing which allows using state, public and private resources providing a major advantage for their deployment. Formation of knowledge and skills using modern resources including cloud computing is one of the most important components of professional competence of the future teacher in Computer Science and software engineer who is one of the main representatives of the list of information technology specialis

Big Data in the Cloud - Processing and Performance

CERN Multimedia

CERN. Geneva

2015-01-01

**Anthony F. Voellm** is currently leading the Google Cloud Performance Team and has a wide range of experience from kernel and database engines to graphics and automated image and map extraction from satellite images. Anthony is an avid inventor with 7 technology patents issued. In his current role at Google Anthony is focused on delivering Price Performance to existing products like Google Compute Engine and Google Cloud Storage while also innovating new offerings. Anthony holds a Master of Science from George Washington University, BA in Physics and a BS in Computer Science and Mathematics from the University of Vermont.

A brief scenario about the ''space pollution'' around the Earth

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brito, T P; Celestino, C C; Moraes, R V

2013-01-01

In this work is presented a brief review about the main events generating of space debris around the Earth, occurred up to the present day. How the clouds of debris ''polluted'' the neighborhood of orbits in which the bodies were initially allocated is here analyzed. The implications of the growth of space debris existing on space missions as well as safety rules to control sources of debris are discussed

Citizen Science and Crowdsourcing as effective STEM Education and Engagement activities for Diverse Audiences: case studies featured in THE CROWD & THE CLOUD public TV series.

Science.gov (United States)

Haines-Stiles, G.; Abdalati, W.; Akuginow, E.

2017-12-01

Citizen science and crowdsourcing are relatively unfamiliar terms to the general public, including parents, children and teachers, as seen in focus groups convened by the NSF-funded THE CROWD & THE CLOUD public television series. Once aware, however, of the potential of today's citizen science—often relying on smartphones, apps and innovative sensors—both citizens and professional scientists become excited and seek to learn more. CROWD & CLOUD, premiering on PBS stations in April 2017, hosted by former NASA Chief Scientist Waleed Abdalati, and streaming at CrowdAndCloud.org, features a wide range of projects supported by NASA, NOAA, USGS, EPA and other Federal agencies. Some, such as EyesOnALZ, a startup which aims to accelerate research on Alzheimer's disease, adapt a crowdsourcing model first developed to help analyze data returned by NASA's Stardust spacecraft. Early results from its "StallCatchers" puzzle-game show both high quality data and have been shown to cut one year's worth of academic labor down to one month of effort by "the crowd." While longstanding citizen science projects such as Audubon's Christmas Bird Count (starting in 1900) have proven their worth, Smartfin—embedding sensors in surfboard fins—is taking advantage of recent technical innovations to track sea surface temperatures and ocean acidification, with their accuracy validated by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The NASA-supported GLOBE Observer mosquito habitat mapper project uses a $6 microscope attached to a smartphone to aid in species identification. Some projects tap adult volunteers, but many, such as USGS's Nature's Notebook, also appeal to youngsters. In Albuquerque local teens track invasive species and help refuge managers, usefully supplementing the sole salaried ranger. In the Rockaways, New York, high school students plant pollinator gardens and promote ecosystem resilience following Superstorm Sandy. This presentation will feature short videos demonstrating

Building a cloud based distributed active archive data center

Science.gov (United States)

Ramachandran, Rahul; Baynes, Katie; Murphy, Kevin

2017-04-01

NASA's Earth Science Data System (ESDS) Program serves as a central cog in facilitating the implementation of NASA's Earth Science strategic plan. Since 1994, the ESDS Program has committed to the full and open sharing of Earth science data obtained from NASA instruments to all users. One of the key responsibilities of the ESDS Program is to continuously evolve the entire data and information system to maximize returns on the collected NASA data. An independent review was conducted in 2015 to holistically review the EOSDIS in order to identify gaps. The review recommendations were to investigate two areas: one, whether commercial cloud providers offer potential for storage, processing, and operational efficiencies, and two, the potential development of new data access and analysis paradigms. In response, ESDS has initiated several prototypes investigating the advantages and risks of leveraging cloud computing. This poster will provide an overview of one such prototyping activity, "Cumulus". Cumulus is being designed and developed as a "native" cloud-based data ingest, archive and management system that can be used for all future NASA Earth science data streams. The long term vision for Cumulus, its requirements, overall architecture, and implementation details, as well as lessons learned from the completion of the first phase of this prototype will be covered. We envision Cumulus will foster design of new analysis/visualization tools to leverage collocated data from all of the distributed DAACs as well as elastic cloud computing resources to open new research opportunities.

Holistic Interactions of Shallow Clouds, Aerosols, and Land-Ecosystems (HI-SCALE) Science Plan

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fast, JD [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; Berg, LK [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

2015-12-01

Cumulus convection is an important component in the atmospheric radiation budget and hydrologic cycle over the Southern Great Plains and over many regions of the world, particularly during the summertime growing season when intense turbulence induced by surface radiation couples the land surface to clouds. Current convective cloud parameterizations contain uncertainties resulting in part from insufficient coincident data that couples cloud macrophysical and microphysical properties to inhomogeneities in boundary layer and aerosol properties. The Holistic Interactions of Shallow Clouds, Aerosols, and Land-Ecosystems (HI-SCALE) campaign is designed to provide a detailed set of measurements that are needed to obtain a more complete understanding of the life cycle of shallow clouds by coupling cloud macrophysical and microphysical properties to land surface properties, ecosystems, and aerosols. HI-SCALE consists of 2, 4-week intensive observational periods, one in the spring and the other in the late summer, to take advantage of different stages and distribution of “greenness” for various types of vegetation in the vicinity of the Atmospheric Radiation and Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility’s Southern Great Plains (SGP) site as well as aerosol properties that vary during the growing season. Most of the proposed instrumentation will be deployed on the ARM Aerial Facility (AAF) Gulfstream 1 (G-1) aircraft, including those that measure atmospheric turbulence, cloud water content and drop size distributions, aerosol precursor gases, aerosol chemical composition and size distributions, and cloud condensation nuclei concentrations. Routine ARM aerosol measurements made at the surface will be supplemented with aerosol microphysical properties measurements. The G-1 aircraft will complete transects over the SGP Central Facility at multiple altitudes within the boundary layer, within clouds, and above clouds.

Bioinformatics clouds for big data manipulation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dai Lin

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract As advances in life sciences and information technology bring profound influences on bioinformatics due to its interdisciplinary nature, bioinformatics is experiencing a new leap-forward from in-house computing infrastructure into utility-supplied cloud computing delivered over the Internet, in order to handle the vast quantities of biological data generated by high-throughput experimental technologies. Albeit relatively new, cloud computing promises to address big data storage and analysis issues in the bioinformatics field. Here we review extant cloud-based services in bioinformatics, classify them into Data as a Service (DaaS, Software as a Service (SaaS, Platform as a Service (PaaS, and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS, and present our perspectives on the adoption of cloud computing in bioinformatics. Reviewers This article was reviewed by Frank Eisenhaber, Igor Zhulin, and Sandor Pongor.

Bioinformatics clouds for big data manipulation

KAUST Repository

Dai, Lin

2012-11-28

As advances in life sciences and information technology bring profound influences on bioinformatics due to its interdisciplinary nature, bioinformatics is experiencing a new leap-forward from in-house computing infrastructure into utility-supplied cloud computing delivered over the Internet, in order to handle the vast quantities of biological data generated by high-throughput experimental technologies. Albeit relatively new, cloud computing promises to address big data storage and analysis issues in the bioinformatics field. Here we review extant cloud-based services in bioinformatics, classify them into Data as a Service (DaaS), Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and present our perspectives on the adoption of cloud computing in bioinformatics.This article was reviewed by Frank Eisenhaber, Igor Zhulin, and Sandor Pongor. 2012 Dai et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

Cloudbus Toolkit for Market-Oriented Cloud Computing

Science.gov (United States)

Buyya, Rajkumar; Pandey, Suraj; Vecchiola, Christian

This keynote paper: (1) presents the 21st century vision of computing and identifies various IT paradigms promising to deliver computing as a utility; (2) defines the architecture for creating market-oriented Clouds and computing atmosphere by leveraging technologies such as virtual machines; (3) provides thoughts on market-based resource management strategies that encompass both customer-driven service management and computational risk management to sustain SLA-oriented resource allocation; (4) presents the work carried out as part of our new Cloud Computing initiative, called Cloudbus: (i) Aneka, a Platform as a Service software system containing SDK (Software Development Kit) for construction of Cloud applications and deployment on private or public Clouds, in addition to supporting market-oriented resource management; (ii) internetworking of Clouds for dynamic creation of federated computing environments for scaling of elastic applications; (iii) creation of 3rd party Cloud brokering services for building content delivery networks and e-Science applications and their deployment on capabilities of IaaS providers such as Amazon along with Grid mashups; (iv) CloudSim supporting modelling and simulation of Clouds for performance studies; (v) Energy Efficient Resource Allocation Mechanisms and Techniques for creation and management of Green Clouds; and (vi) pathways for future research.

High-performance scientific computing in the cloud

Science.gov (United States)

Jorissen, Kevin; Vila, Fernando; Rehr, John

2011-03-01

Cloud computing has the potential to open up high-performance computational science to a much broader class of researchers, owing to its ability to provide on-demand, virtualized computational resources. However, before such approaches can become commonplace, user-friendly tools must be developed that hide the unfamiliar cloud environment and streamline the management of cloud resources for many scientific applications. We have recently shown that high-performance cloud computing is feasible for parallelized x-ray spectroscopy calculations. We now present benchmark results for a wider selection of scientific applications focusing on electronic structure and spectroscopic simulation software in condensed matter physics. These applications are driven by an improved portable interface that can manage virtual clusters and run various applications in the cloud. We also describe a next generation of cluster tools, aimed at improved performance and a more robust cluster deployment. Supported by NSF grant OCI-1048052.

A brief history of the most remarkable numbers e, i and γ in mathematical sciences with applications

Science.gov (United States)

Debnath, Lokenath

2015-08-01

This paper deals with a brief history of the most remarkable Euler numbers e, i and γ in mathematical sciences. Included are many properties of the constants e, i and γ and their applications in algebra, geometry, physics, chemistry, ecology, business and industry. Special attention is given to the growth and decay phenomena in many real-world problems including stability and instability of their solutions. Some specific and modern applications of logarithms, complex numbers and complex exponential functions to electrical circuits and mechanical systems are presented with examples. Included are the use of complex numbers and complex functions in the description and analysis of chaos and fractals with the aid of modern computer technology. In addition, the phasor method is described with examples of applications in engineering science. The major focus of this paper is to provide basic information through historical approach to mathematics teaching and learning of the fundamental knowledge and skills required for students and teachers at all levels so that they can understand the concepts of mathematics, and mathematics education in science and technology.

Cloud Computing Applications in Support of Earth Science Activities at Marshall Space Flight Center

Science.gov (United States)

Molthan, A.; Limaye, A. S.

2011-12-01

Currently, the NASA Nebula Cloud Computing Platform is available to Agency personnel in a pre-release status as the system undergoes a formal operational readiness review. Over the past year, two projects within the Earth Science Office at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center have been investigating the performance and value of Nebula's "Infrastructure as a Service", or "IaaS" concept and applying cloud computing concepts to advance their respective mission goals. The Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Center focuses on the transition of unique NASA satellite observations and weather forecasting capabilities for use within the operational forecasting community through partnerships with NOAA's National Weather Service (NWS). SPoRT has evaluated the performance of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model on virtual machines deployed within Nebula and used Nebula instances to simulate local forecasts in support of regional forecast studies of interest to select NWS forecast offices. In addition to weather forecasting applications, rapidly deployable Nebula virtual machines have supported the processing of high resolution NASA satellite imagery to support disaster assessment following the historic severe weather and tornado outbreak of April 27, 2011. Other modeling and satellite analysis activities are underway in support of NASA's SERVIR program, which integrates satellite observations, ground-based data and forecast models to monitor environmental change and improve disaster response in Central America, the Caribbean, Africa, and the Himalayas. Leveraging SPoRT's experience, SERVIR is working to establish a real-time weather forecasting model for Central America. Other modeling efforts include hydrologic forecasts for Kenya, driven by NASA satellite observations and reanalysis data sets provided by the broader meteorological community. Forecast modeling efforts are supplemented by short-term forecasts of convective initiation, determined by

The Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS): A New Earth Science Capability for ISS (Invited)

Science.gov (United States)

McGill, M. J.; Yorks, J. E.; Scott, S.; Kupchock, A.; Selmer, P.

2013-12-01

The Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) is a lidar remote sensing instrument developed for deployment to the International Space Station (ISS). The CATS lidar will provide range-resolved profile measurements of atmospheric aerosol and cloud distributions and properties. The CATS instrument uses a high repetition rate laser operating at three wavelengths (1064, 532, and 355 nm) to derive properties of cloud/aerosol layers including: layer height, layer thickness, backscatter, optical depth, extinction, and depolarization-based discrimination of particle type. The CATS mission was designed to capitalize on the Space Station's unique orbit and facilities to continue existing Earth Science data records, to provide observational data for use in forecast models, and to demonstrate new technologies for use in future missions. The CATS payload will be installed on the Japanese Experiment Module - Exposed Facility (JEM-EF). The payload is designed to operate on-orbit for at least six months, and up to three years. The payload is completed and currently scheduled for a mid-2014 launch. The ISS and, in particular, the JEM-EF, is an exciting new platform for spaceborne Earth observations. The ability to leverage existing aircraft instrument designs coupled with the lower cost possible for ISS external attached payloads permits rapid and cost effective development of spaceborne sensors. The CATS payload is based on existing instrumentation built and operated on the high-altitude NASA ER-2 aircraft. The payload is housed in a 1.5 m x 1 m x 0.8 m volume that attaches to the JEM-EF. The allowed volume limits the maximum size for the collecting telescope to 60 cm diameter. Figure 1 shows a schematic layout of the CATS payload, with the primary instrument components identified. Figure 2 is a photo of the completed payload. CATS payload cut-away view. Completed CATS payload assembly.

The Magellan Final Report on Cloud Computing

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

,; Coghlan, Susan; Yelick, Katherine

2011-12-21

The goal of Magellan, a project funded through the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR), was to investigate the potential role of cloud computing in addressing the computing needs for the DOE Office of Science (SC), particularly related to serving the needs of mid- range computing and future data-intensive computing workloads. A set of research questions was formed to probe various aspects of cloud computing from performance, usability, and cost. To address these questions, a distributed testbed infrastructure was deployed at the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF) and the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC). The testbed was designed to be flexible and capable enough to explore a variety of computing models and hardware design points in order to understand the impact for various scientific applications. During the project, the testbed also served as a valuable resource to application scientists. Applications from a diverse set of projects such as MG-RAST (a metagenomics analysis server), the Joint Genome Institute, the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, and the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO), were used by the Magellan project for benchmarking within the cloud, but the project teams were also able to accomplish important production science utilizing the Magellan cloud resources.

A high performance scientific cloud computing environment for materials simulations

Science.gov (United States)

Jorissen, K.; Vila, F. D.; Rehr, J. J.

2012-09-01

We describe the development of a scientific cloud computing (SCC) platform that offers high performance computation capability. The platform consists of a scientific virtual machine prototype containing a UNIX operating system and several materials science codes, together with essential interface tools (an SCC toolset) that offers functionality comparable to local compute clusters. In particular, our SCC toolset provides automatic creation of virtual clusters for parallel computing, including tools for execution and monitoring performance, as well as efficient I/O utilities that enable seamless connections to and from the cloud. Our SCC platform is optimized for the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2). We present benchmarks for prototypical scientific applications and demonstrate performance comparable to local compute clusters. To facilitate code execution and provide user-friendly access, we have also integrated cloud computing capability in a JAVA-based GUI. Our SCC platform may be an alternative to traditional HPC resources for materials science or quantum chemistry applications.

Integration of Cloud resources in the LHCb Distributed Computing

CERN Document Server

Ubeda Garcia, Mario; Stagni, Federico; Cabarrou, Baptiste; Rauschmayr, Nathalie; Charpentier, Philippe; Closier, Joel

2014-01-01

This contribution describes how Cloud resources have been integrated in the LHCb Distributed Computing. LHCb is using its specific Dirac extension (LHCbDirac) as an interware for its Distributed Computing. So far, it was seamlessly integrating Grid resources and Computer clusters. The cloud extension of DIRAC (VMDIRAC) allows the integration of Cloud computing infrastructures. It is able to interact with multiple types of infrastructures in commercial and institutional clouds, supported by multiple interfaces (Amazon EC2, OpenNebula, OpenStack and CloudStack) – instantiates, monitors and manages Virtual Machines running on this aggregation of Cloud resources. Moreover, specifications for institutional Cloud resources proposed by Worldwide LHC Computing Grid (WLCG), mainly by the High Energy Physics Unix Information Exchange (HEPiX) group, have been taken into account. Several initiatives and computing resource providers in the eScience environment have already deployed IaaS in production during 2013. Keepin...

Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program Science Plan. Current Status and Future Directions of the ARM Science Program

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ackerman, Thomas P.; Del Genio, Anthony D.; Ellingson, Robert G.; Ferrare, Richard A.; Klein, Steve A.; McFarquhar, Gregory M.; Lamb, Peter J.; Long, Charles M.; Verlinde, Johannes

2004-10-30

The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program has matured into one of the key programs in the U.S. Climate Change Science Program. The ARM Program has achieved considerable scientific success in a broad range of activities, including site and instrument development, atmospheric radiative transfer, aerosol science, determination of cloud properties, cloud modeling, and cloud parameterization testing and development. The focus of ARM science has naturally shifted during the last few years to an increasing emphasis on modeling and parameterization studies to take advantage of the long time series of data now available. During the next 5 years, the principal focus of the ARM science program will be to: Maintain the data record at the fixed ARM sites for at least the next five years; Improve significantly our understanding of and ability to parameterize the 3-D cloud-radiation problem at scales from the local atmospheric column to the global climate model (GCM) grid square; Continue developing techniques to retrieve the properties of all clouds, with a special focus on ice clouds and mixed-phase clouds; Develop a focused research effort on the indirect aerosol problem that spans observations, physical models, and climate model parameterizations; Implement and evaluate an operational methodology to calculate broad-band heating rates in the atmospheric columns at the ARM sites; Develop and implement methodologies to use ARM data more effectively to test atmospheric models, both at the cloud-resolving model scale and the GCM scale; and, Use these methodologies to diagnose cloud parameterization performance and then refine these parameterizations to improve the accuracy of climate model simulations. In addition, the ARM Program is actively developing a new ARM Mobile Facility (AMF) that will be available for short deployments (several months to a year or more) in climatically important regions. The AMF will have much of the same instrumentation as the remote

Journal of Earth System Science | Indian Academy of Sciences

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Home; Journals; Journal of Earth System Science; Volume 120; Issue 1 ... with a parametric study of the effect of four hydrometeors (cloud liquid water, cloud ice, ... Impact of additional surface observation network on short range weather forecast ... Doppler SODAR observations of the temperature structure parameter during ...

Cloud Infrastructure & Applications - CloudIA

Science.gov (United States)

Sulistio, Anthony; Reich, Christoph; Doelitzscher, Frank

The idea behind Cloud Computing is to deliver Infrastructure-as-a-Services and Software-as-a-Service over the Internet on an easy pay-per-use business model. To harness the potentials of Cloud Computing for e-Learning and research purposes, and to small- and medium-sized enterprises, the Hochschule Furtwangen University establishes a new project, called Cloud Infrastructure & Applications (CloudIA). The CloudIA project is a market-oriented cloud infrastructure that leverages different virtualization technologies, by supporting Service-Level Agreements for various service offerings. This paper describes the CloudIA project in details and mentions our early experiences in building a private cloud using an existing infrastructure.

The AIST Managed Cloud Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Cook, S.

2016-12-01

ESTO is currently in the process of developing and implementing the AIST Managed Cloud Environment (AMCE) to offer cloud computing services to ESTO-funded PIs to conduct their project research. AIST will provide projects access to a cloud computing framework that incorporates NASA security, technical, and financial standards, on which project can freely store, run, and process data. Currently, many projects led by research groups outside of NASA do not have the awareness of requirements or the resources to implement NASA standards into their research, which limits the likelihood of infusing the work into NASA applications. Offering this environment to PIs will allow them to conduct their project research using the many benefits of cloud computing. In addition to the well-known cost and time savings that it allows, it also provides scalability and flexibility. The AMCE will facilitate infusion and end user access by ensuring standardization and security. This approach will ultimately benefit ESTO, the science community, and the research, allowing the technology developments to have quicker and broader applications.

A glossary of atmospheric science

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1996-09-01

This book concentrates on the glossary of atmospheric science, which contains summary, for enactment and deliberation on choosing special glossary on atmospheric science in Korea, examiner for the glossary on atmospheric science, reference, explanatory notes and a lot of glossary on atmospheric science. It also has an appendix on commercial abbreviation, prefix, unit, wavelength and the number o vibrations of electromagnetic waves, ICAO classified catalogue on cloud, list of varietal cloud and list of local wind. It has explanation of the glossary in English, Korea, China and Japan.

On unravelling mechanism of interplay between cloud and large scale circulation: a grey area in climate science

Science.gov (United States)

De, S.; Agarwal, N. K.; Hazra, Anupam; Chaudhari, Hemantkumar S.; Sahai, A. K.

2018-04-01

The interaction between cloud and large scale circulation is much less explored area in climate science. Unfolding the mechanism of coupling between these two parameters is imperative for improved simulation of Indian summer monsoon (ISM) and to reduce imprecision in climate sensitivity of global climate model. This work has made an effort to explore this mechanism with CFSv2 climate model experiments whose cloud has been modified by changing the critical relative humidity (CRH) profile of model during ISM. Study reveals that the variable CRH in CFSv2 has improved the nonlinear interactions between high and low frequency oscillations in wind field (revealed as internal dynamics of monsoon) and modulates realistically the spatial distribution of interactions over Indian landmass during the contrasting monsoon season compared to the existing CRH profile of CFSv2. The lower tropospheric wind error energy in the variable CRH simulation of CFSv2 appears to be minimum due to the reduced nonlinear convergence of error to the planetary scale range from long and synoptic scales (another facet of internal dynamics) compared to as observed from other CRH experiments in normal and deficient monsoons. Hence, the interplay between cloud and large scale circulation through CRH may be manifested as a change in internal dynamics of ISM revealed from scale interactive quasi-linear and nonlinear kinetic energy exchanges in frequency as well as in wavenumber domain during the monsoon period that eventually modify the internal variance of CFSv2 model. Conversely, the reduced wind bias and proper modulation of spatial distribution of scale interaction between the synoptic and low frequency oscillations improve the eastward and northward extent of water vapour flux over Indian landmass that in turn give feedback to the realistic simulation of cloud condensates attributing improved ISM rainfall in CFSv2.

ASDC Advances in the Utilization of Microservices and Hybrid Cloud Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Baskin, W. E.; Herbert, A.; Mazaika, A.; Walter, J.

2017-12-01

The Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) is transitioning many of its software tools and applications to standalone microservices deployable in a hybrid cloud, offering benefits such as scalability and efficient environment management. This presentation features several projects the ASDC staff have implemented leveraging the OpenShift Container Application Platform and OpenStack Hybrid Cloud Environment focusing on key tools and techniques applied to: Earth Science data processing Spatial-Temporal metadata generation, validation, repair, and curation Archived Data discovery, visualization, and access

A brief history of the philosophy of time

CERN Document Server

Bardon, Adrian

2013-01-01

Adrian Bardon's A Brief History of the Philosophy of Time is a short introduction to the history, philosophy, and science of the study of time-from the pre-Socratic philosophers through Einstein and beyond. A Brief History of the Philosophy of Time covers subjects such as time and change, the experience of time, physical and metaphysical approaches to the nature of time, the direction of time, time travel, time and freedom of the will, and scientific and philosophical approaches to eternity and the beginning of time. Bardon employs helpful illustrations and keeps technical language to a minimum in bringing the resources of over 2500 years of philosophy and science to bear on some of humanity's most fundamental and enduring questions.

Formation of Massive Molecular Cloud Cores by Cloud-cloud Collision

OpenAIRE

Inoue, Tsuyoshi; Fukui, Yasuo

2013-01-01

Recent observations of molecular clouds around rich massive star clusters including NGC3603, Westerlund 2, and M20 revealed that the formation of massive stars could be triggered by a cloud-cloud collision. By using three-dimensional, isothermal, magnetohydrodynamics simulations with the effect of self-gravity, we demonstrate that massive, gravitationally unstable, molecular cloud cores are formed behind the strong shock waves induced by the cloud-cloud collision. We find that the massive mol...

The AMCE (AIST Managed Cloud Environment)

Science.gov (United States)

Cook, S.

2017-12-01

ESTO has developed and implemented the AIST Managed Cloud Environment (AMCE) to offer cloud computing services to SMD-funded PIs to conduct their project research. AIST will provide projects access to a cloud computing framework that incorporates NASA security, technical, and financial standards, on which project can freely store, run, and process data. Currently, many projects led by research groups outside of NASA do not have the awareness of requirements or the resources to implement NASA standards into their research, which limits the likelihood of infusing the work into NASA applications. Offering this environment to PIs allows them to conduct their project research using the many benefits of cloud computing. In addition to the well-known cost and time savings that it allows, it also provides scalability and flexibility. The AMCE facilitates infusion and end user access by ensuring standardization and security. This approach will ultimately benefit ESTO, the science community, and the research, allowing the technology developments to have quicker and broader applications.

The Impact of Aerosols on Cloud and Precipitation Processes: Cloud-Resolving Model Simulations

Science.gov (United States)

Tao, Wei-Kuo; Li, Xiaowen; Khain, Alexander; Matsui, Toshihisa; Lang, Stephen; Simpson, Joanne

2008-01-01

Aerosols and especially their effect on clouds are one of the key components of the climate system and the hydrological cycle [Ramanathan et al., 2001]. Yet, the aerosol effect on clouds remains largely unknown and the processes involved not well understood. A recent report published by the National Academy of Science states "The greatest uncertainty about the aerosol climate forcing - indeed, the largest of all the uncertainties about global climate forcing - is probably the indirect effect of aerosols on clouds [NRC, 2001]." The aerosol effect on clouds is often categorized into the traditional "first indirect (i.e., Twomey)" effect on the cloud droplet sizes for a constant liquid water path [Twomey, 1977] and the "semi-direct" effect on cloud coverage [e.g., Ackerman et al ., 2001]." Enhanced aerosol concentrations can also suppress warm rain processes by producing a narrow droplet spectrum that inhibits collision and coalescence processes [e.g., Squires and Twomey, 1961; Warner and Twomey, 1967; Warner, 1968; Rosenfeld, 19991. The aerosol effect on precipitation processes, also known as the second type of aerosol indirect effect [Albrecht, 1989], is even more complex, especially for mixed-phase convective clouds. Table 1 summarizes the key observational studies identifying the microphysical properties, cloud characteristics, thermodynamics and dynamics associated with cloud systems from high-aerosol continental environments. For example, atmospheric aerosol concentrations can influence cloud droplet size distributions, warm-rain process, cold-rain process, cloud-top height, the depth of the mixed phase region, and occurrence of lightning. In addition, high aerosol concentrations in urban environments could affect precipitation variability by providing an enhanced source of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). Hypotheses have been developed to explain the effect of urban regions on convection and precipitation [van den Heever and Cotton, 2007 and Shepherd, 2005

The application of cloud computing to scientific workflows: a study of cost and performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Berriman, G Bruce; Deelman, Ewa; Juve, Gideon; Rynge, Mats; Vöckler, Jens-S

2013-01-28

The current model of transferring data from data centres to desktops for analysis will soon be rendered impractical by the accelerating growth in the volume of science datasets. Processing will instead often take place on high-performance servers co-located with data. Evaluations of how new technologies such as cloud computing would support such a new distributed computing model are urgently needed. Cloud computing is a new way of purchasing computing and storage resources on demand through virtualization technologies. We report here the results of investigations of the applicability of commercial cloud computing to scientific computing, with an emphasis on astronomy, including investigations of what types of applications can be run cheaply and efficiently on the cloud, and an example of an application well suited to the cloud: processing a large dataset to create a new science product.

Developing Proper Systems for Successful Cloud Computing Implementation Using Fuzzy ARAS Method (Case Study: University of Tehran Faculty of New Science and Technology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jalil Heidaryd Dahooie

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Given the increasing requirements of communication and the need for advanced network-based technologies, cloud computing has been suggested as a perfect strategy to achieve these objectives. Yet, despite the development of computing applications and the increased number of alternatives, it is quite a difficult task to select the exact software platform for the implementation of cloud computing arrangements. In this line, the present paper aimed to develop a scientific framework as how to select the proper software for successful cloud computing implantation at the infrastructure level. First through a review on the related literature and using experts’ opinions, the software selection criteria were extracted. Based on the framework proposed here, the interval-valued fuzzy ARAS method was then employed for weighting and prioritizing specified alternatives. This model was applied by the Faculty of New Sciences and Technologies of Tehran University in order to select proper software platforms from among five alternatives. The results revealed that the OpenStack cloud operating system has been selected as the best alternative, most probably because this platform demonstrates significant achievement for its merits such as high level of performance, reliability and security, stability, and usability.

Airborne Cloud Computing Environment (ACCE)

Science.gov (United States)

Hardman, Sean; Freeborn, Dana; Crichton, Dan; Law, Emily; Kay-Im, Liz

2011-01-01

Airborne Cloud Computing Environment (ACCE) is JPL's internal investment to improve the return on airborne missions. Improve development performance of the data system. Improve return on the captured science data. The investment is to develop a common science data system capability for airborne instruments that encompasses the end-to-end lifecycle covering planning, provisioning of data system capabilities, and support for scientific analysis in order to improve the quality, cost effectiveness, and capabilities to enable new scientific discovery and research in earth observation.

Top-down and Bottom-up aerosol-cloud-closure: towards understanding sources of unvertainty in deriving cloud radiative flux

Science.gov (United States)

Sanchez, K.; Roberts, G.; Calmer, R.; Nicoll, K.; Hashimshoni, E.; Rosenfeld, D.; Ovadnevaite, J.; Preissler, J.; Ceburnis, D.; O'Dowd, C. D. D.; Russell, L. M.

2017-12-01

Top-down and bottom-up aerosol-cloud shortwave radiative flux closures were conducted at the Mace Head atmospheric research station in Galway, Ireland in August 2015. Instrument platforms include ground-based, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), and satellite measurements of aerosols, clouds and meteorological variables. The ground-based and airborne measurements of aerosol size distributions and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentration were used to initiate a 1D microphysical aerosol-cloud parcel model (ACPM). UAVs were equipped for a specific science mission, with an optical particle counter for aerosol distribution profiles, a cloud sensor to measure cloud extinction, or a 5-hole probe for 3D wind vectors. These are the first UAV measurements at Mace Head. ACPM simulations are compared to in-situ cloud extinction measurements from UAVs to quantify closure in terms of cloud shortwave radiative flux. Two out of seven cases exhibit sub-adiabatic vertical temperature profiles within the cloud, which suggests that entrainment processes affect cloud microphysical properties and lead to an overestimate of simulated cloud shortwave radiative flux. Including an entrainment parameterization and explicitly calculating the entrainment fraction in the ACPM simulations both improved cloud-top radiative closure. Entrainment reduced the difference between simulated and observation-derived cloud-top shortwave radiative flux (δRF) by between 25 W m-2 and 60 W m-2. After accounting for entrainment, satellite-derived cloud droplet number concentrations (CDNC) were within 30% of simulated CDNC. In cases with a well-mixed boundary layer, δRF is no greater than 20 W m-2 after accounting for cloud-top entrainment, and up to 50 W m-2 when entrainment is not taken into account. In cases with a decoupled boundary layer, cloud microphysical properties are inconsistent with ground-based aerosol measurements, as expected, and δRF is as high as 88 W m-2, even high (> 30 W m-2) after

Relationship between cloud radiative forcing, cloud fraction and cloud albedo, and new surface-based approach for determining cloud albedo

OpenAIRE

Y. Liu; W. Wu; M. P. Jensen; T. Toto

2011-01-01

This paper focuses on three interconnected topics: (1) quantitative relationship between surface shortwave cloud radiative forcing, cloud fraction, and cloud albedo; (2) surfaced-based approach for measuring cloud albedo; (3) multiscale (diurnal, annual and inter-annual) variations and covariations of surface shortwave cloud radiative forcing, cloud fraction, and cloud albedo. An analytical expression is first derived to quantify the relationship between cloud radiative forcing, cloud fractio...

Health Information System in a Cloud Computing Context.

Science.gov (United States)

Sadoughi, Farahnaz; Erfannia, Leila

2017-01-01

Healthcare as a worldwide industry is experiencing a period of growth based on health information technology. The capabilities of cloud systems make it as an option to develop eHealth goals. The main objectives of the present study was to evaluate the advantages and limitations of health information systems implementation in a cloud-computing context that was conducted as a systematic review in 2016. Science direct, Scopus, Web of science, IEEE, PubMed and Google scholar were searched according study criteria. Among 308 articles initially found, 21 articles were entered in the final analysis. All the studies had considered cloud computing as a positive tool to help advance health technology, but none had insisted too much on its limitations and threats. Electronic health record systems have been mostly studied in the fields of implementation, designing, and presentation of models and prototypes. According to this research, the main advantages of cloud-based health information systems could be categorized into the following groups: economic benefits and advantages of information management. The main limitations of the implementation of cloud-based health information systems could be categorized into the 4 groups of security, legal, technical, and human restrictions. Compared to earlier studies, the present research had the advantage of dealing with the issue of health information systems in a cloud platform. The high frequency of studies conducted on the implementation of cloud-based health information systems revealed health industry interest in the application of this technology. Security was a subject discussed in most studies due to health information sensitivity. In this investigation, some mechanisms and solutions were discussed concerning the mentioned systems, which would provide a suitable area for future scientific research on this issue. The limitations and solutions discussed in this systematic study would help healthcare managers and decision

SURVEY ON CLOUD SECURITY BY DATA ENCRYPTION USING ELLIPTIC CURVE CRYPTOGRAPHY

OpenAIRE

Akanksha Tomar*, Jamwant Kumbhre

2016-01-01

Cloud computing is one of the latest technology trend of the IT trade for business area. Cloud computing security converged into a demanding topic in the sector of information technology and computer science research programs. Cloud Computing is a conceptual service based technology which is used by many companies widely these days. Elliptical Curve Cryptography based algorithm provides a highly secure communication, data integrity and authentication, along with the non-repudiation communicat...

Effects of high altitude clouds on the earth's infrared radiation flux

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, W.-C.; Kaplan, L. D.

1983-01-01

Attention is given to the results of a study of cirrus cloud properties which employed the Goddard Laboratory for Atmospheric Sciences' general circulation model and concentrated on the effects of the nonblackness of high clouds on the IR radiation flux. Although the thermal radiation flux is very sensitive to the treatment of cirrus optical properties in the IR, a more realistic assessment will depend on better parameterizations for cirrus cloud formation, persistence, and dissipation.

Bioethics: A brief review

OpenAIRE

Mandal, Jharna; Ponnambath, Dinoop Korol; Parija, Subhash Chandra

2017-01-01

Medical and life sciences research is a key driver in development, which leads to better quality of life. These pursuits can lead to discrimination, human rights violation, and injustice. The field of bioethics explores the ethical issues arising due to these advances in research and encompasses social, judicial, and environmental aspects affecting human beings. This brief review discusses the origin of bioethics, its principles, various international organizations, and their network involved...

THE USAGE OF CLOUD SERVICES IN THE PROCESS OF PROFESSIONAL TRAINING OF PROGRAMMERS AT HIGHER EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Spirin O.

2017-12-01

Full Text Available In the article the state of the art and the main tendencies of cloud computing development are analyzed. The importance of cloud technologies application in education is grounded. The directions of their appliance are examined in higher education, in particular as for the creation of the cloud-oriented learning scientific environment at educational institutions. The advantages of transfer of IT-infrastructure of higher educational institutions into the cloud form are shown (the economy of funds for purchase of software and renovation of computer database; the reduction of the need for specially equipped premises; the creation of an open educational environment. The main directions of the research study of cloud technologies application in the process of professional training of programmers are characterized, among them there are: 1 formation of skills of the cloud services use for the professional tasks solving; 2 formation of skills of the development of cloud applications, deployment of cloud infrastructure, cloud applications and data bases security support. The description of cloud services that can be used in the process of programming learning and usage of training projects (Ideone, Codenvy, DbDesigner are provided. The brief description of the possibilities of the Amazon platform usage for formation of cloud software development skills is provided.

The Research of Dr. Joanne Simpson: Fifty Years Investigating Hurricanes, Tropical Clouds and Cloud Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Tao, W. -K.; Halverson, J.; Adler, R.; Garstang, M.; Houze, R., Jr.; LeMone, M.; Pielke, R., Sr.; Woodley, W.; O'C.Starr, David (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

This AMS Meteorological Monographs is dedicated to Dr. Joanne Simpson for her many pioneering research efforts in tropical meteorology during her fifty-year career. Dr. Simpson's major areas of scientific research involved the "hot tower" hypothesis and its role in hurricanes, structure and maintenance of trade winds, air-sea interaction, and observations and the mechanism for hurricanes and waterspouts. She was also a pioneer in cloud modeling with the first one-dimensional model and had the first cumulus model on a computer. She also played a major role in planning and leading observational experiments on convective cloud systems. The launch of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite, a joint U.S.-Japan project, in November of 1997 made it possible for quantitative measurements of tropical rainfall to be obtained on a continuous basis over the entire global tropics. Dr. Simpson was the TRAM Project Scientist from 1986 until its launch in 1997. Her efforts during this crucial period ensured that the mission was both well planned scientifically and well engineered as well as within budget. In this paper, Dr. J. Simpson's nine specific accomplishments during her fifty-year career: (1) hot tower hypothesis, (2) hurricanes, (3) airflow and clouds over heated islands, (4) cloud models, (5) trade winds and their role in cumulus development, (6) air-sea interaction, (7) cloud-cloud interactions and mergers, (8) waterspouts, and (9) TRMM science, will be described and discussed.

MBI FRAMEWORK EXTENSION TOWARDS CLOUD SERVICE IMPROVEMENT FROM CONSUMER PERSPECTIVE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Soňa Karkošková

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Cloud computing is changing the way that organizations utilize IT resources with a corresponding impact on the role of IT management. To help organizations with managing their business informatics, Management of Business Informatics (MBI framework has been developed. The problem was that this framework did not explicitly reflect managing cloud services from cloud service consumer perspective and specifically did not address managing of cloud service improvement from consumer perspective. Therefore, analysis of MBI framework was performed from cloud service consumer viewpoint to design extension of MBI framework towards cloud service improvement management. Proposal of MBI framework extension in an output of research process according to Design Science Research Methodology and its evaluation approach is based on methodology for the design and implementation of case studies for scientific purposes and on descriptive evaluation method using scenario.

Carbon chemistry in dense molecular clouds: Theory and observational constraints

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blake, G.A.

1990-01-01

For the most part, gas phase models of the chemistry of dense molecular clouds predict the abundances of simple species rather well. However, for larger molecules and even for small systems rich in carbon these models often fail spectacularly. Researchers present a brief review of the basic assumptions and results of large scale modeling of the carbon chemistry in dense molecular clouds. Particular attention is to the influence of the gas phase C/O ratio in molecular clouds, and the likely role grains play in maintaining this ratio as clouds evolve from initially diffuse objects to denser cores with associated stellar and planetary formation. Recent spectral line surveys at centimeter and millimeter wavelengths along with selected observations in the submillimeter have now produced an accurate inventory of the gas phase carbon budget in several different types of molecular clouds, though gaps in our knowledge clearly remain. The constraints these observations place on theoretical models of interstellar chemistry can be used to gain insights into why the models fail, and show also which neglected processes must be included in more complete analyses. Looking toward the future, larger molecules are especially difficult to study both experimentally and theoretically in such dense, cold regions, and some new methods are therefore outlined which may ultimately push the detectability of small carbon chains and rings to much heavier species

SnowCloud - a Framework to Predict Streamflow in Snowmelt-dominated Watersheds Using Cloud-based Computing

Science.gov (United States)

Sproles, E. A.; Crumley, R. L.; Nolin, A. W.; Mar, E.; Lopez-Moreno, J. J.

2017-12-01

Streamflow in snowy mountain regions is extraordinarily challenging to forecast, and prediction efforts are hampered by the lack of timely snow data—particularly in data sparse regions. SnowCloud is a prototype web-based framework that integrates remote sensing, cloud computing, interactive mapping tools, and a hydrologic model to offer a new paradigm for delivering key data to water resource managers. We tested the skill of SnowCloud to forecast monthly streamflow with one month lead time in three snow-dominated headwaters. These watersheds represent a range of precipitation/runoff schemes: the Río Elqui in northern Chile (200 mm/yr, entirely snowmelt); the John Day River, Oregon, USA (635 mm/yr, primarily snowmelt); and the Río Aragon in the northern Spain (850 mm/yr, snowmelt dominated). Model skill corresponded to snowpack contribution with Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiencies of 0.86, 0.52, and 0.21 respectively. SnowCloud does not require the user to possess advanced programming skills or proprietary software. We access NASA's MOD10A1 snow cover product to calculate the snow metrics globally using Google Earth Engine's geospatial analysis and cloud computing service. The analytics and forecast tools are provided through a web-based portal that requires only internet access and minimal training. To test the efficacy of SnowCloud we provided the tools and a series of tutorials in English and Spanish to water resource managers in Chile, Spain, and the United States. Participants assessed their user experience and provided feedback, and the results of our multi-cultural assessment are also presented. While our results focus on SnowCloud, they outline methods to develop cloud-based tools that function effectively across cultures and languages. Our approach also addresses the primary challenges of science-based computing; human resource limitations, infrastructure costs, and expensive proprietary software. These challenges are particularly problematic in developing

Depolarization Ratio Profiles Calibration and Observations of Aerosol and Cloud in the Tibetan Plateau Based on Polarization Raman Lidar

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guangyao Dai

2018-03-01

Full Text Available A brief description of the Water vapor, Cloud and Aerosol Lidar (WACAL system is provided. To calibrate the volume linear depolarization ratio, the concept of “ Δ 90 ° -calibration” is applied in this study. This effective and accurate calibration method is adjusted according to the design of WACAL. Error calculations and analysis of the gain ratio, calibrated volume linear depolarization ratio and particle linear depolarization ratio are provided as well. In this method, the influences of the gain ratio, the rotation angle of the plane of polarization and the polarizing beam splitter are discussed in depth. Two groups of measurements with half wave plate (HWP at angles of (0 ° , 45 ° and (22.5 ° , −22.5 ° are operated to calibrate the volume linear depolarization ratio. Then, the particle linear depolarization ratios measured by WACAL and CALIOP (the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization during the simultaneous observations were compared. Good agreements are found. The calibration method was applied in the third Tibetan Plateau Experiment of Atmospheric Sciences (TIPEX III in 2013 and 2014 in China. Vertical profiles of the particle depolarization ratio of clouds and aerosol in the Tibetan Plateau were measured with WACAL in Litang (30.03° N, 100.28° E, 3949 m above sea level (a.s.l. in 2013 and Naqu (31.48° N, 92.06° E, 4508 m a.s.l. in 2014. Then an analysis on the polarizing properties of the aerosol, clouds and cirrus over the Tibetan Plateau is provided. The particle depolarization ratio of cirrus clouds varies from 0.36 to 0.52, with a mean value of 0.44 ± 0.04. Cirrus clouds occurred between 5.2 and 12 km above ground level (a.g.l.. The cloud thickness ranges from 0.12 to 2.55 km with a mean thickness of 1.22 ± 0.70 km. It is found that the particle depolarization ratio of cirrus clouds become larger as the height increases. However, the increase rate of the particle depolarization ratio becomes smaller as

Jupiter's Multi-level Clouds

Science.gov (United States)

1997-01-01

, while yellowish regions at temperate latitudes may indicate tropospheric clouds with small particles which also allow leakage. A mix of high and low-altitude aerosols causes the aqua appearance of the Great Red Spot and equatorial region.The Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the Galileo mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC.This image and other images and data received from Galileo are posted on the World Wide Web Galileo mission home page at http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov.

Scientific Services on the Cloud

Science.gov (United States)

Chapman, David; Joshi, Karuna P.; Yesha, Yelena; Halem, Milt; Yesha, Yaacov; Nguyen, Phuong

Scientific Computing was one of the first every applications for parallel and distributed computation. To this date, scientific applications remain some of the most compute intensive, and have inspired creation of petaflop compute infrastructure such as the Oak Ridge Jaguar and Los Alamos RoadRunner. Large dedicated hardware infrastructure has become both a blessing and a curse to the scientific community. Scientists are interested in cloud computing for much the same reason as businesses and other professionals. The hardware is provided, maintained, and administrated by a third party. Software abstraction and virtualization provide reliability, and fault tolerance. Graduated fees allow for multi-scale prototyping and execution. Cloud computing resources are only a few clicks away, and by far the easiest high performance distributed platform to gain access to. There may still be dedicated infrastructure for ultra-scale science, but the cloud can easily play a major part of the scientific computing initiative.

1. A brief history of nuclear medicine

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dienstbier, Z.

1989-01-01

The milestones of history of nuclear medicine are dealt with. A brief account is given of the history of nuclear medicine abroad, and a more in-depth treatment is devoted to Czechoslovakia, where the beginning of this branch of science dates to 1951. (Z.S.)

CloudFlame: Cyberinfrastructure for combustion research

KAUST Repository

Goteng, Gokop

2013-12-01

Combustion experiments and chemical kinetics simulations generate huge data that is computationally and data intensive. A cloud-based cyber infrastructure known as Cloud Flame is implemented to improve the computational efficiency, scalability and availability of data for combustion research. The architecture consists of an application layer, a communication layer and distributed cloud servers running in a mix environment of Windows, Macintosh and Linux systems. The application layer runs software such as CHEMKIN modeling application. The communication layer provides secure transfer/archive of kinetic, thermodynamic, transport and gas surface data using private/public keys between clients and cloud servers. A robust XML schema based on the Process Informatics Model (Prime) combined with a workflow methodology for digitizing, verifying and uploading data from scientific graphs/tables to Prime is implemented for chemical molecular structures of compounds. The outcome of using this system by combustion researchers at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Clean Combustion Research Center and its collaborating partners indicated a significant improvement in efficiency in terms of speed of chemical kinetics and accuracy in searching for the right chemical kinetic data.

Multi-Spectral Cloud Retrievals from Moderate Image Spectrometer (MODIS)

Science.gov (United States)

Platnick, Steven

2004-01-01

MODIS observations from the NASA EOS Terra spacecraft (1030 local time equatorial sun-synchronous crossing) launched in December 1999 have provided a unique set of Earth observation data. With the launch of the NASA EOS Aqua spacecraft (1330 local time crossing! in May 2002: two MODIS daytime (sunlit) and nighttime observations are now available in a 24-hour period allowing some measure of diurnal variability. A comprehensive set of remote sensing algorithms for cloud masking and the retrieval of cloud physical and optical properties has been developed by members of the MODIS atmosphere science team. The archived products from these algorithms have applications in climate modeling, climate change studies, numerical weather prediction, as well as fundamental atmospheric research. In addition to an extensive cloud mask, products include cloud-top properties (temperature, pressure, effective emissivity), cloud thermodynamic phase, cloud optical and microphysical parameters (optical thickness, effective particle radius, water path), as well as derived statistics. An overview of the instrument and cloud algorithms will be presented along with various examples, including an initial analysis of several operational global gridded (Level-3) cloud products from the two platforms. Statistics of cloud optical and microphysical properties as a function of latitude for land and Ocean regions will be shown. Current algorithm research efforts will also be discussed.

Broken-cloud enhancement of solar radiation absorption

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Byrne, R.N. [Science Applications International Corporation, San Diego, CA (United States); Somerville, R.C. [Univ. of California, La Jolla, CA (United States); Subasilar, B. [Curtain Univ. of Technology, Perth (Australia)

1996-04-01

Two papers recently published in Science have shown that there is more absorption of solar radiation than estimated by current atmospheric general circulation models (GCMs) and that the discrepancy is associated with cloudy scenes. We have devised a simple model which explains this as an artifact of stochastic radiative transport. We first give a heuristic description, unencumbered by mathematical detail. Consider a simple case with clouds distributed at random within a single level whose upper and lower boundaries are fixed. The solar zenith angle is small to moderate; this is therefore an energetically important case. Fix the average areal liquid water content of the cloud layer, and take the statistics of the cloud distribution to be homogeneous within the layer. Furthermore, assume that all the clouds in the layer have the same liquid water content, constant throughout the cloud, and that apart from their droplet content they are identical to the surrounding clear sky. Let the clouds occupy on the average a fraction p{sub cld} of the volume of the cloudy layer, and let them have a prescribed distribution of sizes about some mean. This is not a fractal distribution, because it has a scale. Cloud shape is unimportant so long as cloud aspect ratios are not far from unity. Take the single-scattering albedo to be unity for the droplets in the clouds. All of the absorption is due to atmospheric gases, so the absorption coefficient at a point is the same for cloud and clear sky. Absorption by droplets is less than 10% effect in the numerical stochastic radiation calculations described below, so it is reasonable to neglect it at this level of idealization.

Enabling the transition towards Earth Observation Science 2.0

Science.gov (United States)

Mathieu, Pierre-Philippe; Desnos, Yves-Louis

2015-04-01

Science 2.0 refers to the rapid and systematic changes in doing Research and organising Science driven by the rapid advances in ICT and digital technologies combined with a growing demand to do Science for Society (actionable research) and in Society (co-design of knowledge). Nowadays, teams of researchers around the world can easily access a wide range of open data across disciplines and remotely process them on the Cloud, combining them with their own data to generate knowledge, develop information products for societal applications, and tackle complex integrative complex problems that could not be addressed a few years ago. Such rapid exchange of digital data is fostering a new world of data-intensive research, characterized by openness, transparency, and scrutiny and traceability of results, access to large volume of complex data, availability of community open tools, unprecedented level of computing power, and new collaboration among researchers and new actors such as citizen scientists. The EO scientific community is now facing the challenge of responding to this new paradigm in science 2.0 in order to make the most of the large volume of complex and diverse data delivered by the new generation of EO missions, and in particular the Sentinels. In this context, ESA - in particular within the framework of the Scientific Exploitation of Operational Missions (SEOM) element - is supporting a variety of activities in partnership with research communities to ease the transition and make the most of the data. These include the generation of new open tools and exploitation platforms, exploring new ways to exploit data on cloud-based platforms, dissiminate data, building new partnership with citizen scientists, and training the new generation of data scientists. The paper will give a brief overview of some of ESA activities aiming to facilitate the exploitation of large amount of data from EO missions in a collaborative, cross-disciplinary, and open way, from science to

Magnetic seismology of interstellar gas clouds: Unveiling a hidden dimension.

Science.gov (United States)

Tritsis, Aris; Tassis, Konstantinos

2018-05-11

Stars and planets are formed inside dense interstellar molecular clouds by processes imprinted on the three-dimensional (3D) morphology of the clouds. Determining the 3D structure of interstellar clouds remains challenging because of projection effects and difficulties measuring the extent of the clouds along the line of sight. We report the detection of normal vibrational modes in the isolated interstellar cloud Musca, allowing determination of the 3D physical dimensions of the cloud. We found that Musca is vibrating globally, with the characteristic modes of a sheet viewed edge on, not the characteristics of a filament as previously supposed. We reconstructed the physical properties of Musca through 3D magnetohydrodynamic simulations, reproducing the observed normal modes and confirming a sheetlike morphology. Copyright © 2018 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.

Cloud-Top Entrainment in Stratocumulus Clouds

Science.gov (United States)

Mellado, Juan Pedro

2017-01-01

Cloud entrainment, the mixing between cloudy and clear air at the boundary of clouds, constitutes one paradigm for the relevance of small scales in the Earth system: By regulating cloud lifetimes, meter- and submeter-scale processes at cloud boundaries can influence planetary-scale properties. Understanding cloud entrainment is difficult given the complexity and diversity of the associated phenomena, which include turbulence entrainment within a stratified medium, convective instabilities driven by radiative and evaporative cooling, shear instabilities, and cloud microphysics. Obtaining accurate data at the required small scales is also challenging, for both simulations and measurements. During the past few decades, however, high-resolution simulations and measurements have greatly advanced our understanding of the main mechanisms controlling cloud entrainment. This article reviews some of these advances, focusing on stratocumulus clouds, and indicates remaining challenges.

Cloud type comparisons of AIRS, CloudSat, and CALIPSO cloud height and amount

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

B. H. Kahn

2008-03-01

Full Text Available The precision of the two-layer cloud height fields derived from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS is explored and quantified for a five-day set of observations. Coincident profiles of vertical cloud structure by CloudSat, a 94 GHz profiling radar, and the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO, are compared to AIRS for a wide range of cloud types. Bias and variability in cloud height differences are shown to have dependence on cloud type, height, and amount, as well as whether CloudSat or CALIPSO is used as the comparison standard. The CloudSat-AIRS biases and variability range from −4.3 to 0.5±1.2–3.6 km for all cloud types. Likewise, the CALIPSO-AIRS biases range from 0.6–3.0±1.2–3.6 km (−5.8 to −0.2±0.5–2.7 km for clouds ≥7 km (<7 km. The upper layer of AIRS has the greatest sensitivity to Altocumulus, Altostratus, Cirrus, Cumulonimbus, and Nimbostratus, whereas the lower layer has the greatest sensitivity to Cumulus and Stratocumulus. Although the bias and variability generally decrease with increasing cloud amount, the ability of AIRS to constrain cloud occurrence, height, and amount is demonstrated across all cloud types for many geophysical conditions. In particular, skill is demonstrated for thin Cirrus, as well as some Cumulus and Stratocumulus, cloud types infrared sounders typically struggle to quantify. Furthermore, some improvements in the AIRS Version 5 operational retrieval algorithm are demonstrated. However, limitations in AIRS cloud retrievals are also revealed, including the existence of spurious Cirrus near the tropopause and low cloud layers within Cumulonimbus and Nimbostratus clouds. Likely causes of spurious clouds are identified and the potential for further improvement is discussed.

Cloud Physics Lidar Measurements During the SAFARI-2000 Field Campaign

Science.gov (United States)

McGill, Matthew; Hlavka, Dennis; Hart, William; Spinhirne, James; Scott, Stan; Starr, David OC. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

A new remote sensing instrument, the Cloud Physics Lidar (CPL) has been built for use on the ER-2 aircraft. The first deployment for CPL was the SAFARI-2000 field campaign during August-September 2000. The CPL is a three-wavelength lidar designed for studies of cirrus, subvisual cirrus, and boundary layer aerosols. The CPL utilizes a high repetition rate, low pulse energy laser with photon counting detectors. A brief description of the CPL instrument will be given, followed by examples of CPL data products. In particular, examples of aerosol backscatter, including boundary layer smoke and cirrus clouds will be shown. Resulting optical depth estimates derived from the aerosol measurements will be shown. Comparisons of the CPL optical depth and optical depth derived from microPulse Lidar and the AATS-14 sunphotomer will be shown.

A comparison of shock-cloud and wind-cloud interactions: effect of increased cloud density contrast on cloud evolution

Science.gov (United States)

Goldsmith, K. J. A.; Pittard, J. M.

2018-05-01

The similarities, or otherwise, of a shock or wind interacting with a cloud of density contrast χ = 10 were explored in a previous paper. Here, we investigate such interactions with clouds of higher density contrast. We compare the adiabatic hydrodynamic interaction of a Mach 10 shock with a spherical cloud of χ = 103 with that of a cloud embedded in a wind with identical parameters to the post-shock flow. We find that initially there are only minor morphological differences between the shock-cloud and wind-cloud interactions, compared to when χ = 10. However, once the transmitted shock exits the cloud, the development of a turbulent wake and fragmentation of the cloud differs between the two simulations. On increasing the wind Mach number, we note the development of a thin, smooth tail of cloud material, which is then disrupted by the fragmentation of the cloud core and subsequent `mass-loading' of the flow. We find that the normalized cloud mixing time (tmix) is shorter at higher χ. However, a strong Mach number dependence on tmix and the normalized cloud drag time, t_{drag}^' }, is not observed. Mach-number-dependent values of tmix and t_{drag}^' } from comparable shock-cloud interactions converge towards the Mach-number-independent time-scales of the wind-cloud simulations. We find that high χ clouds can be accelerated up to 80-90 per cent of the wind velocity and travel large distances before being significantly mixed. However, complete mixing is not achieved in our simulations and at late times the flow remains perturbed.

CLOUD TECHNOLOGIES IN MANAGEMENT AND EDUCATIONAL PROCESS OF UKRAINIAN TECHNICAL UNIVERSITIES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yu. Tryus

2014-06-01

Full Text Available This study analyzes opportunities for using cloud technologies in higher education in Ukraine. On the basis of principles of the system approach, it examines the main task of cloud technologies, strategic and tactical goals of cloud computing at the technical universities, as well as problems that arise in their implementation in the educational process. The paper discusses the main trends in the use of cloud technologies in higher technical education, analyzes cloud services used by leading technical universities in Ukraine in management and learning. The typical structure of a Technical University is considered with public, private, and hybrid clouds. The experience of Cherkasy State Technological University in the use of cloud technologies at management and learning is presented. Considerations are particularly given to distance support, mobile, and blending learning, virtualization mechanism to support the students learning at natural, mathematical sciences and engineering through the utilization of individual desktops.

Cloud Computing, Tieto Cloud Server Model

OpenAIRE

Suikkanen, Saara

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study is to find out what is cloud computing. To be able to make wise decisions when moving to cloud or considering it, companies need to understand what cloud is consists of. Which model suits best to they company, what should be taken into account before moving to cloud, what is the cloud broker role and also SWOT analysis of cloud? To be able to answer customer requirements and business demands, IT companies should develop and produce new service models. IT house T...

Building Trust and Confidentiality in Cloud computing Distributed ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

2013-03-01

Mar 1, 2013 ... Department of Computer Science, University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State ... considering the security and privacy of the information stored and processed within the cloud. .... protection (perhaps access control), through to.

Web-scale data management for the cloud

CERN Document Server

Lehner, Wolfgang

2013-01-01

The efficient management of a consistent and integrated database is a central task in modern IT and highly relevant for science and industry. Hardly any critical enterprise solution comes without any functionality for managing data in its different forms. Web-Scale Data Management for the Cloud addresses fundamental challenges posed by the need and desire to provide database functionality in the context of the Database as a Service (DBaaS) paradigm for database outsourcing. This book also discusses the motivation of the new paradigm of cloud computing, and its impact to data outsourcing and se

Science and Innovation at Los Alamos

Science.gov (United States)

Alamos National Laboratory Delivering science and technology to protect our nation and promote world stability Science & Innovation Collaboration Careers Community Environment Science & Innovation Facilities Science Pillars Research Library Science Briefs Science News Science Highlights Lab Organizations

A survey on User’s security in cloud

OpenAIRE

Indal Singh; Rajesh Rai

2014-01-01

Cloud computing is a new wave in the field of information technology. Some see it as an emerging field in computer science. It consists of a set of resources and services offered through the Internet. Hence, “cloud computing” is also called “Internet computing.” The word “cloud” is a metaphor for describing the Web as a space where computing has been preinstalled and exists as a service. Operating systems, applications, storage, data, and processing capacity all exist on the W...

Bio and health informatics meets cloud : BioVLab as an example.

Science.gov (United States)

Chae, Heejoon; Jung, Inuk; Lee, Hyungro; Marru, Suresh; Lee, Seong-Whan; Kim, Sun

2013-01-01

The exponential increase of genomic data brought by the advent of the next or the third generation sequencing (NGS) technologies and the dramatic drop in sequencing cost have driven biological and medical sciences to data-driven sciences. This revolutionary paradigm shift comes with challenges in terms of data transfer, storage, computation, and analysis of big bio/medical data. Cloud computing is a service model sharing a pool of configurable resources, which is a suitable workbench to address these challenges. From the medical or biological perspective, providing computing power and storage is the most attractive feature of cloud computing in handling the ever increasing biological data. As data increases in size, many research organizations start to experience the lack of computing power, which becomes a major hurdle in achieving research goals. In this paper, we review the features of publically available bio and health cloud systems in terms of graphical user interface, external data integration, security and extensibility of features. We then discuss about issues and limitations of current cloud systems and conclude with suggestion of a biological cloud environment concept, which can be defined as a total workbench environment assembling computational tools and databases for analyzing bio/medical big data in particular application domains.

Use of the ARM Measurements of Spectral Zenith Radiance for Better Understanding of 3D Cloud-Radiation Processes & Aerosol-Cloud Interaction

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Alexander Marshak; Warren Wiscombe; Yuri Knyazikhin; Christine Chiu

2011-05-24

We proposed a variety of tasks centered on the following question: what can we learn about 3D cloud-radiation processes and aerosol-cloud interaction from rapid-sampling ARM measurements of spectral zenith radiance? These ARM measurements offer spectacular new and largely unexploited capabilities in both the temporal and spectral domains. Unlike most other ARM instruments, which average over many seconds or take samples many seconds apart, the new spectral zenith radiance measurements are fast enough to resolve natural time scales of cloud change and cloud boundaries as well as the transition zone between cloudy and clear areas. In the case of the shortwave spectrometer, the measurements offer high time resolution and high spectral resolution, allowing new discovery-oriented science which we intend to pursue vigorously. Research objectives are, for convenience, grouped under three themes: • Understand radiative signature of the transition zone between cloud-free and cloudy areas using data from ARM shortwave radiometers, which has major climatic consequences in both aerosol direct and indirect effect studies. • Provide cloud property retrievals from the ARM sites and the ARM Mobile Facility for studies of aerosol-cloud interactions. • Assess impact of 3D cloud structures on aerosol properties using passive and active remote sensing techniques from both ARM and satellite measurements.

+Cloud: An Agent-Based Cloud Computing Platform

OpenAIRE

González, Roberto; Hernández de la Iglesia, Daniel; de la Prieta Pintado, Fernando; Gil González, Ana Belén

2017-01-01

Cloud computing is revolutionizing the services provided through the Internet, and is continually adapting itself in order to maintain the quality of its services. This study presents the platform +Cloud, which proposes a cloud environment for storing information and files by following the cloud paradigm. This study also presents Warehouse 3.0, a cloud-based application that has been developed to validate the services provided by +Cloud.

Efficient operating system level virtualization techniques for cloud resources

Science.gov (United States)

Ansu, R.; Samiksha; Anju, S.; Singh, K. John

2017-11-01

Cloud computing is an advancing technology which provides the servcies of Infrastructure, Platform and Software. Virtualization and Computer utility are the keys of Cloud computing. The numbers of cloud users are increasing day by day. So it is the need of the hour to make resources available on demand to satisfy user requirements. The technique in which resources namely storage, processing power, memory and network or I/O are abstracted is known as Virtualization. For executing the operating systems various virtualization techniques are available. They are: Full System Virtualization and Para Virtualization. In Full Virtualization, the whole architecture of hardware is duplicated virtually. No modifications are required in Guest OS as the OS deals with the VM hypervisor directly. In Para Virtualization, modifications of OS is required to run in parallel with other OS. For the Guest OS to access the hardware, the host OS must provide a Virtual Machine Interface. OS virtualization has many advantages such as migrating applications transparently, consolidation of server, online maintenance of OS and providing security. This paper briefs both the virtualization techniques and discusses the issues in OS level virtualization.

Top-down and bottom-up aerosol-cloud closure: towards understanding sources of uncertainty in deriving cloud shortwave radiative flux

Science.gov (United States)

Sanchez, Kevin J.; Roberts, Gregory C.; Calmer, Radiance; Nicoll, Keri; Hashimshoni, Eyal; Rosenfeld, Daniel; Ovadnevaite, Jurgita; Preissler, Jana; Ceburnis, Darius; O'Dowd, Colin; Russell, Lynn M.

2017-08-01

Top-down and bottom-up aerosol-cloud shortwave radiative flux closures were conducted at the Mace Head Atmospheric Research Station in Galway, Ireland, in August 2015. This study is part of the BACCHUS (Impact of Biogenic versus Anthropogenic emissions on Clouds and Climate: towards a Holistic UnderStanding) European collaborative project, with the goal of understanding key processes affecting aerosol-cloud shortwave radiative flux closures to improve future climate predictions and develop sustainable policies for Europe. Instrument platforms include ground-based unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)1 and satellite measurements of aerosols, clouds and meteorological variables. The ground-based and airborne measurements of aerosol size distributions and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentration were used to initiate a 1-D microphysical aerosol-cloud parcel model (ACPM). UAVs were equipped for a specific science mission, with an optical particle counter for aerosol distribution profiles, a cloud sensor to measure cloud extinction or a five-hole probe for 3-D wind vectors. UAV cloud measurements are rare and have only become possible in recent years through the miniaturization of instrumentation. These are the first UAV measurements at Mace Head. ACPM simulations are compared to in situ cloud extinction measurements from UAVs to quantify closure in terms of cloud shortwave radiative flux. Two out of seven cases exhibit sub-adiabatic vertical temperature profiles within the cloud, which suggests that entrainment processes affect cloud microphysical properties and lead to an overestimate of simulated cloud shortwave radiative flux. Including an entrainment parameterization and explicitly calculating the entrainment fraction in the ACPM simulations both improved cloud-top radiative closure. Entrainment reduced the difference between simulated and observation-derived cloud-top shortwave radiative flux (δRF) by between 25 and 60 W m-2. After accounting for entrainment

The Application of the Technology of 3D Satellite Cloud Imaging in Virtual Reality Simulation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiao-fang Xie

2007-05-01

Full Text Available Using satellite cloud images to simulate clouds is one of the new visual simulation technologies in Virtual Reality (VR. Taking the original data of satellite cloud images as the source, this paper depicts specifically the technology of 3D satellite cloud imaging through the transforming of coordinates and projection, creating a DEM (Digital Elevation Model of cloud imaging and 3D simulation. A Mercator projection was introduced to create a cloud image DEM, while solutions for geodetic problems were introduced to calculate distances, and the outer-trajectory science of rockets was introduced to obtain the elevation of clouds. For demonstration, we report on a computer program to simulate the 3D satellite cloud images.

Space Science Reference Guide, 2nd Edition

Science.gov (United States)

Dotson, Renee (Editor)

2003-01-01

This Edition contains the following reports: GRACE: Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment; Impact Craters in the Solar System; 1997 Apparition of Comet Hale-Bopp Historical Comet Observations; Baby Stars in Orion Solve Solar System Mystery; The Center of the Galaxy; The First Rock in the Solar System; Fun Times with Cosmic Rays; The Gamma-Ray Burst Next Door; The Genesis Mission: An Overview; The Genesis Solar Wind Sample Return Mission; How to Build a Supermassive Black Hole; Journey to the Center of a Neutron Star; Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion; The Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud ; Mapping the Baby Universe; More Hidden Black Hole Dangers; A Polarized Universe; Presolar Grains of Star Dust: Astronomy Studied with Microscopes; Ring Around the Black Hole; Searching Antarctic Ice for Meteorites; The Sun; Astrobiology: The Search for Life in the Universe; Europa and Titan: Oceans in the Outer Solar System?; Rules for Identifying Ancient Life; Inspire ; Remote Sensing; What is the Electromagnetic Spectrum? What is Infrared? How was the Infrared Discovered?; Brief History of Gyroscopes ; Genesis Discovery Mission: Science Canister Processing at JSC; Genesis Solar-Wind Sample Return Mission: The Materials ; ICESat: Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite ICESat: Ice, Cloud, and Land; Elevation Satellite ICESat: Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite ICESat: Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite ICESat: Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite Measuring Temperature Reading; The Optical Telescope ; Space Instruments General Considerations; Damage by Impact: The Case at Meteor Crater, Arizona; Mercury Unveiled; New Data, New Ideas, and Lively Debate about Mercury; Origin of the Earth and Moon; Space Weather: The Invisible Foe; Uranus, Neptune, and the Mountains of the Moon; Dirty Ice on Mars; For a Cup of Water on Mars; Life on Mars?; The Martian Interior; Meteorites from Mars, Rocks from Canada; Organic Compounds in Martian Meteorites May be Terrestrial

Silicon Photonics Cloud (SiCloud)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

DeVore, P. T. S.; Jiang, Y.; Lynch, M.

2015-01-01

Silicon Photonics Cloud (SiCloud.org) is the first silicon photonics interactive web tool. Here we report new features of this tool including mode propagation parameters and mode distribution galleries for user specified waveguide dimensions and wavelengths.......Silicon Photonics Cloud (SiCloud.org) is the first silicon photonics interactive web tool. Here we report new features of this tool including mode propagation parameters and mode distribution galleries for user specified waveguide dimensions and wavelengths....

Cloud-based Jupyter Notebooks for Water Data Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Castronova, A. M.; Brazil, L.; Seul, M.

2017-12-01

The development and adoption of technologies by the water science community to improve our ability to openly collaborate and share workflows will have a transformative impact on how we address the challenges associated with collaborative and reproducible scientific research. Jupyter notebooks offer one solution by providing an open-source platform for creating metadata-rich toolchains for modeling and data analysis applications. Adoption of this technology within the water sciences, coupled with publicly available datasets from agencies such as USGS, NASA, and EPA enables researchers to easily prototype and execute data intensive toolchains. Moreover, implementing this software stack in a cloud-based environment extends its native functionality to provide researchers a mechanism to build and execute toolchains that are too large or computationally demanding for typical desktop computers. Additionally, this cloud-based solution enables scientists to disseminate data processing routines alongside journal publications in an effort to support reproducibility. For example, these data collection and analysis toolchains can be shared, archived, and published using the HydroShare platform or downloaded and executed locally to reproduce scientific analysis. This work presents the design and implementation of a cloud-based Jupyter environment and its application for collecting, aggregating, and munging various datasets in a transparent, sharable, and self-documented manner. The goals of this work are to establish a free and open source platform for domain scientists to (1) conduct data intensive and computationally intensive collaborative research, (2) utilize high performance libraries, models, and routines within a pre-configured cloud environment, and (3) enable dissemination of research products. This presentation will discuss recent efforts towards achieving these goals, and describe the architectural design of the notebook server in an effort to support collaborative

Cloud System Evolution in the Trades—CSET

Science.gov (United States)

Albrecht, B. A.; Zuidema, P.; Bretherton, C. S.; Wood, R.; Ghate, V. P.

2015-12-01

The Cloud System Evolution in the Trades (CSET) study was designed to describe and explain the evolution of the boundary layer aerosol, cloud, and thermodynamic structures along trajectories within the north-Pacific trade-winds. The observational component of this study centered on 7 round-trips made by the NSF NCAR Gulfstream V (GV) between Sacramento, CA and Kona, Hawaii between 1 July and 15 August 2015. The CSET observing strategy used a Lagrangian approach to sample aerosol, cloud, and boundary layer properties upwind from the transition zone over the North Pacific and to resample these areas two days later. GFS forecast trajectories were used to plan the outbound flight to Hawaii and then updated forecast trajectories helped set the return flight plan two days later. Two key elements of the CSET observing system were the newly developed HIAPER Cloud Radar (HCR) and the HIAPER Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL). Together they provided unprecedented characterizations of aerosol, cloud and precipitation structures. A full suite of probes on the aircraft were used for in situ measurements of aerosol, cloud, precipitation, and turbulence properties during the low-level aircraft profiling portions of the flights. A wide range of boundary layer structures and aerosol, cloud, and precipitation conditions were observed during CSET. The cloud systems sampled included solid stratocumulus infused with smoke from Canadian wildfires, mesoscale (100-200 km) cloud-precipitation complexes, and patches of shallow cumuli in environments with accumulation mode aerosol concentrations of less than 50 cm-3. Ultra clean layers (UCLs with accumulation mode concentrations of less than 10 cm-3) were observed frequently near the top of the boundary layer and were often associated with shallow, gray (optically thin) layered clouds—features that are the subject of focused investigations by the CSET science team. The extent of aerosol, cloud, drizzle and boundary layer sampling that was

Cloud Processed CCN Suppress Stratus Cloud Drizzle

Science.gov (United States)

Hudson, J. G.; Noble, S. R., Jr.

2017-12-01

Conversion of sulfur dioxide to sulfate within cloud droplets increases the sizes and decreases the critical supersaturation, Sc, of cloud residual particles that had nucleated the droplets. Since other particles remain at the same sizes and Sc a size and Sc gap is often observed. Hudson et al. (2015) showed higher cloud droplet concentrations (Nc) in stratus clouds associated with bimodal high-resolution CCN spectra from the DRI CCN spectrometer compared to clouds associated with unimodal CCN spectra (not cloud processed). Here we show that CCN spectral shape (bimodal or unimodal) affects all aspects of stratus cloud microphysics and drizzle. Panel A shows mean differential cloud droplet spectra that have been divided according to traditional slopes, k, of the 131 measured CCN spectra in the Marine Stratus/Stratocumulus Experiment (MASE) off the Central California coast. K is generally high within the supersaturation, S, range of stratus clouds (< 0.5%). Because cloud processing decreases Sc of some particles, it reduces k. Panel A shows higher concentrations of small cloud droplets apparently grown on lower k CCN than clouds grown on higher k CCN. At small droplet sizes the concentrations follow the k order of the legend, black, red, green, blue (lowest to highest k). Above 13 µm diameter the lines cross and the hierarchy reverses so that blue (highest k) has the highest concentrations followed by green, red and black (lowest k). This reversed hierarchy continues into the drizzle size range (panel B) where the most drizzle drops, Nd, are in clouds grown on the least cloud-processed CCN (blue), while clouds grown on the most processed CCN (black) have the lowest Nd. Suppression of stratus cloud drizzle by cloud processing is an additional 2nd indirect aerosol effect (IAE) that along with the enhancement of 1st IAE by higher Nc (panel A) are above and beyond original IAE. However, further similar analysis is needed in other cloud regimes to determine if MASE was

Adventures in Private Cloud: Balancing Cost and Capability at the CloudSat Data Processing Center

Science.gov (United States)

Partain, P.; Finley, S.; Fluke, J.; Haynes, J. M.; Cronk, H. Q.; Miller, S. D.

2016-12-01

Since the beginning of the CloudSat Mission in 2006, The CloudSat Data Processing Center (DPC) at the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) has been ingesting data from the satellite and other A-Train sensors, producing data products, and distributing them to researchers around the world. The computing infrastructure was specifically designed to fulfill the requirements as specified at the beginning of what nominally was a two-year mission. The environment consisted of servers dedicated to specific processing tasks in a rigid workflow to generate the required products. To the benefit of science and with credit to the mission engineers, CloudSat has lasted well beyond its planned lifetime and is still collecting data ten years later. Over that period requirements of the data processing system have greatly expanded and opportunities for providing value-added services have presented themselves. But while demands on the system have increased, the initial design allowed for very little expansion in terms of scalability and flexibility. The design did change to include virtual machine processing nodes and distributed workflows but infrastructure management was still a time consuming task when system modification was required to run new tests or implement new processes. To address the scalability, flexibility, and manageability of the system Cloud computing methods and technologies are now being employed. The use of a public cloud like Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud or Google Compute Engine was considered but, among other issues, data transfer and storage cost becomes a problem especially when demand fluctuates as a result of reprocessing and the introduction of new products and services. Instead, the existing system was converted to an on premises private Cloud using the OpenStack computing platform and Ceph software defined storage to reap the benefits of the Cloud computing paradigm. This work details the decisions that were made, the benefits that

Arsia Mons Spiral Cloud

Science.gov (United States)

2002-01-01

One of the benefits of the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) Extended Mission is the opportunity to observe how the planet's weather changes during a second full martian year. This picture of Arsia Mons was taken June 19, 2001; southern spring equinox occurred the same day. Arsia Mons is a volcano nearly large enough to cover the state of New Mexico. On this particular day (the first day of Spring), the MOC wide angle cameras documented an unusual spiral-shaped cloud within the 110 km (68 mi) diameter caldera--the summit crater--of the giant volcano. Because the cloud is bright both in the red and blue images acquired by the wide angle cameras, it probably consisted mostly of fine dust grains. The cloud's spin may have been induced by winds off the inner slopes of the volcano's caldera walls resulting from the temperature differences between the walls and the caldera floor, or by a vortex as winds blew up and over the caldera. Similar spiral clouds were seen inside the caldera for several days; we don't know if this was a single cloud that persisted throughout that time or one that regenerated each afternoon. Sunlight illuminates this scene from the left/upper left.Malin Space Science Systems and the California Institute of Technology built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO.

Processing NASA Earth Science Data on Nebula Cloud

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Aijun; Pham, Long; Kempler, Steven

2012-01-01

Three applications were successfully migrated to Nebula, including S4PM, AIRS L1/L2 algorithms, and Giovanni MAPSS. Nebula has some advantages compared with local machines (e.g. performance, cost, scalability, bundling, etc.). Nebula still faces some challenges (e.g. stability, object storage, networking, etc.). Migrating applications to Nebula is feasible but time consuming. Lessons learned from our Nebula experience will benefit future Cloud Computing efforts at GES DISC.

Laboratory simulations show diabatic heating drives cumulus-cloud evolution and entrainment

Science.gov (United States)

Narasimha, Roddam; Diwan, Sourabh Suhas; Duvvuri, Subrahmanyam; Sreenivas, K. R.; Bhat, G. S.

2011-01-01

Clouds are the largest source of uncertainty in climate science, and remain a weak link in modeling tropical circulation. A major challenge is to establish connections between particulate microphysics and macroscale turbulent dynamics in cumulus clouds. Here we address the issue from the latter standpoint. First we show how to create bench-scale flows that reproduce a variety of cumulus-cloud forms (including two genera and three species), and track complete cloud life cycles—e.g., from a “cauliflower” congestus to a dissipating fractus. The flow model used is a transient plume with volumetric diabatic heating scaled dynamically to simulate latent-heat release from phase changes in clouds. Laser-based diagnostics of steady plumes reveal Riehl–Malkus type protected cores. They also show that, unlike the constancy implied by early self-similar plume models, the diabatic heating raises the Taylor entrainment coefficient just above cloud base, depressing it at higher levels. This behavior is consistent with cloud-dilution rates found in recent numerical simulations of steady deep convection, and with aircraft-based observations of homogeneous mixing in clouds. In-cloud diabatic heating thus emerges as the key driver in cloud development, and could well provide a major link between microphysics and cloud-scale dynamics. PMID:21918112

Cloud vertical profiles derived from CALIPSO and CloudSat and a comparison with MODIS derived clouds

Science.gov (United States)

Kato, S.; Sun-Mack, S.; Miller, W. F.; Rose, F. G.; Minnis, P.; Wielicki, B. A.; Winker, D. M.; Stephens, G. L.; Charlock, T. P.; Collins, W. D.; Loeb, N. G.; Stackhouse, P. W.; Xu, K.

2008-05-01

CALIPSO and CloudSat from the a-train provide detailed information of vertical distribution of clouds and aerosols. The vertical distribution of cloud occurrence is derived from one month of CALIPSO and CloudSat data as a part of the effort of merging CALIPSO, CloudSat and MODIS with CERES data. This newly derived cloud profile is compared with the distribution of cloud top height derived from MODIS on Aqua from cloud algorithms used in the CERES project. The cloud base from MODIS is also estimated using an empirical formula based on the cloud top height and optical thickness, which is used in CERES processes. While MODIS detects mid and low level clouds over the Arctic in April fairly well when they are the topmost cloud layer, it underestimates high- level clouds. In addition, because the CERES-MODIS cloud algorithm is not able to detect multi-layer clouds and the empirical formula significantly underestimates the depth of high clouds, the occurrence of mid and low-level clouds is underestimated. This comparison does not consider sensitivity difference to thin clouds but we will impose an optical thickness threshold to CALIPSO derived clouds for a further comparison. The effect of such differences in the cloud profile to flux computations will also be discussed. In addition, the effect of cloud cover to the top-of-atmosphere flux over the Arctic using CERES SSF and FLASHFLUX products will be discussed.

ARM Cloud Aerosol Precipitation Experiment (ACAPEX) Science Plan

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Leung, L. R. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Prather, K. [Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA (United States); Ralph, R. [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Washington, DC (United States); Rosenfeld, D. [The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel); Spackman, R. [Science and Technology Corporation (STC), Hampton, VA (United States); DeMott, P. [Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States); Fairall, C. [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Washington, DC (United States); Fan, J. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Hagos, S. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Hughes, M. [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Washington, DC (United States); Long, C. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Rutledge, S. [Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States); Waliser, D. [National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Washington, DC (United States); Wang, H. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

2014-09-01

The western U.S. receives precipitation predominantly during the cold season when storms approach from the Pacific Ocean. The snowpack that accumulates during winter storms provides about 70-90% of water supply for the region. Understanding and modeling the fundamental processes that govern the large precipitation variability and extremes in the western U.S. is a critical test for the ability of climate models to predict the regional water cycle, including floods and droughts. Two elements of significant importance in predicting precipitation variability in the western U.S. are atmospheric rivers and aerosols. Atmospheric rivers (ARs) are narrow bands of enhanced water vapor associated with the warm sector of extratropical cyclones over the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Because of the large lower-tropospheric water vapor content, strong atmospheric winds and neutral moist static stability, some ARs can produce heavy precipitation by orographic enhancement during landfall on the U.S. West Coast. While ARs are responsible for a large fraction of heavy precipitation in that region during winter, much of the rest of the orographic precipitation occurs in post-frontal clouds, which are typically quite shallow, with tops just high enough to pass the mountain barrier. Such clouds are inherently quite susceptible to aerosol effects on both warm rain and ice precipitation-forming processes.

A brief philosophical encounter with science and medicine.

Science.gov (United States)

Karbasizadeh, Amir Ehsan

2013-08-01

We show a lot of respect for science today. To back up our claims, we tend to appeal to scientific methods. It seems that we all agree that these methods are effective for gaining the truth. We can ask why science has its special status as a supplier of knowledge about our external world and our bodies. Of course, one should not always trust what scientists say. Nonetheless, epistemological justification of scientific claims is really a big project for philosophers of science. Philosophers of science are interested in knowing how science proves what it does claim and why it gives us good reasons to take these claims seriously. These questions are epistemological questions. Epistemology is a branch of philosophy which deals with knowledge claims and justification. Besides epistemological questions, metaphysical and ethical issues in science are worthy of philosophical scrutiny. This paper gives a short survey of these intellectually demanding issues.

Statistical thermodynamics and the size distributions of tropical convective clouds.

Science.gov (United States)

Garrett, T. J.; Glenn, I. B.; Krueger, S. K.; Ferlay, N.

2017-12-01

Parameterizations for sub-grid cloud dynamics are commonly developed by using fine scale modeling or measurements to explicitly resolve the mechanistic details of clouds to the best extent possible, and then to formulating these behaviors cloud state for use within a coarser grid. A second is to invoke physical intuition and some very general theoretical principles from equilibrium statistical thermodynamics. This second approach is quite widely used elsewhere in the atmospheric sciences: for example to explain the heat capacity of air, blackbody radiation, or even the density profile or air in the atmosphere. Here we describe how entrainment and detrainment across cloud perimeters is limited by the amount of available air and the range of moist static energy in the atmosphere, and that constrains cloud perimeter distributions to a power law with a -1 exponent along isentropes and to a Boltzmann distribution across isentropes. Further, the total cloud perimeter density in a cloud field is directly tied to the buoyancy frequency of the column. These simple results are shown to be reproduced within a complex dynamic simulation of a tropical convective cloud field and in passive satellite observations of cloud 3D structures. The implication is that equilibrium tropical cloud structures can be inferred from the bulk thermodynamic structure of the atmosphere without having to analyze computationally expensive dynamic simulations.

Cloud computing approaches to accelerate drug discovery value chain.

Science.gov (United States)

Garg, Vibhav; Arora, Suchir; Gupta, Chitra

2011-12-01

Continued advancements in the area of technology have helped high throughput screening (HTS) evolve from a linear to parallel approach by performing system level screening. Advanced experimental methods used for HTS at various steps of drug discovery (i.e. target identification, target validation, lead identification and lead validation) can generate data of the order of terabytes. As a consequence, there is pressing need to store, manage, mine and analyze this data to identify informational tags. This need is again posing challenges to computer scientists to offer the matching hardware and software infrastructure, while managing the varying degree of desired computational power. Therefore, the potential of "On-Demand Hardware" and "Software as a Service (SAAS)" delivery mechanisms cannot be denied. This on-demand computing, largely referred to as Cloud Computing, is now transforming the drug discovery research. Also, integration of Cloud computing with parallel computing is certainly expanding its footprint in the life sciences community. The speed, efficiency and cost effectiveness have made cloud computing a 'good to have tool' for researchers, providing them significant flexibility, allowing them to focus on the 'what' of science and not the 'how'. Once reached to its maturity, Discovery-Cloud would fit best to manage drug discovery and clinical development data, generated using advanced HTS techniques, hence supporting the vision of personalized medicine.

Dark Targets, Aerosols, Clouds and Toys

Science.gov (United States)

Remer, L. A.

2015-12-01

Today if you use the Thomson-Reuters Science Citations Index to search for "aerosol*", across all scientific disciplines and years, with no constraints, and you sort by number of citations, you will find a 2005 paper published in the Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences in the top 20. This is the "The MODIS Aerosol Algorithm, Products and Validation". Although I am the first author, there are in total 12 co-authors who each made a significant intellectual contribution to the paper or to the algorithm, products and validation described. This paper, that algorithm, those people lie at the heart of a lineage of scientists whose collaborations and linked individual pursuits have made a significant contribution to our understanding of radiative transfer and climate, of aerosol properties and the global aerosol system, of cloud physics and aerosol-cloud interaction, and how to measure these parameters and maximize the science that can be obtained from those measurements. The 'lineage' had its origins across the globe, from Soviet Russia to France, from the U.S. to Israel, from the Himalayas, the Sahel, the metropolises of Sao Paulo, Taipei, and the cities of east and south Asia. It came together in the 1990s and 2000s at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, using cultural diversity as a strength to form a common culture of scientific creativity that continues to this day. The original algorithm has spawned daughter algorithms that are being applied to new satellite and airborne sensors. The original MODIS products have been fundamental to analyses as diverse as air quality monitoring and aerosol-cloud forcing. AERONET, designed originally for the need of validation, is now its own thriving institution, and the lineage continues to push forward to provide new technology for the coming generations.

Generic-distributed framework for cloud services marketplace based on unified ontology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Samer Hasan

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Cloud computing is a pattern for delivering ubiquitous and on demand computing resources based on pay-as-you-use financial model. Typically, cloud providers advertise cloud service descriptions in various formats on the Internet. On the other hand, cloud consumers use available search engines (Google and Yahoo to explore cloud service descriptions and find the adequate service. Unfortunately, general purpose search engines are not designed to provide a small and complete set of results, which makes the process a big challenge. This paper presents a generic-distrusted framework for cloud services marketplace to automate cloud services discovery and selection process, and remove the barriers between service providers and consumers. Additionally, this work implements two instances of generic framework by adopting two different matching algorithms; namely dominant and recessive attributes algorithm borrowed from gene science and semantic similarity algorithm based on unified cloud service ontology. Finally, this paper presents unified cloud services ontology and models the real-life cloud services according to the proposed ontology. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first attempt to build a cloud services marketplace where cloud providers and cloud consumers can trend cloud services as utilities. In comparison with existing work, semantic approach reduced the execution time by 20% and maintained the same values for all other parameters. On the other hand, dominant and recessive attributes approach reduced the execution time by 57% but showed lower value for recall.

Generic-distributed framework for cloud services marketplace based on unified ontology.

Science.gov (United States)

Hasan, Samer; Valli Kumari, V

2017-11-01

Cloud computing is a pattern for delivering ubiquitous and on demand computing resources based on pay-as-you-use financial model. Typically, cloud providers advertise cloud service descriptions in various formats on the Internet. On the other hand, cloud consumers use available search engines (Google and Yahoo) to explore cloud service descriptions and find the adequate service. Unfortunately, general purpose search engines are not designed to provide a small and complete set of results, which makes the process a big challenge. This paper presents a generic-distrusted framework for cloud services marketplace to automate cloud services discovery and selection process, and remove the barriers between service providers and consumers. Additionally, this work implements two instances of generic framework by adopting two different matching algorithms; namely dominant and recessive attributes algorithm borrowed from gene science and semantic similarity algorithm based on unified cloud service ontology. Finally, this paper presents unified cloud services ontology and models the real-life cloud services according to the proposed ontology. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first attempt to build a cloud services marketplace where cloud providers and cloud consumers can trend cloud services as utilities. In comparison with existing work, semantic approach reduced the execution time by 20% and maintained the same values for all other parameters. On the other hand, dominant and recessive attributes approach reduced the execution time by 57% but showed lower value for recall.

Top-down and bottom-up aerosol–cloud closure: towards understanding sources of uncertainty in deriving cloud shortwave radiative flux

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. J. Sanchez

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Top-down and bottom-up aerosol–cloud shortwave radiative flux closures were conducted at the Mace Head Atmospheric Research Station in Galway, Ireland, in August 2015. This study is part of the BACCHUS (Impact of Biogenic versus Anthropogenic emissions on Clouds and Climate: towards a Holistic UnderStanding European collaborative project, with the goal of understanding key processes affecting aerosol–cloud shortwave radiative flux closures to improve future climate predictions and develop sustainable policies for Europe. Instrument platforms include ground-based unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs1 and satellite measurements of aerosols, clouds and meteorological variables. The ground-based and airborne measurements of aerosol size distributions and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN concentration were used to initiate a 1-D microphysical aerosol–cloud parcel model (ACPM. UAVs were equipped for a specific science mission, with an optical particle counter for aerosol distribution profiles, a cloud sensor to measure cloud extinction or a five-hole probe for 3-D wind vectors. UAV cloud measurements are rare and have only become possible in recent years through the miniaturization of instrumentation. These are the first UAV measurements at Mace Head. ACPM simulations are compared to in situ cloud extinction measurements from UAVs to quantify closure in terms of cloud shortwave radiative flux. Two out of seven cases exhibit sub-adiabatic vertical temperature profiles within the cloud, which suggests that entrainment processes affect cloud microphysical properties and lead to an overestimate of simulated cloud shortwave radiative flux. Including an entrainment parameterization and explicitly calculating the entrainment fraction in the ACPM simulations both improved cloud-top radiative closure. Entrainment reduced the difference between simulated and observation-derived cloud-top shortwave radiative flux (δRF by between 25 and 60 W m−2. After

A Brief Philosophical Encounter with Science and Medicine

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amir Ehsan Karbasizadeh

2013-01-01

Full Text Available We show a lot of respect for science today. To back up our claims, we tend to appeal to scientific methods. It seems that we all agree that these methods are effective for gaining the truth. We can ask why science has its special status as a supplier of knowledge about our external world and our bodies. Of course, one should not always trust what scientists say. Nonetheless, epistemological justification of scientific claims is really a big project for philosophers of science. Philosophers of science are interested in knowing how science proves what it does claim and why it gives us good reasons to take these claims seriously. These questions are epistemological questions. Epistemology is a branch of philosophy which deals with knowledge claims and justification. Besides epistemological questions, metaphysical and ethical issues in science are worthy of philosophical scrutiny. This paper gives a short survey of these intellectually demanding issues.

Los Alamos National Lab: National Security Science

Science.gov (United States)

SKIP TO PAGE CONTENT Los Alamos National Laboratory Delivering science and technology to protect Museum New Hires Publications Research Library Mission Science & Innovation Science & Innovation Facilities Science Pillars Research Library Science Briefs Science News Lab Organizations Science Programs

Lessons Learned while Exploring Cloud-Native Architectures for NASA EOSDIS Applications and Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Pilone, D.

2016-12-01

As new, high data rate missions begin collecting data, the NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) archive is projected to grow roughly 20x to over 300PBs by 2025. To prepare for the dramatic increase in data and enable broad scientific inquiry into larger time series and datasets, NASA has been exploring the impact of applying cloud technologies throughout EOSDIS. In this talk we will provide an overview of NASA's prototyping and lessons learned in applying cloud architectures to: Highly scalable and extensible ingest and archive of EOSDIS data Going "all-in" on cloud based application architectures including "serverless" data processing pipelines and evaluating approaches to vendor-lock in Rethinking data distribution and approaches to analysis in a cloud environment Incorporating and enforcing security controls while minimizing the barrier for research efforts to deploy to NASA compliant, operational environments. NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) is a coordinated series of satellites for long term global observations. NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) is a multi-petabyte-scale archive of environmental data that supports global climate change research by providing end-to-end services from EOS instrument data collection to science data processing to full access to EOS and other earth science data. On a daily basis, the EOSDIS ingests, processes, archives and distributes over 3 terabytes of data from NASA's Earth Science missions representing over 6000 data products ranging from various types of science disciplines. EOSDIS has continually evolved to improve the discoverability, accessibility, and usability of high-impact NASA data spanning the multi-petabyte-scale archive of Earth science data products.

Integration of Cloud resources in the LHCb Distributed Computing

Science.gov (United States)

Úbeda García, Mario; Méndez Muñoz, Víctor; Stagni, Federico; Cabarrou, Baptiste; Rauschmayr, Nathalie; Charpentier, Philippe; Closier, Joel

2014-06-01

This contribution describes how Cloud resources have been integrated in the LHCb Distributed Computing. LHCb is using its specific Dirac extension (LHCbDirac) as an interware for its Distributed Computing. So far, it was seamlessly integrating Grid resources and Computer clusters. The cloud extension of DIRAC (VMDIRAC) allows the integration of Cloud computing infrastructures. It is able to interact with multiple types of infrastructures in commercial and institutional clouds, supported by multiple interfaces (Amazon EC2, OpenNebula, OpenStack and CloudStack) - instantiates, monitors and manages Virtual Machines running on this aggregation of Cloud resources. Moreover, specifications for institutional Cloud resources proposed by Worldwide LHC Computing Grid (WLCG), mainly by the High Energy Physics Unix Information Exchange (HEPiX) group, have been taken into account. Several initiatives and computing resource providers in the eScience environment have already deployed IaaS in production during 2013. Keeping this on mind, pros and cons of a cloud based infrasctructure have been studied in contrast with the current setup. As a result, this work addresses four different use cases which represent a major improvement on several levels of our infrastructure. We describe the solution implemented by LHCb for the contextualisation of the VMs based on the idea of Cloud Site. We report on operational experience of using in production several institutional Cloud resources that are thus becoming integral part of the LHCb Distributed Computing resources. Furthermore, we describe as well the gradual migration of our Service Infrastructure towards a fully distributed architecture following the Service as a Service (SaaS) model.

Integration of cloud resources in the LHCb distributed computing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

García, Mario Úbeda; Stagni, Federico; Cabarrou, Baptiste; Rauschmayr, Nathalie; Charpentier, Philippe; Closier, Joel; Muñoz, Víctor Méndez

2014-01-01

This contribution describes how Cloud resources have been integrated in the LHCb Distributed Computing. LHCb is using its specific Dirac extension (LHCbDirac) as an interware for its Distributed Computing. So far, it was seamlessly integrating Grid resources and Computer clusters. The cloud extension of DIRAC (VMDIRAC) allows the integration of Cloud computing infrastructures. It is able to interact with multiple types of infrastructures in commercial and institutional clouds, supported by multiple interfaces (Amazon EC2, OpenNebula, OpenStack and CloudStack) – instantiates, monitors and manages Virtual Machines running on this aggregation of Cloud resources. Moreover, specifications for institutional Cloud resources proposed by Worldwide LHC Computing Grid (WLCG), mainly by the High Energy Physics Unix Information Exchange (HEPiX) group, have been taken into account. Several initiatives and computing resource providers in the eScience environment have already deployed IaaS in production during 2013. Keeping this on mind, pros and cons of a cloud based infrasctructure have been studied in contrast with the current setup. As a result, this work addresses four different use cases which represent a major improvement on several levels of our infrastructure. We describe the solution implemented by LHCb for the contextualisation of the VMs based on the idea of Cloud Site. We report on operational experience of using in production several institutional Cloud resources that are thus becoming integral part of the LHCb Distributed Computing resources. Furthermore, we describe as well the gradual migration of our Service Infrastructure towards a fully distributed architecture following the Service as a Service (SaaS) model.

Research briefing on contemporary problems in plasma science

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1991-01-01

An overview is presented of the broad perspective of all plasma science. Detailed discussions are given of scientific opportunities in various subdisciplines of plasma science. The first subdiscipline to be discussed is the area where the contemporary applications of plasma science are the most widespread, low temperature plasma science. Opportunities for new research and technology development that have emerged as byproducts of research in magnetic and inertial fusion are then highlighted. Then follows a discussion of new opportunities in ultrafast plasma science opened up by recent developments in laser and particle beam technology. Next, research that uses smaller scale facilities is discussed, first discussing non-neutral plasmas, and then the area of basic plasma experiments. Discussions of analytic theory and computational plasma physics and of space and astrophysical plasma physics are then presented

Atmospheric CO2 Concentration Measurements with Clouds from an Airborne Lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Mao, J.; Abshire, J. B.; Kawa, S. R.; Riris, H.; Allan, G. R.; Hasselbrack, W. E.; Numata, K.; Chen, J. R.; Sun, X.; DiGangi, J. P.; Choi, Y.

2017-12-01

Globally distributed atmospheric CO2 concentration measurements with high precision, low bias and full seasonal sampling are crucial to advance carbon cycle sciences. However, two thirds of the Earth's surface is typically covered by clouds, and passive remote sensing approaches from space are limited to cloud-free scenes. NASA Goddard is developing a pulsed, integrated-path differential absorption (IPDA) lidar approach to measure atmospheric column CO2 concentrations, XCO2, from space as a candidate for NASA's ASCENDS mission. Measurements of time-resolved laser backscatter profiles from the atmosphere also allow this technique to estimate XCO2 and range to cloud tops in addition to those to the ground with precise knowledge of the photon path-length. We demonstrate this measurement capability using airborne lidar measurements from summer 2017 ASCENDS airborne science campaign in Alaska. We show retrievals of XCO2 to ground and to a variety of cloud tops. We will also demonstrate how the partial column XCO2 to cloud tops and cloud slicing approach help resolving vertical and horizontal gradient of CO2 in cloudy conditions. The XCO2 retrievals from the lidar are validated against in situ measurements and compared to the Goddard Parameterized Chemistry Transport Model (PCTM) simulations. Adding this measurement capability to the future lidar mission for XCO2 will provide full global and seasonal data coverage and some information about vertical structure of CO2. This unique facility is expected to benefit atmospheric transport process studies, carbon data assimilation in models, and global and regional carbon flux estimation.

A European Federated Cloud: Innovative distributed computing solutions by EGI

Science.gov (United States)

Sipos, Gergely; Turilli, Matteo; Newhouse, Steven; Kacsuk, Peter

2013-04-01

The European Grid Infrastructure (EGI) is the result of pioneering work that has, over the last decade, built a collaborative production infrastructure of uniform services through the federation of national resource providers that supports multi-disciplinary science across Europe and around the world. This presentation will provide an overview of the recently established 'federated cloud computing services' that the National Grid Initiatives (NGIs), operators of EGI, offer to scientific communities. The presentation will explain the technical capabilities of the 'EGI Federated Cloud' and the processes whereby earth and space science researchers can engage with it. EGI's resource centres have been providing services for collaborative, compute- and data-intensive applications for over a decade. Besides the well-established 'grid services', several NGIs already offer privately run cloud services to their national researchers. Many of these researchers recently expressed the need to share these cloud capabilities within their international research collaborations - a model similar to the way the grid emerged through the federation of institutional batch computing and file storage servers. To facilitate the setup of a pan-European cloud service from the NGIs' resources, the EGI-InSPIRE project established a Federated Cloud Task Force in September 2011. The Task Force has a mandate to identify and test technologies for a multinational federated cloud that could be provisioned within EGI by the NGIs. A guiding principle for the EGI Federated Cloud is to remain technology neutral and flexible for both resource providers and users: • Resource providers are allowed to use any cloud hypervisor and management technology to join virtualised resources into the EGI Federated Cloud as long as the site is subscribed to the user-facing interfaces selected by the EGI community. • Users can integrate high level services - such as brokers, portals and customised Virtual Research

EDITORIAL: Aerosol cloud interactions—a challenge for measurements and modeling at the cutting edge of cloud climate interactions

Science.gov (United States)

Spichtinger, Peter; Cziczo, Daniel J.

2008-04-01

Research in aerosol properties and cloud characteristics have historically been considered two separate disciplines within the field of atmospheric science. As such, it has been uncommon for a single researcher, or even research group, to have considerable expertise in both subject areas. The recent attention paid to global climate change has shown that clouds can have a considerable effect on the Earth's climate and that one of the most uncertain aspects in their formation, persistence, and ultimate dissipation is the role played by aerosols. This highlights the need for researchers in both disciplines to interact more closely than they have in the past. This is the vision behind this focus issue of Environmental Research Letters. Certain interactions between aerosols and clouds are relatively well studied and understood. For example, it is known that an increase in the aerosol concentration will increase the number of droplets in warm clouds, decrease their average size, reduce the rate of precipitation, and extend the lifetime. Other effects are not as well known. For example, persistent ice super-saturated conditions are observed in the upper troposphere that appear to exceed our understanding of the conditions required for cirrus cloud formation. Further, the interplay of dynamics versus effects purely attributed to aerosols remains highly uncertain. The purpose of this focus issue is to consider the current state of knowledge of aerosol/cloud interactions, to define the contemporary uncertainties, and to outline research foci as we strive to better understand the Earth's climate system. This focus issue brings together laboratory experiments, field data, and model studies. The authors address issues associated with warm liquid water, cold ice, and intermediate temperature mixed-phase clouds. The topics include the uncertainty associated with the effect of black carbon and organics, aerosol types of anthropogenic interest, on droplet and ice formation. Phases

Cloud Shade by Dynamic Logistic Modeling

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Brabec, Marek; Badescu, V.; Paulescu, M.

2014-01-01

Roč. 41, č. 6 (2014), s. 1174-1188 ISSN 0266-4763 R&D Projects: GA MŠk LD12009 Grant - others:European Cooperation in Science and Technology(XE) COST ES1002 Institutional support: RVO:67985807 Keywords : clouds * random process * sunshine number * Markovian logistic regression model Subject RIV: BB - Applied Statistics, Operational Research Impact factor: 0.417, year: 2014

Science comics as tools for science education and communication: a brief, exploratory study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Tatalovic

2009-11-01

Full Text Available Comics are a popular art form especially among children and as such provide a potential medium for science education and communication. In an attempt to present science comics in a museum exhibit I found many science themed comics and graphic books. Here I attempt to provide an overview of already available comics that communicate science, the genre of ‘science comics’. I also provide a quick literature review for evidence that comics can indeed be efficiently used for promoting scientific literacy via education and communication. I address the issue of lack of studies about science comics and their readers and suggest some possible reasons for this as well as some questions that could be addressed in future studies on the effect these comics may have on science communication.

Volunteered Cloud Computing for Disaster Management

Science.gov (United States)

Evans, J. D.; Hao, W.; Chettri, S. R.

2014-12-01

Disaster management relies increasingly on interpreting earth observations and running numerical models; which require significant computing capacity - usually on short notice and at irregular intervals. Peak computing demand during event detection, hazard assessment, or incident response may exceed agency budgets; however some of it can be met through volunteered computing, which distributes subtasks to participating computers via the Internet. This approach has enabled large projects in mathematics, basic science, and climate research to harness the slack computing capacity of thousands of desktop computers. This capacity is likely to diminish as desktops give way to battery-powered mobile devices (laptops, smartphones, tablets) in the consumer market; but as cloud computing becomes commonplace, it may offer significant slack capacity -- if its users are given an easy, trustworthy mechanism for participating. Such a "volunteered cloud computing" mechanism would also offer several advantages over traditional volunteered computing: tasks distributed within a cloud have fewer bandwidth limitations; granular billing mechanisms allow small slices of "interstitial" computing at no marginal cost; and virtual storage volumes allow in-depth, reversible machine reconfiguration. Volunteered cloud computing is especially suitable for "embarrassingly parallel" tasks, including ones requiring large data volumes: examples in disaster management include near-real-time image interpretation, pattern / trend detection, or large model ensembles. In the context of a major disaster, we estimate that cloud users (if suitably informed) might volunteer hundreds to thousands of CPU cores across a large provider such as Amazon Web Services. To explore this potential, we are building a volunteered cloud computing platform and targeting it to a disaster management context. Using a lightweight, fault-tolerant network protocol, this platform helps cloud users join parallel computing projects

Thoughts About Nursing Curricula: Dark Clouds and Bright Lights.

Science.gov (United States)

Turkel, Marian C; Fawcett, Jacqueline; Amankwaa, Linda; Clarke, Pamela N; Dee, Vivien; Eustace, Rosemary; Hansell, Phyllis Shanley; Jones, Dorothy A; Smith, Marlaine C; Zahourek, Rothlyn

2018-04-01

In this essay, several nurse scholars who are particularly concerned about the contemporary state of nursing science present their concerns about the inclusion of nursing conceptual models and theories in the curricula of nursing programs (dark clouds) and ways in which the concerns have been addressed (bright lights). This essay is the second of two essays that were catalyzed by Barrett's paper, "Again, What Is Nursing Science?" The first essay was published in the previous issue of Nursing Science Quarterly.

Editorial for special section of grid computing journal on “Cloud Computing and Services Science‿

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Sinderen, Marten J.; Ivanov, Ivan I.

This editorial briefly discusses characteristics, technology developments and challenges of cloud computing. It then introduces the papers included in the special issue on "Cloud Computing and Services Science" and positions the work reported in these papers with respect to the previously mentioned

Cloud Based Earth Observation Data Exploitation Platforms

Science.gov (United States)

Romeo, A.; Pinto, S.; Loekken, S.; Marin, A.

2017-12-01

In the last few years data produced daily by several private and public Earth Observation (EO) satellites reached the order of tens of Terabytes, representing for scientists and commercial application developers both a big opportunity for their exploitation and a challenge for their management. New IT technologies, such as Big Data and cloud computing, enable the creation of web-accessible data exploitation platforms, which offer to scientists and application developers the means to access and use EO data in a quick and cost effective way. RHEA Group is particularly active in this sector, supporting the European Space Agency (ESA) in the Exploitation Platforms (EP) initiative, developing technology to build multi cloud platforms for the processing and analysis of Earth Observation data, and collaborating with larger European initiatives such as the European Plate Observing System (EPOS) and the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC). An EP is a virtual workspace, providing a user community with access to (i) large volume of data, (ii) algorithm development and integration environment, (iii) processing software and services (e.g. toolboxes, visualization routines), (iv) computing resources, (v) collaboration tools (e.g. forums, wiki, etc.). When an EP is dedicated to a specific Theme, it becomes a Thematic Exploitation Platform (TEP). Currently, ESA has seven TEPs in a pre-operational phase dedicated to geo-hazards monitoring and prevention, costal zones, forestry areas, hydrology, polar regions, urban areas and food security. On the technology development side, solutions like the multi cloud EO data processing platform provides the technology to integrate ICT resources and EO data from different vendors in a single platform. In particular it offers (i) Multi-cloud data discovery, (ii) Multi-cloud data management and access and (iii) Multi-cloud application deployment. This platform has been demonstrated with the EGI Federated Cloud, Innovation Platform Testbed Poland

Science comics as tools for science education and communication: a brief, exploratory study

OpenAIRE

M. Tatalovic

2009-01-01

Comics are a popular art form especially among children and as such provide a potential medium for science education and communication. In an attempt to present science comics in a museum exhibit I found many science themed comics and graphic books. Here I attempt to provide an overview of already available comics that communicate science, the genre of ‘science comics’. I also provide a quick literature review for evidence that comics can indeed be efficiently used for promoting scientific li...

Introduction to astrochemistry chemical evolution from interstellar clouds to star and planet formation

CERN Document Server

Yamamoto, Satoshi

2017-01-01

This important book describes the basic principles of astrochemistry—an interdisciplinary field combining astronomy, physics, and chemistry—with particular emphasis on its physical and chemical background. Chemical processes in diffuse clouds, dense quiescent molecular clouds, star-forming regions, and protoplanetary disks are discussed. A brief introduction to molecular spectroscopy and observational techniques is also presented. These contents provide astronomers with a comprehensive understanding of how interstellar matter is evolved and brought into stars and planets, which is ultimately related to the origin of the solar system. The subject matter will also be understandable and useful for physical chemists who are interested in exotic chemical processes occurring in extreme physical conditions. The book is a valuable resource for all researchers beginning at the graduate level.

Accelerating HPC Applications through Specialized Linear Algebra Clouds, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Cloud computing has the potential to permit scientists to scale up to solve large science problems without having to invest in hardware and software infrastructure....

Stratocumulus Cloud Top Radiative Cooling and Cloud Base Updraft Speeds

Science.gov (United States)

Kazil, J.; Feingold, G.; Balsells, J.; Klinger, C.

2017-12-01

Cloud top radiative cooling is a primary driver of turbulence in the stratocumulus-topped marine boundary. A functional relationship between cloud top cooling and cloud base updraft speeds may therefore exist. A correlation of cloud top radiative cooling and cloud base updraft speeds has been recently identified empirically, providing a basis for satellite retrieval of cloud base updraft speeds. Such retrievals may enable analysis of aerosol-cloud interactions using satellite observations: Updraft speeds at cloud base co-determine supersaturation and therefore the activation of cloud condensation nuclei, which in turn co-determine cloud properties and precipitation formation. We use large eddy simulation and an off-line radiative transfer model to explore the relationship between cloud-top radiative cooling and cloud base updraft speeds in a marine stratocumulus cloud over the course of the diurnal cycle. We find that during daytime, at low cloud water path (CWP correlated, in agreement with the reported empirical relationship. During the night, in the absence of short-wave heating, CWP builds up (CWP > 50 g m-2) and long-wave emissions from cloud top saturate, while cloud base heating increases. In combination, cloud top cooling and cloud base updrafts become weakly anti-correlated. A functional relationship between cloud top cooling and cloud base updraft speed can hence be expected for stratocumulus clouds with a sufficiently low CWP and sub-saturated long-wave emissions, in particular during daytime. At higher CWPs, in particular at night, the relationship breaks down due to saturation of long-wave emissions from cloud top.

Cloud networking understanding cloud-based data center networks

CERN Document Server

Lee, Gary

2014-01-01

Cloud Networking: Understanding Cloud-Based Data Center Networks explains the evolution of established networking technologies into distributed, cloud-based networks. Starting with an overview of cloud technologies, the book explains how cloud data center networks leverage distributed systems for network virtualization, storage networking, and software-defined networking. The author offers insider perspective to key components that make a cloud network possible such as switch fabric technology and data center networking standards. The final chapters look ahead to developments in architectures

Helix Nebula and CERN: A Symbiotic approach to exploiting commercial clouds

CERN Document Server

Barreiro Megino, Fernando Harald; Kucharczyk, Katarzyna; Medrano Llamas, Ramón; van der Ster, Daniel

2014-01-01

The recent paradigm shift toward cloud computing in IT, and general interest in "Big Data" in particular, have demonstrated that the computing requirements of HEP are no longer globally unique. Indeed, the CERN IT department and LHC experiments have already made significant R&D investments in delivering and exploiting cloud computing resources. While a number of technical evaluations of interesting commercial offerings from global IT enterprises have been performed by various physics labs, further technical, security, sociological, and legal issues need to be address before their large-scale adoption by the research community can be envisaged. Helix Nebula - the Science Cloud is an initiative that explores these questions by joining the forces of three European research institutes (CERN, ESA and EMBL) with leading European commercial IT enterprises. The goals of Helix Nebula are to establish a cloud platform federating multiple commercial cloud providers, along with new business models, which can sustain ...

Helix Nebula and CERN: A Symbiotic approach to exploiting commercial clouds

CERN Multimedia

Barreiro Megino, Fernando Harald; Kucharczyk, Katarzyna; Medrano Llamas, Ramón; van der Ster, Daniel

2013-01-01

The recent paradigm shift toward cloud computing in IT, and general interest in "Big Data" in particular, have demonstrated that the computing requirements of HEP are no longer globally unique. Indeed, the CERN IT department and LHC experiments have already made significant R&D; investments in delivering and exploiting cloud computing resources. While a number of technical evaluations of interesting commercial offerings from global IT enterprises have been performed by various physics labs, further technical, security, sociological, and legal issues need to be address before their large-scale adoption by the research community can be envisaged. Helix Nebula - the Science Cloud is an initiative that explores these questions by joining the forces of three European research institutes (CERN, ESA and EMBL) with leading European commercial IT enterprises. The goals of Helix Nebula are to establish a cloud platform federating multiple commercial cloud providers, along with new business models, which can sustain...

Polar winter cloud depolarization measurements with the CANDAC Rayleigh-Mie-Raman Lidar

Science.gov (United States)

McCullough, E. M.; Nott, G. J.; Duck, T. J.; Sica, R. J.; Doyle, J. G.; Pike-thackray, C.; Drummond, J. R.

2011-12-01

Clouds introduce a significant positive forcing to the Arctic radiation budget and this is strongest during the polar winter when shortwave radiation is absent (Intrieri et al., 2002). The amount of forcing depends on the occurrence probability and optical depth of the clouds as well as the cloud particle phase (Ebert and Curry 1992). Mixed-phase clouds are particularly complex as they involve interactions between three phases of water (vapour, liquid and ice) coexisting in the same cloud. Although significant progress has been made in characterizing wintertime Arctic clouds (de Boer et al., 2009 and 2011), there is considerable variability in the relative abundance of particles of each phase, in the morphology of solid particles, and in precipitation rates depending on the meteorology at the time. The Canadian Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Change (CANDAC) Rayleigh-Mie-Raman Lidar (CRL) was installed in the Canadian High Arctic at Eureka, Nunavut (80°N, 86°W) in 2008-2009. The remotely-operated system began with measurement capabilities for multi-wavelength aerosol extinction, water vapour mixing ratio, and tropospheric temperature profiles, as well as backscatter cross section coefficient and colour ratio. In 2010, a new depolarization channel was added. The capability to measure the polarization state of the return signal allows the characterization of the cloud in terms of liquid and ice water content, enabling the lidar to probe all three phases of water in these clouds. Lidar depolarization results from 2010 and 2011 winter clouds at Eureka will be presented, with a focus on differences in downwelling radiation between mixed phase clouds and ice clouds. de Boer, G., E.W. Eloranta, and M.D. Shupe (2009), Arctic mixed-phase stratiform cloud properties from multiple years of surface-based measurements at two high-latitude locations, Journal of Atmospheric Sciences, 66 (9), 2874-2887. de Boer, G., H. Morrison, M. D. Shupe, and R. Hildner (2011

Cloud Forecasting and 3-D Radiative Transfer Model Validation using Citizen-Sourced Imagery

Science.gov (United States)

Gasiewski, A. J.; Heymsfield, A.; Newman Frey, K.; Davis, R.; Rapp, J.; Bansemer, A.; Coon, T.; Folsom, R.; Pfeufer, N.; Kalloor, J.

2017-12-01

Cloud radiative feedback mechanisms are one of the largest sources of uncertainty in global climate models. Variations in local 3D cloud structure impact the interpretation of NASA CERES and MODIS data for top-of-atmosphere radiation studies over clouds. Much of this uncertainty results from lack of knowledge of cloud vertical and horizontal structure. Surface-based data on 3-D cloud structure from a multi-sensor array of low-latency ground-based cameras can be used to intercompare radiative transfer models based on MODIS and other satellite data with CERES data to improve the 3-D cloud parameterizations. Closely related, forecasting of solar insolation and associated cloud cover on time scales out to 1 hour and with spatial resolution of 100 meters is valuable for stabilizing power grids with high solar photovoltaic penetrations. Data for cloud-advection based solar insolation forecasting with requisite spatial resolution and latency needed to predict high ramp rate events obtained from a bottom-up perspective is strongly correlated with cloud-induced fluctuations. The development of grid management practices for improved integration of renewable solar energy thus also benefits from a multi-sensor camera array. The data needs for both 3D cloud radiation modelling and solar forecasting are being addressed using a network of low-cost upward-looking visible light CCD sky cameras positioned at 2 km spacing over an area of 30-60 km in size acquiring imagery on 30 second intervals. Such cameras can be manufactured in quantity and deployed by citizen volunteers at a marginal cost of 200-400 and operated unattended using existing communications infrastructure. A trial phase to understand the potential utility of up-looking multi-sensor visible imagery is underway within this NASA Citizen Science project. To develop the initial data sets necessary to optimally design a multi-sensor cloud camera array a team of 100 citizen scientists using self-owned PDA cameras is being

New approach to technology advocated at House briefing

Science.gov (United States)

White, Catherine

At a House Committee on Science, Space and Technology briefing on July 26, witnesses from the Institute for Policy Studies testified in support of a new approach to technology emphasizing science and technology for the public good and focusing on small, widely distributed projects.The testimony was based on the institute's recently published book, Technology for the Common Good, which concludes that in the wake of the Cold War era, technology policy should advance the broad public good over the narrow interests of a few businesses and budget-hungry agencies. The book echoes a report released by the Carnegie Commission on Science, Technology, and Government several weeks ago.

Evaluating the Efficacy of the Cloud for Cluster Computation

Science.gov (United States)

Knight, David; Shams, Khawaja; Chang, George; Soderstrom, Tom

2012-01-01

Computing requirements vary by industry, and it follows that NASA and other research organizations have computing demands that fall outside the mainstream. While cloud computing made rapid inroads for tasks such as powering web applications, performance issues on highly distributed tasks hindered early adoption for scientific computation. One venture to address this problem is Nebula, NASA's homegrown cloud project tasked with delivering science-quality cloud computing resources. However, another industry development is Amazon's high-performance computing (HPC) instances on Elastic Cloud Compute (EC2) that promises improved performance for cluster computation. This paper presents results from a series of benchmarks run on Amazon EC2 and discusses the efficacy of current commercial cloud technology for running scientific applications across a cluster. In particular, a 240-core cluster of cloud instances achieved 2 TFLOPS on High-Performance Linpack (HPL) at 70% of theoretical computational performance. The cluster's local network also demonstrated sub-100 ?s inter-process latency with sustained inter-node throughput in excess of 8 Gbps. Beyond HPL, a real-world Hadoop image processing task from NASA's Lunar Mapping and Modeling Project (LMMP) was run on a 29 instance cluster to process lunar and Martian surface images with sizes on the order of tens of gigapixels. These results demonstrate that while not a rival of dedicated supercomputing clusters, commercial cloud technology is now a feasible option for moderately demanding scientific workloads.

Formation of giant molecular clouds in global spiral structures: the role of orbital dynamics and cloud-cloud collisions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roberts, W.W. Jr.; Stewart, G.R.

1987-01-01

The different roles played by orbital dynamics and dissipative cloud-cloud collisions in the formation of giant molecular clouds (GMCs) in a global spiral structure are investigated. The interstellar medium (ISM) is simulated by a system of particles, representing clouds, which orbit in a spiral-perturbed, galactic gravitational field. The overall magnitude and width of the global cloud density distribution in spiral arms is very similar in the collisional and collisionless simulations. The results suggest that the assumed number density and size distribution of clouds and the details of individual cloud-cloud collisions have relatively little effect on these features. Dissipative cloud-cloud collisions play an important steadying role for the cloud system's global spiral structure. Dissipative cloud-cloud collisions also damp the relative velocity dispersion of clouds in massive associations and thereby aid in the effective assembling of GMC-like complexes

Evaluation of Passive Multilayer Cloud Detection Using Preliminary CloudSat and CALIPSO Cloud Profiles

Science.gov (United States)

Minnis, P.; Sun-Mack, S.; Chang, F.; Huang, J.; Nguyen, L.; Ayers, J. K.; Spangenberg, D. A.; Yi, Y.; Trepte, C. R.

2006-12-01

During the last few years, several algorithms have been developed to detect and retrieve multilayered clouds using passive satellite data. Assessing these techniques has been difficult due to the need for active sensors such as cloud radars and lidars that can "see" through different layers of clouds. Such sensors have been available only at a few surface sites and on aircraft during field programs. With the launch of the CALIPSO and CloudSat satellites on April 28, 2006, it is now possible to observe multilayered systems all over the globe using collocated cloud radar and lidar data. As part of the A- Train, these new active sensors are also matched in time ad space with passive measurements from the Aqua Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer - EOS (AMSR-E). The Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) has been developing and testing algorithms to detect ice-over-water overlapping cloud systems and to retrieve the cloud liquid path (LWP) and ice water path (IWP) for those systems. One technique uses a combination of the CERES cloud retrieval algorithm applied to MODIS data and a microwave retrieval method applied to AMSR-E data. The combination of a CO2-slicing cloud retireval technique with the CERES algorithms applied to MODIS data (Chang et al., 2005) is used to detect and analyze such overlapped systems that contain thin ice clouds. A third technique uses brightness temperature differences and the CERES algorithms to detect similar overlapped methods. This paper uses preliminary CloudSat and CALIPSO data to begin a global scale assessment of these different methods. The long-term goals are to assess and refine the algorithms to aid the development of an optimal combination of the techniques to better monitor ice 9and liquid water clouds in overlapped conditions.

International Symposium on Grids and Clouds (ISGC) 2014

Science.gov (United States)

The International Symposium on Grids and Clouds (ISGC) 2014 will be held at Academia Sinica in Taipei, Taiwan from 23-28 March 2014, with co-located events and workshops. The conference is hosted by the Academia Sinica Grid Computing Centre (ASGC).“Bringing the data scientist to global e-Infrastructures” is the theme of ISGC 2014. The last decade has seen the phenomenal growth in the production of data in all forms by all research communities to produce a deluge of data from which information and knowledge need to be extracted. Key to this success will be the data scientist - educated to use advanced algorithms, applications and infrastructures - collaborating internationally to tackle society’s challenges. ISGC 2014 will bring together researchers working in all aspects of data science from different disciplines around the world to collaborate and educate themselves in the latest achievements and techniques being used to tackle the data deluge. In addition to the regular workshops, technical presentations and plenary keynotes, ISGC this year will focus on how to grow the data science community by considering the educational foundation needed for tomorrow’s data scientist. Topics of discussion include Physics (including HEP) and Engineering Applications, Biomedicine & Life Sciences Applications, Earth & Environmental Sciences & Biodiversity Applications, Humanities & Social Sciences Application, Virtual Research Environment (including Middleware, tools, services, workflow, ... etc.), Data Management, Big Data, Infrastructure & Operations Management, Infrastructure Clouds and Virtualisation, Interoperability, Business Models & Sustainability, Highly Distributed Computing Systems, and High Performance & Technical Computing (HPTC).

The Role of Aerosols on Precipitation Processes: Cloud Resolving Model Simulations

Science.gov (United States)

Tao, Wei-Kuo; Li, X.; Matsui, T.

2012-01-01

identify the impact of ice processes, radiation and large-scale influence on cloud-aerosol interactive processes, especially regarding surface rainfall amounts and characteristics (i.e., heavy or convective versus light or stratiform types). In addition, an inert tracer was included to follow the vertical redistribution of aerosols by cloud processes. We will also give a brief review from observational evidence on the role of aerosol on precipitation processes.

Cloud Computing Fundamentals

Science.gov (United States)

Furht, Borko

In the introductory chapter we define the concept of cloud computing and cloud services, and we introduce layers and types of cloud computing. We discuss the differences between cloud computing and cloud services. New technologies that enabled cloud computing are presented next. We also discuss cloud computing features, standards, and security issues. We introduce the key cloud computing platforms, their vendors, and their offerings. We discuss cloud computing challenges and the future of cloud computing.

The Potentials of Using Cloud Computing in Schools

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hartmann, Simon Birk; Nygaard, Lotte Qulleq Victhoria; Pedersen, Sine

2017-01-01

Cloud Computing (CC) refers to the physical structure of a communications network, where data is saved and stored in large data centers and thus can be accessed anywhere, at any time and from different devices. It is evident that the integration and adoption of CC and discontinuation...... of an alternative ICT includes some underlying reasons. Optimistically, these reasons can be interpreted as the potentials of using cloud computing and as the functions or values that circumvent or solve some of the existing challenges with other form of educational technology. This systematic literature review...... from ERIC, IEEE Xplore, Science Direct and Primo, and after screening and eligibility checking, 13 articles focusing on “cloud computing and school” were included for qualitative analysis and meta-analysis. The papers are coded, from which 31 themes are devised, and five categories are made to group...

a Test to Prove Cloud Whitening THEORY!

Science.gov (United States)

Buttram, J. W.

2011-12-01

Climate science researchers believe our planet can possibly tolerate twice the present carbon dioxide levels with no upwards temperature change, IF we could increase the amount of energy reflected back out into space by about 2.0%. (c)Cloudtec basically alters a blend of seawater and applies heat derived from magma to it at a temperature exceeding 2,000 degrees F. The interaction of seawater and magma displaces the oxygen, causing the volume of water to vaporize and expand over 4,000 times - transforming billions of tons of seawater into thousands of cubic miles of white, maritime, stratocumulus clouds to reflect the incident Sun's rays back out into space. A 6 month test to prove Cloud Whitening Theory will cost 6 million dollars. (No profit added.) This study will enable everyone on the planet with a computer the transparency to use satellite imagery and check out for themselves - if and when Cloud Whitening is occurring. If Cloud Whitening Theory is validated, (c)Cloudtec's innovation can strategically create the clouds we need to reflect the Sun's rays back out into space and help neutralize the projected 3.6 degrees F rise in temperature. Based on reasonable calculations of anthropogenic global warming: this one move alone would be comparable to slashing global carbon dioxide emissions by over 60% over the next 40 years.

Aerosol-cloud interactions from urban, regional to global scales

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Yuan

2015-01-01

The studies in this dissertation aim at advancing our scientific understandings about physical processes involved in the aerosol-cloud-precipitation interaction and quantitatively assessing the impacts of aerosols on the cloud systems with diverse scales over the globe on the basis of the observational data analysis and various modeling studies. As recognized in the Fifth Assessment Report by the Inter-government Panel on Climate Change, the magnitude of radiative forcing by atmospheric aerosols is highly uncertain, representing the largest uncertainty in projections of future climate by anthropogenic activities. By using a newly implemented cloud microphysical scheme in the cloud-resolving model, the thesis assesses aerosol-cloud interaction for distinct weather systems, ranging from individual cumulus to mesoscale convective systems. This thesis also introduces a novel hierarchical modeling approach that solves a long outstanding mismatch between simulations by regional weather models and global climate models in the climate modeling community. More importantly, the thesis provides key scientific solutions to several challenging questions in climate science, including the global impacts of the Asian pollution. As scientists wrestle with the complexities of climate change in response to varied anthropogenic forcing, perhaps no problem is more challenging than the understanding of the impacts of atmospheric aerosols from air pollution on clouds and the global circulation.

Aerosol-cloud interactions from urban, regional to global scales

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Yuan [California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA (United States). Seismological Lab.

2015-10-01

The studies in this dissertation aim at advancing our scientific understandings about physical processes involved in the aerosol-cloud-precipitation interaction and quantitatively assessing the impacts of aerosols on the cloud systems with diverse scales over the globe on the basis of the observational data analysis and various modeling studies. As recognized in the Fifth Assessment Report by the Inter-government Panel on Climate Change, the magnitude of radiative forcing by atmospheric aerosols is highly uncertain, representing the largest uncertainty in projections of future climate by anthropogenic activities. By using a newly implemented cloud microphysical scheme in the cloud-resolving model, the thesis assesses aerosol-cloud interaction for distinct weather systems, ranging from individual cumulus to mesoscale convective systems. This thesis also introduces a novel hierarchical modeling approach that solves a long outstanding mismatch between simulations by regional weather models and global climate models in the climate modeling community. More importantly, the thesis provides key scientific solutions to several challenging questions in climate science, including the global impacts of the Asian pollution. As scientists wrestle with the complexities of climate change in response to varied anthropogenic forcing, perhaps no problem is more challenging than the understanding of the impacts of atmospheric aerosols from air pollution on clouds and the global circulation.

Relationships among cloud occurrence frequency, overlap, and effective thickness derived from CALIPSO and CloudSat merged cloud vertical profiles

Science.gov (United States)

Kato, Seiji; Sun-Mack, Sunny; Miller, Walter F.; Rose, Fred G.; Chen, Yan; Minnis, Patrick; Wielicki, Bruce A.

2010-01-01

A cloud frequency of occurrence matrix is generated using merged cloud vertical profiles derived from the satellite-borne Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) and cloud profiling radar. The matrix contains vertical profiles of cloud occurrence frequency as a function of the uppermost cloud top. It is shown that the cloud fraction and uppermost cloud top vertical profiles can be related by a cloud overlap matrix when the correlation length of cloud occurrence, which is interpreted as an effective cloud thickness, is introduced. The underlying assumption in establishing the above relation is that cloud overlap approaches random overlap with increasing distance separating cloud layers and that the probability of deviating from random overlap decreases exponentially with distance. One month of Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) and CloudSat data (July 2006) support these assumptions, although the correlation length sometimes increases with separation distance when the cloud top height is large. The data also show that the correlation length depends on cloud top hight and the maximum occurs when the cloud top height is 8 to 10 km. The cloud correlation length is equivalent to the decorrelation distance introduced by Hogan and Illingworth (2000) when cloud fractions of both layers in a two-cloud layer system are the same. The simple relationships derived in this study can be used to estimate the top-of-atmosphere irradiance difference caused by cloud fraction, uppermost cloud top, and cloud thickness vertical profile differences.

Clustering, randomness, and regularity in cloud fields: 2. Cumulus cloud fields

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, T.; Lee, J.; Weger, R. C.; Welch, R. M.

1992-12-01

During the last decade a major controversy has been brewing concerning the proper characterization of cumulus convection. The prevailing view has been that cumulus clouds form in clusters, in which cloud spacing is closer than that found for the overall cloud field and which maintains its identity over many cloud lifetimes. This "mutual protection hypothesis" of Randall and Huffman (1980) has been challenged by the "inhibition hypothesis" of Ramirez et al. (1990) which strongly suggests that the spatial distribution of cumuli must tend toward a regular distribution. A dilemma has resulted because observations have been reported to support both hypotheses. The present work reports a detailed analysis of cumulus cloud field spatial distributions based upon Landsat, Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer, and Skylab data. Both nearest-neighbor and point-to-cloud cumulative distribution function statistics are investigated. The results show unequivocally that when both large and small clouds are included in the cloud field distribution, the cloud field always has a strong clustering signal. The strength of clustering is largest at cloud diameters of about 200-300 m, diminishing with increasing cloud diameter. In many cases, clusters of small clouds are found which are not closely associated with large clouds. As the small clouds are eliminated from consideration, the cloud field typically tends towards regularity. Thus it would appear that the "inhibition hypothesis" of Ramirez and Bras (1990) has been verified for the large clouds. However, these results are based upon the analysis of point processes. A more exact analysis also is made which takes into account the cloud size distributions. Since distinct clouds are by definition nonoverlapping, cloud size effects place a restriction upon the possible locations of clouds in the cloud field. The net effect of this analysis is that the large clouds appear to be randomly distributed, with only weak tendencies towards

Cloud Computing Applications in Support of Earth Science Activities at Marshall Space Flight Center

Science.gov (United States)

Molthan, Andrew L.; Limaye, Ashutosh S.; Srikishen, Jayanthi

2011-01-01

Currently, the NASA Nebula Cloud Computing Platform is available to Agency personnel in a pre-release status as the system undergoes a formal operational readiness review. Over the past year, two projects within the Earth Science Office at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center have been investigating the performance and value of Nebula s "Infrastructure as a Service", or "IaaS" concept and applying cloud computing concepts to advance their respective mission goals. The Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Center focuses on the transition of unique NASA satellite observations and weather forecasting capabilities for use within the operational forecasting community through partnerships with NOAA s National Weather Service (NWS). SPoRT has evaluated the performance of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model on virtual machines deployed within Nebula and used Nebula instances to simulate local forecasts in support of regional forecast studies of interest to select NWS forecast offices. In addition to weather forecasting applications, rapidly deployable Nebula virtual machines have supported the processing of high resolution NASA satellite imagery to support disaster assessment following the historic severe weather and tornado outbreak of April 27, 2011. Other modeling and satellite analysis activities are underway in support of NASA s SERVIR program, which integrates satellite observations, ground-based data and forecast models to monitor environmental change and improve disaster response in Central America, the Caribbean, Africa, and the Himalayas. Leveraging SPoRT s experience, SERVIR is working to establish a real-time weather forecasting model for Central America. Other modeling efforts include hydrologic forecasts for Kenya, driven by NASA satellite observations and reanalysis data sets provided by the broader meteorological community. Forecast modeling efforts are supplemented by short-term forecasts of convective initiation, determined by

Cloud Computing for Science Data Processing in Support of Emergency Response

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Cloud computing enables users to create virtual computers, each one with the optimal configuration of hardware and software for a job. The number of virtual...

The Aereo dilemma and copyright in the cloud

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Monica Horten

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Aereo is a cloud-based startup company that offers people the possibility to watch live (or nearly live television on computing devices and smartphones. It was sued by the major US broadcasters for copyright liability and the case went to the Supreme Court where Aereo lost. It encapsulates a dilemma facing courts in the US and EU – that a ruling to shut down Aereo, on the basis that it is unlawful under copyright law, could threaten innovation in areas such as the cloud. The Aereo case turned on a narrow point of US copyright law, which this paper discusses. The core issue for this paper was to analyse the legal dispute between Aereo and the broadcasters as documented in the court papers, including transcripts of the hearing, and submissions in support of both parties. A key finding was that the technical design and characterisation of the service lay at the heart of the argument over copyright. The US courts deliberated at length as whether Aereo is more like a cable TV company, or is it merely an equipment provider, providing a digital video recorder in the cloud. The paper discusses whether technical design matters or whether the substantive effect could be the determining factor. The paper then broadens the perspective to examine the position of cloud service providers. It does so in general terms, using amicus curiae briefs and other documentation from the US court case, before concluding with a consideration of the EU position. An important finding is that the complexities of content acquisition, transmission and format-shifting will generate considerable legal uncertainty.

Cloud Computing: Virtual Clusters, Data Security, and Disaster Recovery

Science.gov (United States)

Hwang, Kai

Dr. Kai Hwang is a Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Director of Internet and Cloud Computing Lab at the Univ. of Southern California (USC). He received the Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Univ. of California, Berkeley. Prior to joining USC, he has taught at Purdue Univ. for many years. He has also served as a visiting Chair Professor at Minnesota, Hong Kong Univ., Zhejiang Univ., and Tsinghua Univ. He has published 8 books and over 210 scientific papers in computer science/engineering.

Cloud Bursting with GlideinWMS: Means to satisfy ever increasing computing needs for Scientific Workflows

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mhashilkar, Parag; Tiradani, Anthony; Holzman, Burt; Larson, Krista; Sfiligoi, Igor; Rynge, Mats

2014-01-01

Scientific communities have been in the forefront of adopting new technologies and methodologies in the computing. Scientific computing has influenced how science is done today, achieving breakthroughs that were impossible to achieve several decades ago. For the past decade several such communities in the Open Science Grid (OSG) and the European Grid Infrastructure (EGI) have been using GlideinWMS to run complex application workflows to effectively share computational resources over the grid. GlideinWMS is a pilot-based workload management system (WMS) that creates on demand, a dynamically sized overlay HTCondor batch system on grid resources. At present, the computational resources shared over the grid are just adequate to sustain the computing needs. We envision that the complexity of the science driven by 'Big Data' will further push the need for computational resources. To fulfill their increasing demands and/or to run specialized workflows, some of the big communities like CMS are investigating the use of cloud computing as Infrastructure-As-A-Service (IAAS) with GlideinWMS as a potential alternative to fill the void. Similarly, communities with no previous access to computing resources can use GlideinWMS to setup up a batch system on the cloud infrastructure. To enable this, the architecture of GlideinWMS has been extended to enable support for interfacing GlideinWMS with different Scientific and commercial cloud providers like HLT, FutureGrid, FermiCloud and Amazon EC2. In this paper, we describe a solution for cloud bursting with GlideinWMS. The paper describes the approach, architectural changes and lessons learned while enabling support for cloud infrastructures in GlideinWMS.

Temporally rendered automatic cloud extraction (TRACE) system

Science.gov (United States)

Bodrero, Dennis M.; Yale, James G.; Davis, Roger E.; Rollins, John M.

1999-10-01

Smoke/obscurant testing requires that 2D cloud extent be extracted from visible and thermal imagery. These data are used alone or in combination with 2D data from other aspects to make 3D calculations of cloud properties, including dimensions, volume, centroid, travel, and uniformity. Determining cloud extent from imagery has historically been a time-consuming manual process. To reduce time and cost associated with smoke/obscurant data processing, automated methods to extract cloud extent from imagery were investigated. The TRACE system described in this paper was developed and implemented at U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground, UT by the Science and Technology Corporation--Acuity Imaging Incorporated team with Small Business Innovation Research funding. TRACE uses dynamic background subtraction and 3D fast Fourier transform as primary methods to discriminate the smoke/obscurant cloud from the background. TRACE has been designed to run on a PC-based platform using Windows. The PC-Windows environment was chosen for portability, to give TRACE the maximum flexibility in terms of its interaction with peripheral hardware devices such as video capture boards, removable media drives, network cards, and digital video interfaces. Video for Windows provides all of the necessary tools for the development of the video capture utility in TRACE and allows for interchangeability of video capture boards without any software changes. TRACE is designed to take advantage of future upgrades in all aspects of its component hardware. A comparison of cloud extent determined by TRACE with manual method is included in this paper.

Thoughts About Advancement of the Discipline: Dark Clouds and Bright Lights.

Science.gov (United States)

Turkel, Marian; Fawcett, Jacqueline; Chinn, Peggy L; Eustace, Rosemary; Hansell, Phyllis Shanley; Smith, Marlaine C; Watson, Jean; Zahourek, Rothlyn

2018-01-01

In this essay, several nurse scholars who are particularly concerned about the contemporary state of nursing science present their specific concerns (dark clouds) about the advancement of our discipline and the ways in which the concerns have been addressed (bright lights). This essay is the first of two essays that were catalyzed by Barrett's paper, "Again, What Is Nursing Science?" The second essay will be published in the next issue Nursing Science Quarterly.

Genomic cloud computing: legal and ethical points to consider.

Science.gov (United States)

Dove, Edward S; Joly, Yann; Tassé, Anne-Marie; Knoppers, Bartha M

2015-10-01

The biggest challenge in twenty-first century data-intensive genomic science, is developing vast computer infrastructure and advanced software tools to perform comprehensive analyses of genomic data sets for biomedical research and clinical practice. Researchers are increasingly turning to cloud computing both as a solution to integrate data from genomics, systems biology and biomedical data mining and as an approach to analyze data to solve biomedical problems. Although cloud computing provides several benefits such as lower costs and greater efficiency, it also raises legal and ethical issues. In this article, we discuss three key 'points to consider' (data control; data security, confidentiality and transfer; and accountability) based on a preliminary review of several publicly available cloud service providers' Terms of Service. These 'points to consider' should be borne in mind by genomic research organizations when negotiating legal arrangements to store genomic data on a large commercial cloud service provider's servers. Diligent genomic cloud computing means leveraging security standards and evaluation processes as a means to protect data and entails many of the same good practices that researchers should always consider in securing their local infrastructure.

Cloud occurrences and cloud radiative effects (CREs) from CERES-CALIPSO-CloudSat-MODIS (CCCM) and CloudSat radar-lidar (RL) products

Science.gov (United States)

Ham, Seung-Hee; Kato, Seiji; Rose, Fred G.; Winker, David; L'Ecuyer, Tristan; Mace, Gerald G.; Painemal, David; Sun-Mack, Sunny; Chen, Yan; Miller, Walter F.

2017-08-01

Two kinds of cloud products obtained from Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO), CloudSat, and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) are compared and analyzed in this study: Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES)-CALIPSO-CloudSat-MODIS (CCCM) product and CloudSat radar-lidar products such as GEOPROF-LIDAR and FLXHR-LIDAR. Compared to GEOPROF-LIDAR, low-level (40°). The difference occurs when hydrometeors are detected by CALIPSO lidar but are undetected by CloudSat radar. In the comparison of cloud radiative effects (CREs), global mean differences between CCCM and FLXHR-LIDAR are mostly smaller than 5 W m-2, while noticeable regional differences are found. For example, CCCM shortwave (SW) and longwave (LW) CREs are larger than FXLHR-LIDAR along the west coasts of Africa and America because the GEOPROF-LIDAR algorithm misses shallow marine boundary layer clouds. In addition, FLXHR-LIDAR SW CREs are larger than the CCCM counterpart over tropical oceans away from the west coasts of America. Over midlatitude storm-track regions, CCCM SW and LW CREs are larger than the FLXHR-LIDAR counterpart.

Sun, Sky and Cloud: Where Light and Matter Meet

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Home; Journals; Resonance – Journal of Science Education; Volume 20; Issue 12. Sun, Sky and Cloud: Where Light and Matter Meet. Rajaram Nityananda. General Article Volume 20 Issue 12 December 2015 pp 1111-1127. Fulltext. Click here to view fulltext PDF. Permanent link:

Relation of Cloud Occurrence Frequency, Overlap, and Effective Thickness Derived from CALIPSO and CloudSat Merged Cloud Vertical Profiles

Science.gov (United States)

Kato, Seiji; Sun-Mack, Sunny; Miller, Walter F.; Rose, Fred G.; Chen, Yan; Minnis, Patrick; Wielicki, Bruce A.

2009-01-01

A cloud frequency of occurrence matrix is generated using merged cloud vertical profile derived from Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) and Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR). The matrix contains vertical profiles of cloud occurrence frequency as a function of the uppermost cloud top. It is shown that the cloud fraction and uppermost cloud top vertical pro les can be related by a set of equations when the correlation distance of cloud occurrence, which is interpreted as an effective cloud thickness, is introduced. The underlying assumption in establishing the above relation is that cloud overlap approaches the random overlap with increasing distance separating cloud layers and that the probability of deviating from the random overlap decreases exponentially with distance. One month of CALIPSO and CloudSat data support these assumptions. However, the correlation distance sometimes becomes large, which might be an indication of precipitation. The cloud correlation distance is equivalent to the de-correlation distance introduced by Hogan and Illingworth [2000] when cloud fractions of both layers in a two-cloud layer system are the same.

A State-of-the-Art Experimental Laboratory for Cloud and Cloud-Aerosol Interaction Research

Science.gov (United States)

Fremaux, Charles M.; Bushnell, Dennis M.

2011-01-01

The state of the art for predicting climate changes due to increasing greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere with high accuracy is problematic. Confidence intervals on current long-term predictions (on the order of 100 years) are so large that the ability to make informed decisions with regard to optimum strategies for mitigating both the causes of climate change and its effects is in doubt. There is ample evidence in the literature that large sources of uncertainty in current climate models are various aerosol effects. One approach to furthering discovery as well as modeling, and verification and validation (V&V) for cloud-aerosol interactions is use of a large "cloud chamber" in a complimentary role to in-situ and remote sensing measurement approaches. Reproducing all of the complex interactions is not feasible, but it is suggested that the physics of certain key processes can be established in a laboratory setting so that relevant fluid-dynamic and cloud-aerosol phenomena can be experimentally simulated and studied in a controlled environment. This report presents a high-level argument for significantly improved laboratory capability, and is meant to serve as a starting point for stimulating discussion within the climate science and other interested communities.

Teaching Thousands with Cloud-based GIS

Science.gov (United States)

Gould, Michael; DiBiase, David; Beale, Linda

2016-04-01

Teaching Thousands with Cloud-based GIS Educators often draw a distinction between "teaching about GIS" and "teaching with GIS." Teaching about GIS involves helping students learn what GIS is, what it does, and how it works. On the other hand, teaching with GIS involves using the technology as a means to achieve education objectives in the sciences, social sciences, professional disciplines like engineering and planning, and even the humanities. The same distinction applies to CyberGIS. Understandably, early efforts to develop CyberGIS curricula and educational resources tend to be concerned primarily with CyberGIS itself. However, if CyberGIS becomes as functional, usable and scalable as it aspires to be, teaching with CyberGIS has the potential to enable large and diverse global audiences to perform spatial analysis using hosted data, mapping and analysis services all running in the cloud. Early examples of teaching tens of thousands of students across the globe with cloud-based GIS include the massive open online courses (MOOCs) offered by Penn State University and others, as well as the series of MOOCs more recently developed and offered by Esri. In each case, ArcGIS Online was used to help students achieve educational objectives in subjects like business, geodesign, geospatial intelligence, and spatial analysis, as well as mapping. Feedback from the more than 100,000 total student participants to date, as well as from the educators and staff who supported these offerings, suggest that online education with cloud-based GIS is scalable to very large audiences. Lessons learned from the course design, development, and delivery of these early examples may be useful in informing the continuing development of CyberGIS education. While MOOCs may have passed the peak of their "hype cycle" in higher education, the phenomenon they revealed persists: namely, a global mass market of educated young adults who turn to free online education to expand their horizons. The

Sadhana | Indian Academy of Sciences

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

2018-03-14

Mar 14, 2018 ... Cloud security; network security; anomaly detection; network traffic analysis; DDoS attack detection. ... Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee 247667, India; Department of Applied Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology ...

A brief assessment of physical functioning for prostate cancer patients

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jin-Shei Lai

2010-06-01

Full Text Available Jin-Shei Lai1, Rita Bode2, Hwee-Lin Wee3, David Eton4, David Cella11Department of Medical Social Sciences, 2Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, IL USA; 3Department of Pharmacy, National University of Singapore, Singapore; 4Division of Health Care Policy and Research, Department of Health Sciences Research, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USAAbstract: We aimed to validate a more rapid, yet reliable means of assessing physical function (PF for patients with prostate cancer. The sample included 128 prostate cancer patients recruited from urology and general oncology clinics at two Chicago-area hospitals. The main outcome measures were: A 36-item PF item bank that included a 5-item short form (BriefPF and the 10-item PF subscale (PF-10 from the Medical Outcomes Study SF-36. Validity, information function, and relative precision (calculated using Rasch analysis and raw scores of the BriefPF were compared to the PF-10 and the full PF item bank. We found that the BriefPF and PF-10 were strongly correlated (r = 0.85 with the PF bank, and all three scales differentiated patients according to performance status (FPF bank(2,124 = 32.51 P < 0.001, FPF-10(2,121 = 27.35 P < 0.001, FBriefPF (2,123 = 38.40 P < 0.001. BriefPF has excellent precision relative to the PF-10 in measuring patients with different performance status levels. The Rasch-based information function indicated that the BriefPF was more informative than PF-10 in measuring moderate to higher functioning patients. Hence, the BriefPF offers a parsimonious and precise measure of PF for use among men with prostate cancer, and may aid in the timely inclusion of patient-reported outcomes in treatment decision-making.Keywords: quality-of-life, item bank, short-form, Medical Outcomes Study

Cloud and Radiation Studies during SAFARI 2000

Science.gov (United States)

Platnick, Steven; King, M. D.; Hobbs, P. V.; Osborne, S.; Piketh, S.; Bruintjes, R.; Lau, William K. M. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

Though the emphasis of the Southern Africa Regional Science Initiative 2000 (SAFARI-2000) dry season campaign was largely on emission sources and transport, the assemblage of aircraft (including the high altitude NASA ER-2 remote sensing platform and the University of Washington CV-580, UK MRF C130, and South African Weather Bureau JRA in situ aircrafts) provided a unique opportunity for cloud studies. Therefore, as part of the SAFARI initiative, investigations were undertaken to assess regional aerosol-cloud interactions and cloud remote sensing algorithms. In particular, the latter part of the experiment concentrated on marine boundary layer stratocumulus clouds off the southwest coast of Africa. Associated with cold water upwelling along the Benguela current, the Namibian stratocumulus regime has received limited attention but appears to be unique for several reasons. During the dry season, outflow of continental fires and industrial pollution over this area can be extreme. From below, upwelling provides a rich nutrient source for phytoplankton (a source of atmospheric sulphur through DMS production as well as from decay processes). The impact of these natural and anthropogenic sources on the microphysical and optical properties of the stratocumulus is unknown. Continental and Indian Ocean cloud systems of opportunity were also studied during the campaign. Aircraft flights were coordinated with NASA Terra Satellite overpasses for synergy with the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and other Terra instruments. An operational MODIS algorithm for the retrieval of cloud optical and physical properties (including optical thickness, effective particle radius, and water path) has been developed. Pixel-level MODIS retrievals (11 km spatial resolution at nadir) and gridded statistics of clouds in th SAFARI region will be presented. In addition, the MODIS Airborne Simulator flown on the ER-2 provided high spatial resolution retrievals (50 m at nadir

Contrasting Cloud Composition Between Coupled and Decoupled Marine Boundary Layer Clouds

Science.gov (United States)

WANG, Z.; Mora, M.; Dadashazar, H.; MacDonald, A.; Crosbie, E.; Bates, K. H.; Coggon, M. M.; Craven, J. S.; Xian, P.; Campbell, J. R.; AzadiAghdam, M.; Woods, R. K.; Jonsson, H.; Flagan, R. C.; Seinfeld, J.; Sorooshian, A.

2016-12-01

Marine stratocumulus clouds often become decoupled from the vertical layer immediately above the ocean surface. This study contrasts cloud chemical composition between coupled and decoupled marine stratocumulus clouds. Cloud water and droplet residual particle composition were measured in clouds off the California coast during three airborne experiments in July-August of separate years (E-PEACE 2011, NiCE 2013, BOAS 2015). Decoupled clouds exhibited significantly lower overall mass concentrations in both cloud water and droplet residual particles, consistent with reduced cloud droplet number concentration and sub-cloud aerosol (Dp > 100 nm) number concentration, owing to detachment from surface sources. Non-refractory sub-micrometer aerosol measurements show that coupled clouds exhibit higher sulfate mass fractions in droplet residual particles, owing to more abundant precursor emissions from the ocean and ships. Consequently, decoupled clouds exhibited higher mass fractions of organics, nitrate, and ammonium in droplet residual particles, owing to effects of long-range transport from more distant sources. Total cloud water mass concentration in coupled clouds was dominated by sodium and chloride, and their mass fractions and concentrations exceeded those in decoupled clouds. Conversely, with the exception of sea salt constituents (e.g., Cl, Na, Mg, K), cloud water mass fractions of all species examined were higher in decoupled clouds relative to coupled clouds. These results suggest that an important variable is the extent to which clouds are coupled to the surface layer when interpreting microphysical data relevant to clouds and aerosol particles.

CERN explores link between cosmic rays and clouds

CERN Multimedia

2006-01-01

"Scientists at CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, have started a new experiment to investigate the possible influence of galactic cosmic rays on the Earths clouds and climate. This is the first time that a high energy physics accelerator has been used for atmospheric and climate science." (1 page)

Upgrade of the NASA 4STAR (Spectrometer for Sky-Scanning, Sun-Tracking Atmospheric Research) to its Full Science Capability of Sun-Sky-Cloud-Trace Gas Spectrometry in Airborne Science Deployments

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Roy R.; Russell, P.; Dunagan, S.; Redemann, J.; Shinozuka, Y.; Segal-Rosenheimer, M.; LeBlanc, S.; Flynn, C.; Schmid, B.; Livingston, J.

2014-01-01

The objectives of this task in the AITT (Airborne Instrument Technology Transition) Program are to (1) upgrade the NASA 4STAR (Spectrometer for Sky-Scanning, Sun-Tracking Atmospheric Research) instrument to its full science capability of measuring (a) direct-beam sun transmission to derive aerosol optical depth spectra, (b) sky radiance vs scattering angle to retrieve aerosol absorption and type (via complex refractive index spectra, shape, and mode-resolved size distribution), (c) zenith radiance for cloud properties, and (d) hyperspectral signals for trace gas retrievals, and (2) demonstrate its suitability for deployment in challenging NASA airborne multiinstrument campaigns. 4STAR combines airborne sun tracking, sky scanning, and zenith pointing with diffraction spectroscopy to improve knowledge of atmospheric constituents and their links to air pollution, radiant energy budgets (hence climate), and remote measurements of Earth's surfaces. Direct beam hyperspectral measurement of optical depth improves retrievals of gas constituents and determination of aerosol properties. Sky scanning enhances retrievals of aerosol type and size distribution. 4STAR measurements are intended to tighten the closure between satellite and ground-based measurements. 4STAR incorporates a modular sun-tracking/sky-scanning optical head with fiber optic signal transmission to rack mounted spectrometers, permitting miniaturization of the external optical head, and future detector evolution. 4STAR test flights, as well as science flights in the 2012-13 TCAP (Two-Column Aerosol Project) and 2013 SEAC4RS (Studies of Emissions and Atmospheric Composition, Clouds and Climate Coupling by Regional Surveys) have demonstrated that the following are essential for 4STAR to achieve its full science potential: (1) Calibration stability for both direct-beam irradiance and sky radiance, (2) Improved light collection and usage, and (3) Improved flight operability and reliability. A particular challenge

Context-aware distributed cloud computing using CloudScheduler

Science.gov (United States)

Seuster, R.; Leavett-Brown, CR; Casteels, K.; Driemel, C.; Paterson, M.; Ring, D.; Sobie, RJ; Taylor, RP; Weldon, J.

2017-10-01

The distributed cloud using the CloudScheduler VM provisioning service is one of the longest running systems for HEP workloads. It has run millions of jobs for ATLAS and Belle II over the past few years using private and commercial clouds around the world. Our goal is to scale the distributed cloud to the 10,000-core level, with the ability to run any type of application (low I/O, high I/O and high memory) on any cloud. To achieve this goal, we have been implementing changes that utilize context-aware computing designs that are currently employed in the mobile communication industry. Context-awareness makes use of real-time and archived data to respond to user or system requirements. In our distributed cloud, we have many opportunistic clouds with no local HEP services, software or storage repositories. A context-aware design significantly improves the reliability and performance of our system by locating the nearest location of the required services. We describe how we are collecting and managing contextual information from our workload management systems, the clouds, the virtual machines and our services. This information is used not only to monitor the system but also to carry out automated corrective actions. We are incrementally adding new alerting and response services to our distributed cloud. This will enable us to scale the number of clouds and virtual machines. Further, a context-aware design will enable us to run analysis or high I/O application on opportunistic clouds. We envisage an open-source HTTP data federation (for example, the DynaFed system at CERN) as a service that would provide us access to existing storage elements used by the HEP experiments.

AceCloud: Molecular Dynamics Simulations in the Cloud.

Science.gov (United States)

Harvey, M J; De Fabritiis, G

2015-05-26

We present AceCloud, an on-demand service for molecular dynamics simulations. AceCloud is designed to facilitate the secure execution of large ensembles of simulations on an external cloud computing service (currently Amazon Web Services). The AceCloud client, integrated into the ACEMD molecular dynamics package, provides an easy-to-use interface that abstracts all aspects of interaction with the cloud services. This gives the user the experience that all simulations are running on their local machine, minimizing the learning curve typically associated with the transition to using high performance computing services.

VMware private cloud computing with vCloud director

CERN Document Server

Gallagher, Simon

2013-01-01

It's All About Delivering Service with vCloud Director Empowered by virtualization, companies are not just moving into the cloud, they're moving into private clouds for greater security, flexibility, and cost savings. However, this move involves more than just infrastructure. It also represents a different business model and a new way to provide services. In this detailed book, VMware vExpert Simon Gallagher makes sense of private cloud computing for IT administrators. From basic cloud theory and strategies for adoption to practical implementation, he covers all the issues. You'll lea

Towards PACE Atmospheric Correction, Aerosol and Cloud Products: Making Use of Expanded Spectral, Angular and Polarimetric Information.

Science.gov (United States)

Remer, L. A.; Boss, E.; Ahmad, Z.; Cairns, B.; Chowdhary, J.; Coddington, O.; Davis, A. B.; Dierssen, H. M.; Diner, D. J.; Franz, B. A.; Frouin, R.; Gao, B. C.; Garay, M. J.; Heidinger, A.; Ibrahim, A.; Kalashnikova, O. V.; Knobelspiesse, K. D.; Levy, R. C.; Omar, A. H.; Meyer, K.; Platnick, S. E.; Seidel, F. C.; van Diedenhoven, B.; Werdell, J.; Xu, F.; Zhai, P.; Zhang, Z.

2017-12-01

NASA's Science Team for the Plankton, Aerosol, Clouds, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission is concluding three years of study exploring the science potential of expanded spectral, angular and polarization capability for space-based retrievals of water leaving radiance, aerosols and clouds. The work anticipates future development of retrievals to be applied to the PACE Ocean Color Instrument (OCI) and/or possibly a PACE Multi-Angle Polarimeter (MAP). In this presentation we will report on the Science Team's accomplishments associated with the atmosphere (significant efforts are also directed by the ST towards the ocean). Included in the presentation will be sensitivity studies that explore new OCI capabilities for aerosol and cloud layer height, aerosol absorption characterization, cloud property retrievals, and how we intend to move from heritage atmospheric correction algorithms to make use of and adjust to OCI's hyperspectral and UV wavelengths. We will then address how capabilities will improve with the PACE MAP, how these capabilities from both OCI and MAP correspond to specific societal benefits from the PACE mission, and what is still needed to close the gaps in our understanding before the PACE mission can realize its full potential.

E-SCIENCE: AN INTRODUCTION

OpenAIRE

, Sarhan M. Musa

2017-01-01

E-science refers to the type of scientific research that uses large-scale computing infrastructure to process very large amount of data. It is an interdisciplinary branch of science that explores and implements information technology platforms, which include computer networks, computer information technology, telecommunication, and computational methods. This paper provides a brief introduction to e-science.

Plasma Science Committee (PLSC) and study on new opportunities in plasma science and technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1992-01-01

The Plasma Science Committee (PLSC) of the National Research Council (NRC) is charged with monitoring the health of the field of plasma science in the United States. Accordingly, the Committee identifies and examines both broad and specific issues affecting the field. Regular meetings, teleconferences, briefings from agencies and the scientific community, the formation of study panels to prepare reports, and special symposia are among the mechanisms used by the PLSC to meet its charge. This progress report presents a review of PLSC activities from July 15, 1991 to May 31, 1992. The details of prior activities are discussed in earlier reports. This report also includes the status of activities associated with the PLSC study on opportunities in plasma science and technology. During the above period, the PLSC has continued to track and participate in, when requested, discussions on the health of the field. Much of the perspective of the PLSC has been presented in the recently-published report Research Briefing on Contemporary Problems in Plasma Science. That report has served as the basis for briefings to representatives of the federal government as well as the community-at-large. In keeping with its charge to identify and highlight specific areas for scientific and technological opportunities, the PLSC completed publication of the report Plasma Processing of Materials: Scientific and Technological Opportunities and launched a study on new opportunities in plasma science and technology

How Often and Why MODIS Cloud Property Retrievals Fail for Liquid-Phase Clouds over Ocean? a Comprehensive Analysis Based on a-Train Observations

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Z.; Cho, H. M.; Platnick, S. E.; Meyer, K.; Lebsock, M. D.

2014-12-01

The cloud optical thickness (τ) and droplet effective radius (re) are two key cloud parameters retrieved by MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer). These MODIS cloud products are widely used in a broad range of earth system science applications. In this paper, we present a comprehensive analysis of the failed cloud τ and/or re retrievals for liquid-phase clouds over ocean in the Collection 6 MODIS cloud product. The main findings from this study are summarized as follows: MODIS retrieval failure rates for marine boundary layer (MBL) clouds have a strong dependence on the spectral combination used for retrieval (e.g., 0.86 + 2.1 µm vs. 0.8 + 3.7 µm) and the cloud morphology (i.e., "good" pixels vs. partly cloudy (PCL) pixels). Combining all clear-sky-restoral (CSR) categories (CSR=0,1 and 3), the 0.86 + 2.1 µm and 0.86 + 3.7 µm spectral combinations have an overall failure rate of about 20% and 12%, respectively (See figure below). The PCL pixels (CSR=1 & 3) have significantly higher failure rates and contribute more to the total failure population than the "good" (CSR=0) pixels. The majority of the failed retrievals are caused by the re too large failure, which explains about 85% and 70% of the failed 0.86 + 2.1 µm and 0.86 + 3.7 µm retrievals, respectively. The remaining failures are either due to the re too small failure or τ retrieval failure. The geographical distribution of failure rates has a significant dependence on cloud regime, lower over the coastal stratocumulus cloud regime and higher over the broken trade-wind cumulus cloud regime over open oceans. Enhanced retrieval failure rates are found when MBL clouds have high sub-pixel inhomogeneity , or are located at special Sun-satellite viewing geometries, such as sunglint, large viewing or solar zenith angle, or cloudbow and glory angles, or subject to cloud masking, cloud overlapping and/or cloud phase retrieval issues. About 80% of the failure retrievals can be attributed to at

From science gateways to commercial solutions

OpenAIRE

Kiss, T.; Terstyanszky, G.

2016-01-01

The European CloudSME project that incorporated 24 European SMEs, besides five academic partners, has finished its funded phase in March 2016. This presentation will provide a summary of the results of the project, and will analyze the challenges and differences when developing “SME Gateways”, when compared to “Science Gateways”. CloudSME started in 2013 with the aim to develop a cloud-based simulation platform for manufacturing and engineering SMEs. The project was based around industry use-...

Near Real Time Vertical Profiles of Clouds and Aerosols from the Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) on the International Space Station

Science.gov (United States)

Yorks, J. E.; McGill, M. J.; Nowottnick, E. P.

2015-12-01

Plumes from hazardous events, such as ash from volcanic eruptions and smoke from wildfires, can have a profound impact on the climate system, human health and the economy. Global aerosol transport models are very useful for tracking hazardous plumes and predicting the transport of these plumes. However aerosol vertical distributions and optical properties are a major weakness of global aerosol transport models, yet a key component of tracking and forecasting smoke and ash. The Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) is an elastic backscatter lidar designed to provide vertical profiles of clouds and aerosols while also demonstrating new in-space technologies for future Earth Science missions. CATS has been operating on the Japanese Experiment Module - Exposed Facility (JEM-EF) of the International Space Station (ISS) since early February 2015. The ISS orbit provides more comprehensive coverage of the tropics and mid-latitudes than sun-synchronous orbiting sensors, with nearly a three-day repeat cycle. The ISS orbit also provides CATS with excellent coverage over the primary aerosol transport tracks, mid-latitude storm tracks, and tropical convection. Data from CATS is used to derive properties of clouds and aerosols including: layer height, layer thickness, backscatter, optical depth, extinction, and depolarization-based discrimination of particle type. The measurements of atmospheric clouds and aerosols provided by the CATS payload have demonstrated several science benefits. CATS provides near-real-time observations of cloud and aerosol vertical distributions that can be used as inputs to global models. The infrastructure of the ISS allows CATS data to be captured, transmitted, and received at the CATS ground station within several minutes of data collection. The CATS backscatter and vertical feature mask are part of a customized near real time (NRT) product that the CATS processing team produces within 6 hours of collection. The continuous near real time CATS data

Moving Towards a Science-Driven Workbench for Earth Science Solutions

Science.gov (United States)

Graves, S. J.; Djorgovski, S. G.; Law, E.; Yang, C. P.; Keiser, K.

2017-12-01

The NSF-funded EarthCube Integration and Test Environment (ECITE) prototype was proposed as a 2015 Integrated Activities project and resulted in the prototyping of an EarthCube federated cloud environment and the Integration and Testing Framework. The ECITE team has worked with EarthCube science and technology governance committees to define the types of integration, testing and evaluation necessary to achieve and demonstrate interoperability and functionality that benefit and support the objectives of the EarthCube cyber-infrastructure. The scope of ECITE also includes reaching beyond NSF and EarthCube to work with the broader Earth science community, such as the Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP) to incorporate lessons learned from other testbed activities, and ultimately provide broader community benefits. This presentation will discuss evolving ECITE ideas for a science-driven workbench that will start with documented science use cases, map the use cases to solution scenarios that identify the available technology and data resources that match the use case, the generation of solution workflows and test plans, the testing and evaluation of the solutions in a cloud environment, and finally the documentation of identified technology and data gaps that will assist with driving the development of additional EarthCube resources.

Creating cloud-free Landsat ETM+ data sets in tropical landscapes: cloud and cloud-shadow removal

Science.gov (United States)

Sebastián Martinuzzi; William A. Gould; Olga M. Ramos Gonzalez

2007-01-01

Clouds and cloud shadows are common features of visible and infrared remotelysensed images collected from many parts of the world, particularly in humid and tropical regions. We have developed a simple and semiautomated method to mask clouds and shadows in Landsat ETM+ imagery, and have developed a recent cloud-free composite of multitemporal images for Puerto Rico and...

Green Bank Telescope Detection of HI Clouds in the Fermi Bubble Wind

Science.gov (United States)

Lockman, Felix; Di Teodoro, Enrico M.; McClure-Griffiths, Naomi M.

2018-01-01

We used the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope to map HI 21cm emission in two large regions around the Galactic Center in a search for HI clouds that might be entrained in the nuclear wind that created the Fermi bubbles. In a ~160 square degree region at |b|>4 deg. and |long|<10 deg we detect 106 HI clouds that have large non-circular velocities consistent with their acceleration by the nuclear wind. Rapidly moving clouds are found as far as 1.5 kpc from the center; there are no detectable asymmetries in the cloud populations above and below the Galactic Center. The cloud kinematics is modeled as a population with an outflow velocity of 330 km/s that fills a cone with an opening angle ~140 degrees. The total mass in the clouds is ~10^6 solar masses and we estimate cloud lifetimes to be between 2 and 8 Myr, implying a cold gas mass-loss rate of about 0.1 solar masses per year into the nuclear wind.The Green Bank Telescope is a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated under a cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.

Mobile clouds exploiting distributed resources in wireless, mobile and social networks

CERN Document Server

Fitzek, Frank H P

2013-01-01

Includes a preface written by Professor Leonard Kleinrock, Distinguished Professor of Computer Science, UCLA, USA This book discusses and explores the concept of mobile cloud, creating an inspiring research space for exploiting opportunistic resource sharing, and covering from theoretical research approaches to the development of commercially profitable ideas. A mobile cloud is a cooperative arrangement of dynamically connected communication nodes sharing opportunistic resources. In this book, authors provide a comprehensive and motivating overview of this rapidly emerging technology. The b

New Satellite Estimates of Mixed-Phase Cloud Properties: A Synergistic Approach for Application to Global Satellite Imager Data

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, W. L., Jr.; Spangenberg, D.; Fleeger, C.; Sun-Mack, S.; Chen, Y.; Minnis, P.

2016-12-01

validated with icing PIREPS. The initial validation is encouraging for single-layer cloud conditions. More work is needed to test and refine the method for global application in a wider range of cloud conditions. A brief overview of our current method, applications, verification, and plans for future work will be presented.

Zen of cloud learning cloud computing by examples on Microsoft Azure

CERN Document Server

Bai, Haishi

2014-01-01

Zen of Cloud: Learning Cloud Computing by Examples on Microsoft Azure provides comprehensive coverage of the essential theories behind cloud computing and the Windows Azure cloud platform. Sharing the author's insights gained while working at Microsoft's headquarters, it presents nearly 70 end-to-end examples with step-by-step guidance on implementing typical cloud-based scenarios.The book is organized into four sections: cloud service fundamentals, cloud solutions, devices and cloud, and system integration and project management. Each chapter contains detailed exercises that provide readers w

A short overview of the microbial population in clouds: Potential roles in atmospheric chemistry and nucleation processes

Science.gov (United States)

Delort, Anne-Marie; Vaïtilingom, Mickael; Amato, Pierre; Sancelme, Martine; Parazols, Marius; Mailhot, Gilles; Laj, Paolo; Deguillaume, Laurent

2010-11-01

Recent studies showed that living microorganisms, including bacteria, fungi and yeasts, are present in the atmospheric water phase (fog and clouds) and their role in chemical processes may have been underestimated. At the interface between atmospheric science and microbiology, information about this field of science suffers from the fact that not all recent findings are efficiently conveyed to both scientific communities. The purpose of this paper is therefore to provide a short overview of recent work linked to living organisms in the atmospheric water phase, from their activation to cloud droplets and ice crystal, to their potential impact on atmospheric chemical processes. This paper is focused on the microorganisms present in clouds and on the role they could play in atmospheric chemistry and nucleation processes. First, the life cycle of microorganisms via the atmosphere is examined, including their aerosolization from sources, their integration into clouds and their wet deposition on the ground. Second, special attention is paid to the possible impacts of microorganisms on liquid and ice nucleation processes. Third, a short description of the microorganisms that have been found in clouds and their variability in numbers and diversity is presented, emphasizing some specific characteristics that could favour their occurrence in cloud droplets. In the last section, the potential role of microbial activity as an alternative route to photochemical reaction pathways in cloud chemistry is discussed.

A brief review of augmented reality science learning

Science.gov (United States)

Gopalan, Valarmathie; Bakar, Juliana Aida Abu; Zulkifli, Abdul Nasir

2017-10-01

This paper reviews several literatures concerning the theories and model that could be applied for science motivation for upper secondary school learners (16-17 years old) in order to make the learning experience more amazing and useful. The embedment of AR in science could bring an awe-inspiring transformation on learners' viewpoint towards the respective subject matters. Augmented Reality is able to present the real and virtual learning experience with the addition of multiple media without replacing the real environment. Due to the unique feature of AR, it attracts the mass attention of researchers to implement AR in science learning. This impressive technology offers learners with the ultimate visualization and provides an astonishing and transparent learning experience by bringing to light the unseen perspective of the learning content. This paper will attract the attention of researchers in the related field as well as academicians in the related discipline. This paper aims to propose several related theoretical guidance that could be applied in science motivation to transform the learning in an effective way.

TURBULENCE DECAY AND CLOUD CORE RELAXATION IN MOLECULAR CLOUDS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gao, Yang; Law, Chung K.; Xu, Haitao

2015-01-01

The turbulent motion within molecular clouds is a key factor controlling star formation. Turbulence supports molecular cloud cores from evolving to gravitational collapse and hence sets a lower bound on the size of molecular cloud cores in which star formation can occur. On the other hand, without a continuous external energy source maintaining the turbulence, such as in molecular clouds, the turbulence decays with an energy dissipation time comparable to the dynamic timescale of clouds, which could change the size limits obtained from Jean's criterion by assuming constant turbulence intensities. Here we adopt scaling relations of physical variables in decaying turbulence to analyze its specific effects on the formation of stars. We find that the decay of turbulence provides an additional approach for Jeans' criterion to be achieved, after which gravitational infall governs the motion of the cloud core. This epoch of turbulence decay is defined as cloud core relaxation. The existence of cloud core relaxation provides a more complete understanding of the effect of the competition between turbulence and gravity on the dynamics of molecular cloud cores and star formation

COMPARATIVE STUDY OF CLOUD COMPUTING AND MOBILE CLOUD COMPUTING

OpenAIRE

Nidhi Rajak*, Diwakar Shukla

2018-01-01

Present era is of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and there are number of researches are going on Cloud Computing and Mobile Cloud Computing such security issues, data management, load balancing and so on. Cloud computing provides the services to the end user over Internet and the primary objectives of this computing are resource sharing and pooling among the end users. Mobile Cloud Computing is a combination of Cloud Computing and Mobile Computing. Here, data is stored in...

Hormesis in Regulatory risk assessment - Science and Science Policy.

Science.gov (United States)

Gray, George

2011-01-01

This brief commentary will argue that whether hormesis is considered in regulatory risk assessment is a matter less of science than of science policy. I will first discuss the distinction between science and science policy and their roles in regulatory risk assessment. Then I will focus on factors that influence science policy, especially as it relates to the conduct of risk assessments to inform regulatory decisions, with a focus on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The key questions will then be how does hormesis interact with current concepts of science and science policy for risk assessment? Finally, I look ahead to factors that may increase, or decrease, the likelihood of hormesis being incorporated into regulatory risk assessment.

Review of Cloud Computing and existing Frameworks for Cloud adoption

OpenAIRE

Chang, Victor; Walters, Robert John; Wills, Gary

2014-01-01

This paper presents a selected review for Cloud Computing and explains the benefits and risks of adopting Cloud Computing in a business environment. Although all the risks identified may be associated with two major Cloud adoption challenges, a framework is required to support organisations as they begin to use Cloud and minimise risks of Cloud adoption. Eleven Cloud Computing frameworks are investigated and a comparison of their strengths and limitations is made; the result of the comparison...

Remote Sensing of Crystal Shapes in Ice Clouds

Science.gov (United States)

van Diedenhoven, Bastiaan

2017-01-01

Ice crystals in clouds exist in a virtually limitless variation of geometries. The most basic shapes of ice crystals are columnar or plate-like hexagonal prisms with aspect ratios determined by relative humidity and temperature. However, crystals in ice clouds generally display more complex structures owing to aggregation, riming and growth histories through varying temperature and humidity regimes. Crystal shape is relevant for cloud evolution as it affects microphysical properties such as fall speeds and aggregation efficiency. Furthermore, the scattering properties of ice crystals are affected by their general shape, as well as by microscopic features such as surface roughness, impurities and internal structure. To improve the representation of ice clouds in climate models, increased understanding of the global variation of crystal shape and how it relates to, e.g., location, cloud temperature and atmospheric state is crucial. Here, the remote sensing of ice crystal macroscale and microscale structure from airborne and space-based lidar depolarization observations and multi-directional measurements of total and polarized reflectances is reviewed. In addition, a brief overview is given of in situ and laboratory observations of ice crystal shape as well as the optical properties of ice crystals that serve as foundations for the remote sensing approaches. Lidar depolarization is generally found to increase with increasing cloud height and to vary with latitude. Although this variation is generally linked to the variation of ice crystal shape, the interpretation of the depolarization remains largely qualitative and more research is needed before quantitative conclusions about ice shape can be deduced. The angular variation of total and polarized reflectances of ice clouds has been analyzed by numerous studies in order to infer information about ice crystal shapes from them. From these studies it is apparent that pristine crystals with smooth surfaces are generally

Cloud CCN feedback

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hudson, J.G.

1992-01-01

Cloud microphysics affects cloud albedo precipitation efficiency and the extent of cloud feedback in response to global warming. Compared to other cloud parameters, microphysics is unique in its large range of variability and the fact that much of the variability is anthropogenic. Probably the most important determinant of cloud microphysics is the spectra of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) which display considerable variability and have a large anthropogenic component. When analyzed in combination three field observation projects display the interrelationship between CCN and cloud microphysics. CCN were measured with the Desert Research Institute (DRI) instantaneous CCN spectrometer. Cloud microphysical measurements were obtained with the National Center for Atmospheric Research Lockheed Electra. Since CCN and cloud microphysics each affect the other a positive feedback mechanism can result

The Problem with Briefs, in Brief

Science.gov (United States)

Conaway, Carrie L.

2013-01-01

Policy briefs written by academics--the kind typically published in "Education Finance and Policy"--should be a crucial source of information for policy makers. Yet too frequently these briefs fail to garner the consideration they deserve. Their authors are too focused on the potential objections of their fellow academics, who are…

Cloud Governance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Berthing, Hans Henrik

Denne præsentation beskriver fordele og værdier ved anvendelse af Cloud Computing. Endvidere inddrager resultater fra en række internationale analyser fra ISACA om Cloud Computing.......Denne præsentation beskriver fordele og værdier ved anvendelse af Cloud Computing. Endvidere inddrager resultater fra en række internationale analyser fra ISACA om Cloud Computing....

The NPOESS Preparatory Project Science Data Segment: Brief Overview

Science.gov (United States)

Schweiss, Robert J.; Ho, Evelyn; Ullman, Richard; Samadi, Shahin

2006-01-01

The NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) provides remotely-sensed land, ocean, atmospheric, ozone, and sounder data that will serve the meteorological and global climate change scientific communities while also providing risk reduction for the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS), the U.S. Government s future low-Earth orbiting satellite system monitoring global weather and environmental conditions. NPOESS and NPP are a new era, not only because the sensors will provide unprecedented quality and volume of data but also because it is a joint mission of three federal agencies, NASA, NOAA, and DoD. NASA's primary science role in NPP is to independently assess the quality of the NPP science and environmental data records. Such assessment is critical for making NPOESS products the best that they can be for operational use and ultimately for climate studies. The Science Data Segment (SDS) supports science assessment by assuring the timely provision of NPP data to NASA s science teams organized by climate measurement themes. The SDS breaks down into nine major elements, an input element that receives data from the operational agencies and acts as a buffer, a calibration analysis element, five elements devoted to measurement based quality assessment, an element used to test algorithmic improvements, and an element that provides overall science direction. This paper will describe how the NPP SDS will leverage on NASA experience to provide a mission-reliable research capability for science assessment of NPP derived measurements.

Comparisons of Satellite-Deduced Overlapping Cloud Properties and CALIPSO CloudSat Data

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Fu-Lung; Minnis, Patrick; Lin, Bing; Sun-Mack, Sunny

2010-01-01

Introduction to the overlapped cloud properties derived from polar-orbiting (MODIS) and geostationary (GOES-12, -13, Meteosat-8, -9, etc.) meteorological satellites, which are produced at the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) cloud research & development team (NASA lead scientist: Dr. Patrick Minnis). Comparison of the LaRC CERES MODIS Edition-3 overlapped cloud properties to the CALIPSO and the CloudSat active sensing data. High clouds and overlapped clouds occur frequently as deduced by CALIPSO (44 & 25%), CloudSat (25 & 4%), and MODIS (37 & 6%). Large fractions of optically-thin cirrus and overlapped clouds are deduced from CALIPSO, but much smaller fractions are from CloudSat and MODIS. For overlapped clouds, the averaged upper-layer CTHs are about 12.8 (CALIPSO), 10.9 (CloudSat) and 10 km (MODIS), and the averaged lower-layer CTHs are about 3.6 (CALIPSO), 3.2 (CloudSat) and 3.9 km (MODIS). Based on comparisons of upper and lower-layer cloud properties as deduced from the MODIS, CALIPSO and CloudSat data, more enhanced passive satellite methods for retrieving thin cirrus and overlapped cloud properties are needed and are under development.

Library & Information Science Research

OpenAIRE

Van Gaasbeck, Kalvin

2013-01-01

A brief introduction to the quarterly periodical, Library & Information Science Research (LISR) providing an overview of the scope of the publication. The current paper details the types of articles published in the journal and gives a general overview of the review process for articles published in the journal, concluding with a brief statement of the value of the publication to the LIS field for students.

Securing the Cloud Cloud Computer Security Techniques and Tactics

CERN Document Server

Winkler, Vic (JR)

2011-01-01

As companies turn to cloud computing technology to streamline and save money, security is a fundamental concern. Loss of certain control and lack of trust make this transition difficult unless you know how to handle it. Securing the Cloud discusses making the move to the cloud while securing your peice of it! The cloud offers felxibility, adaptability, scalability, and in the case of security-resilience. This book details the strengths and weaknesses of securing your company's information with different cloud approaches. Attacks can focus on your infrastructure, communications network, data, o

GATECloud.net: a platform for large-scale, open-source text processing on the cloud.

Science.gov (United States)

Tablan, Valentin; Roberts, Ian; Cunningham, Hamish; Bontcheva, Kalina

2013-01-28

Cloud computing is increasingly being regarded as a key enabler of the 'democratization of science', because on-demand, highly scalable cloud computing facilities enable researchers anywhere to carry out data-intensive experiments. In the context of natural language processing (NLP), algorithms tend to be complex, which makes their parallelization and deployment on cloud platforms a non-trivial task. This study presents a new, unique, cloud-based platform for large-scale NLP research--GATECloud. net. It enables researchers to carry out data-intensive NLP experiments by harnessing the vast, on-demand compute power of the Amazon cloud. Important infrastructural issues are dealt with by the platform, completely transparently for the researcher: load balancing, efficient data upload and storage, deployment on the virtual machines, security and fault tolerance. We also include a cost-benefit analysis and usage evaluation.

Unidata cyberinfrastructure in the cloud: A progress report

Science.gov (United States)

Ramamurthy, Mohan

2016-04-01

Data services, software, and committed support are critical components of geosciences cyber-infrastructure that can help scientists address problems of unprecedented complexity, scale, and scope. Unidata is currently working on innovative ideas, new paradigms, and novel techniques to complement and extend its offerings. Our goal is to empower users so that they can tackle major, heretofore difficult problems. Unidata recognizes that its products and services must evolve to support new approaches to research and education. After years of hype and ambiguity, cloud computing is maturing in usability in many areas of science and education, bringing the benefits of virtualized and elastic remote services to infrastructure, software, computation, and data. Cloud environments reduce the amount of time and money spent to procure, install, and maintain new hardware and software, and reduce costs through resource pooling and shared infrastructure. Cloud services aimed at providing any resource, at any time, from any place, using any device are increasingly being embraced by all types of organizations. Given this trend and the enormous potential of cloud-based services, Unidata is moving to augment its products, services, data delivery mechanisms and applications to align with the cloud-computing paradigm. To realize the above vision, Unidata is working toward: * Providing access to many types of data from a cloud (e.g., TDS, RAMADDA and EDEX); * Deploying data-proximate tools to easily process, analyze and visualize those data in a cloud environment cloud for consumption by any one, by any device, from anywhere, at any time; * Developing and providing a range of pre-configured and well-integrated tools and services that can be deployed by any university in their own private or public cloud settings. Specifically, Unidata has developed Docker for "containerized applications", making them easy to deploy. Docker helps to create "disposable" installs and eliminates many

New science on the Open Science Grid

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pordes, R; Altunay, M; Sehgal, C [Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, IL 60510 (United States); Avery, P [University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611 (United States); Bejan, A; Gardner, R; Wilde, M [University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607 (United States); Blackburn, K [California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Blatecky, A; McGee, J [Renaissance Computing Institute, Chapel Hill, NC 27517 (United States); Kramer, B; Olson, D; Roy, A [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Livny, M [University of Wisconsin, Madison, Madison, WI 53706 (United States); Potekhin, M; Quick, R; Wenaus, T [Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405 (United States); Wuerthwein, F [University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093 (United States)], E-mail: ruth@fnal.gov

2008-07-15

The Open Science Grid (OSG) includes work to enable new science, new scientists, and new modalities in support of computationally based research. There are frequently significant sociological and organizational changes required in transformation from the existing to the new. OSG leverages its deliverables to the large-scale physics experiment member communities to benefit new communities at all scales through activities in education, engagement, and the distributed facility. This paper gives both a brief general description and specific examples of new science enabled on the OSG. More information is available at the OSG web site: www.opensciencegrid.org.

New science on the Open Science Grid

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pordes, R; Altunay, M; Sehgal, C; Avery, P; Bejan, A; Gardner, R; Wilde, M; Blackburn, K; Blatecky, A; McGee, J; Kramer, B; Olson, D; Roy, A; Livny, M; Potekhin, M; Quick, R; Wenaus, T; Wuerthwein, F

2008-01-01

The Open Science Grid (OSG) includes work to enable new science, new scientists, and new modalities in support of computationally based research. There are frequently significant sociological and organizational changes required in transformation from the existing to the new. OSG leverages its deliverables to the large-scale physics experiment member communities to benefit new communities at all scales through activities in education, engagement, and the distributed facility. This paper gives both a brief general description and specific examples of new science enabled on the OSG. More information is available at the OSG web site: www.opensciencegrid.org

Cloud management and security

CERN Document Server

Abbadi, Imad M

2014-01-01

Written by an expert with over 15 years' experience in the field, this book establishes the foundations of Cloud computing, building an in-depth and diverse understanding of the technologies behind Cloud computing. In this book, the author begins with an introduction to Cloud computing, presenting fundamental concepts such as analyzing Cloud definitions, Cloud evolution, Cloud services, Cloud deployment types and highlighting the main challenges. Following on from the introduction, the book is divided into three parts: Cloud management, Cloud security, and practical examples. Part one presents the main components constituting the Cloud and federated Cloud infrastructure(e.g., interactions and deployment), discusses management platforms (resources and services), identifies and analyzes the main properties of the Cloud infrastructure, and presents Cloud automated management services: virtual and application resource management services. Part two analyzes the problem of establishing trustworthy Cloud, discuss...

Citizen Science in Libraries: Results and Insights from a Unique NASA Collaboration

Science.gov (United States)

Janney, D. W.; Schwerin, T. G.; Riebeek Kohl, H.; Dusenbery, P.; LaConte, K.; Taylor, J.; Weaver, K. L. K.

2017-12-01

Libraries are local community centers and hubs for learning, with more and more libraries responding to the need to increase science literacy and support 21st century skills by adding STEM programs and resources for patrons of all ages. A collaboration has been developed between two NASA Science Mission Directorate projects - the NASA Earth Science Education Collaborative and NASA@ My Library - each bringing unique STEM assets and networks to support library staff and bring authentic STEM experiences and resources to learners in public library settings. The collaboration used Earth Day 2017 as a high profile event to engage and support 100 libraries across the U.S. (>50% serving rural communities), in developing locally-relevant programs and events that incorporated cloud observing and resources using NASA GLOBE Observer (GO) citizen science program. GO cloud observations are helping NASA scientists understand clouds from below (the ground) and above (from space). Clouds play an important role in transferring energy from the Sun to different parts of the Earth system. Because clouds can change rapidly, scientists need frequent observations from citizen scientists. Insights from the library focus groups and evaluation include promising practices, requested resources, programming ideas and approaches, particularly approaches to leveraging NASA subject matter experts and networks, to support local library programming.

Helix Nebula and CERN: A Symbiotic approach to exploiting commercial clouds

Science.gov (United States)

Barreiro Megino, Fernando H.; Jones, Robert; Kucharczyk, Katarzyna; Medrano Llamas, Ramón; van der Ster, Daniel

2014-06-01

The recent paradigm shift toward cloud computing in IT, and general interest in "Big Data" in particular, have demonstrated that the computing requirements of HEP are no longer globally unique. Indeed, the CERN IT department and LHC experiments have already made significant R&D investments in delivering and exploiting cloud computing resources. While a number of technical evaluations of interesting commercial offerings from global IT enterprises have been performed by various physics labs, further technical, security, sociological, and legal issues need to be address before their large-scale adoption by the research community can be envisaged. Helix Nebula - the Science Cloud is an initiative that explores these questions by joining the forces of three European research institutes (CERN, ESA and EMBL) with leading European commercial IT enterprises. The goals of Helix Nebula are to establish a cloud platform federating multiple commercial cloud providers, along with new business models, which can sustain the cloud marketplace for years to come. This contribution will summarize the participation of CERN in Helix Nebula. We will explain CERN's flagship use-case and the model used to integrate several cloud providers with an LHC experiment's workload management system. During the first proof of concept, this project contributed over 40.000 CPU-days of Monte Carlo production throughput to the ATLAS experiment with marginal manpower required. CERN's experience, together with that of ESA and EMBL, is providing a great insight into the cloud computing industry and highlighted several challenges that are being tackled in order to ease the export of the scientific workloads to the cloud environments.

Cloud computing patterns fundamentals to design, build, and manage cloud applications

CERN Document Server

Fehling, Christoph; Retter, Ralph; Schupeck, Walter; Arbitter, Peter

2014-01-01

The current work provides CIOs, software architects, project managers, developers, and cloud strategy initiatives with a set of architectural patterns that offer nuggets of advice on how to achieve common cloud computing-related goals. The cloud computing patterns capture knowledge and experience in an abstract format that is independent of concrete vendor products. Readers are provided with a toolbox to structure cloud computing strategies and design cloud application architectures. By using this book cloud-native applications can be implemented and best suited cloud vendors and tooling for i

Security and privacy in the clouds: a bird's eye view

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pieters, Wolter; Gutwirth, Serge; Poullet, Yves; De Hert, Paul; Leenes, Ronald

2011-01-01

Over the last years, something called "cloud computing" has become a major theme in computer science and information security. Essentially, it concerns delivering information technology as a service, by enabling the renting of soft-ware, computing power and storage. In this contribution, we give a

Military clouds: utilization of cloud computing systems at the battlefield

Science.gov (United States)

Süleyman, Sarıkürk; Volkan, Karaca; İbrahim, Kocaman; Ahmet, Şirzai

2012-05-01

Cloud computing is known as a novel information technology (IT) concept, which involves facilitated and rapid access to networks, servers, data saving media, applications and services via Internet with minimum hardware requirements. Use of information systems and technologies at the battlefield is not new. Information superiority is a force multiplier and is crucial to mission success. Recent advances in information systems and technologies provide new means to decision makers and users in order to gain information superiority. These developments in information technologies lead to a new term, which is known as network centric capability. Similar to network centric capable systems, cloud computing systems are operational today. In the near future extensive use of military clouds at the battlefield is predicted. Integrating cloud computing logic to network centric applications will increase the flexibility, cost-effectiveness, efficiency and accessibility of network-centric capabilities. In this paper, cloud computing and network centric capability concepts are defined. Some commercial cloud computing products and applications are mentioned. Network centric capable applications are covered. Cloud computing supported battlefield applications are analyzed. The effects of cloud computing systems on network centric capability and on the information domain in future warfare are discussed. Battlefield opportunities and novelties which might be introduced to network centric capability by cloud computing systems are researched. The role of military clouds in future warfare is proposed in this paper. It was concluded that military clouds will be indispensible components of the future battlefield. Military clouds have the potential of improving network centric capabilities, increasing situational awareness at the battlefield and facilitating the settlement of information superiority.

Clustering, randomness, and regularity in cloud fields. 4: Stratocumulus cloud fields

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, J.; Chou, J.; Weger, R. C.; Welch, R. M.

1994-01-01

To complete the analysis of the spatial distribution of boundary layer cloudiness, the present study focuses on nine stratocumulus Landsat scenes. The results indicate many similarities between stratocumulus and cumulus spatial distributions. Most notably, at full spatial resolution all scenes exhibit a decidedly clustered distribution. The strength of the clustering signal decreases with increasing cloud size; the clusters themselves consist of a few clouds (less than 10), occupy a small percentage of the cloud field area (less than 5%), contain between 20% and 60% of the cloud field population, and are randomly located within the scene. In contrast, stratocumulus in almost every respect are more strongly clustered than are cumulus cloud fields. For instance, stratocumulus clusters contain more clouds per cluster, occupy a larger percentage of the total area, and have a larger percentage of clouds participating in clusters than the corresponding cumulus examples. To investigate clustering at intermediate spatial scales, the local dimensionality statistic is introduced. Results obtained from this statistic provide the first direct evidence for regularity among large (more than 900 m in diameter) clouds in stratocumulus and cumulus cloud fields, in support of the inhibition hypothesis of Ramirez and Bras (1990). Also, the size compensated point-to-cloud cumulative distribution function statistic is found to be necessary to obtain a consistent description of stratocumulus cloud distributions. A hypothesis regarding the underlying physical mechanisms responsible for cloud clustering is presented. It is suggested that cloud clusters often arise from 4 to 10 triggering events localized within regions less than 2 km in diameter and randomly distributed within the cloud field. As the size of the cloud surpasses the scale of the triggering region, the clustering signal weakens and the larger cloud locations become more random.

Clustering, randomness, and regularity in cloud fields. 4. Stratocumulus cloud fields

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, J.; Chou, J.; Weger, R. C.; Welch, R. M.

1994-07-01

To complete the analysis of the spatial distribution of boundary layer cloudiness, the present study focuses on nine stratocumulus Landsat scenes. The results indicate many similarities between stratocumulus and cumulus spatial distributions. Most notably, at full spatial resolution all scenes exhibit a decidedly clustered distribution. The strength of the clustering signal decreases with increasing cloud size; the clusters themselves consist of a few clouds (less than 10), occupy a small percentage of the cloud field area (less than 5%), contain between 20% and 60% of the cloud field population, and are randomly located within the scene. In contrast, stratocumulus in almost every respect are more strongly clustered than are cumulus cloud fields. For instance, stratocumulus clusters contain more clouds per cluster, occupy a larger percentage of the total area, and have a larger percentage of clouds participating in clusters than the corresponding cumulus examples. To investigate clustering at intermediate spatial scales, the local dimensionality statistic is introduced. Results obtained from this statistic provide the first direct evidence for regularity among large (>900 m in diameter) clouds in stratocumulus and cumulus cloud fields, in support of the inhibition hypothesis of Ramirez and Bras (1990). Also, the size compensated point-to-cloud cumulative distribution function statistic is found to be necessary to obtain a consistent description of stratocumulus cloud distributions. A hypothesis regarding the underlying physical mechanisms responsible for cloud clustering is presented. It is suggested that cloud clusters often arise from 4 to 10 triggering events localized within regions less than 2 km in diameter and randomly distributed within the cloud field. As the size of the cloud surpasses the scale of the triggering region, the clustering signal weakens and the larger cloud locations become more random.

Marine Science

African Journals Online (AJOL)

J O U R N A L O F. Marine Science. Coral reefs of Mauritius in a changing global climate ..... in confined aquifers, and a lesser influence in uncon- fined systems. On the ... massive cloud cover during the critical months, some. 70% bleaching ...

Cloud blueprints for integrating and managing cloud federations

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Papazoglou, M.; Heisel, M.

2012-01-01

Contemporary cloud technologies face insurmountable obstacles. They follow a pull-based, producer-centric trajectory to development where cloud consumers have to ‘squeeze and bolt’ applications onto cloud APIs. They also introduce a monolithic SaaS/PaaS/IaaS stack where a one-size-fits-all mentality

International Space Science Institute Workshop on Shallow Clouds, Water Vapor, Circulation and Climate Sensitivity

CERN Document Server

Winker, David; Bony, Sandrine; Stevens, Bjorn

2018-01-01

This volume presents a series of overview articles arising from a workshop exploring the links among shallow clouds, water vapor, circulation, and climate sensitivity. It provides a state-of-the art synthesis of understanding about the coupling of clouds and water vapor to the large-scale circulation. The emphasis is on two phenomena, namely the self-aggregation of deep convection and interactions between low clouds and the large-scale environment, with direct links to the sensitivity of climate to radiative perturbations. Each subject is approached using simulations, observations, and synthesizing theory; particular attention is paid to opportunities offered by new remote-sensing technologies, some still prospective. The collection provides a thorough grounding in topics representing one of the World Climate Research Program’s Grand Challenges. Previously published in Surveys in Geophysics, Volume 38, Issue 6, 2017 The articles “Observing Convective Aggregation”, “An Observational View of Relationshi...

Galaxy CloudMan: delivering cloud compute clusters.

Science.gov (United States)

Afgan, Enis; Baker, Dannon; Coraor, Nate; Chapman, Brad; Nekrutenko, Anton; Taylor, James

2010-12-21

Widespread adoption of high-throughput sequencing has greatly increased the scale and sophistication of computational infrastructure needed to perform genomic research. An alternative to building and maintaining local infrastructure is "cloud computing", which, in principle, offers on demand access to flexible computational infrastructure. However, cloud computing resources are not yet suitable for immediate "as is" use by experimental biologists. We present a cloud resource management system that makes it possible for individual researchers to compose and control an arbitrarily sized compute cluster on Amazon's EC2 cloud infrastructure without any informatics requirements. Within this system, an entire suite of biological tools packaged by the NERC Bio-Linux team (http://nebc.nerc.ac.uk/tools/bio-linux) is available for immediate consumption. The provided solution makes it possible, using only a web browser, to create a completely configured compute cluster ready to perform analysis in less than five minutes. Moreover, we provide an automated method for building custom deployments of cloud resources. This approach promotes reproducibility of results and, if desired, allows individuals and labs to add or customize an otherwise available cloud system to better meet their needs. The expected knowledge and associated effort with deploying a compute cluster in the Amazon EC2 cloud is not trivial. The solution presented in this paper eliminates these barriers, making it possible for researchers to deploy exactly the amount of computing power they need, combined with a wealth of existing analysis software, to handle the ongoing data deluge.

Cloud blueprint : A model-driven approach to configuring federated clouds

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Papazoglou, M.; Abello, A.; Bellatreche, L.; Benatallah, B.

2012-01-01

Current cloud solutions are fraught with problems. They introduce a monolithic cloud stack that imposes vendor lock-in and donot permit developers to mix and match services freely from diverse cloud service tiers and configure them dynamically to address application needs. Cloud blueprinting is a

A study of cloud microphysics and precipitation over the Tibetan Plateau by radar observations and cloud-resolving model simulations: Cloud Microphysics over Tibetan Plateau

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gao, Wenhua [State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing China; Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland Washington USA; Sui, Chung-Hsiung [Department of Atmospheric Sciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei Taiwan; Fan, Jiwen [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland Washington USA; Hu, Zhiqun [State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing China; Zhong, Lingzhi [State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing China

2016-11-27

Cloud microphysical properties and precipitation over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) are unique because of the high terrains, clean atmosphere, and sufficient water vapor. With dual-polarization precipitation radar and cloud radar measurements during the Third Tibetan Plateau Atmospheric Scientific Experiment (TIPEX-III), the simulated microphysics and precipitation by the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF) with the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences (CAMS) microphysics and other microphysical schemes are investigated through a typical plateau rainfall event on 22 July 2014. Results show that the WRF-CAMS simulation reasonably reproduces the spatial distribution of 24-h accumulated precipitation, but has limitations in simulating time evolution of precipitation rates. The model-calculated polarimetric radar variables have biases as well, suggesting bias in modeled hydrometeor types. The raindrop sizes in convective region are larger than those in stratiform region indicated by the small intercept of raindrop size distribution in the former. The sensitivity experiments show that precipitation processes are sensitive to the changes of warm rain processes in condensation and nucleated droplet size (but less sensitive to evaporation process). Increasing droplet condensation produces the best area-averaged rain rate during weak convection period compared with the observation, suggesting a considerable bias in thermodynamics in the baseline simulation. Increasing the initial cloud droplet size causes the rain rate reduced by half, an opposite effect to that of increasing droplet condensation.

Cloud Micro-sensors for Applications on Small UAVs and Balloons, Phase II

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — One of the key areas of study of NASA's Earth Science enterprise is the role played by clouds in climate change. The duration of conventional research aircraft is...

Thin Cloud Detection Method by Linear Combination Model of Cloud Image

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, L.; Li, J.; Wang, Y.; Xiao, Y.; Zhang, W.; Zhang, S.

2018-04-01

The existing cloud detection methods in photogrammetry often extract the image features from remote sensing images directly, and then use them to classify images into cloud or other things. But when the cloud is thin and small, these methods will be inaccurate. In this paper, a linear combination model of cloud images is proposed, by using this model, the underlying surface information of remote sensing images can be removed. So the cloud detection result can become more accurate. Firstly, the automatic cloud detection program in this paper uses the linear combination model to split the cloud information and surface information in the transparent cloud images, then uses different image features to recognize the cloud parts. In consideration of the computational efficiency, AdaBoost Classifier was introduced to combine the different features to establish a cloud classifier. AdaBoost Classifier can select the most effective features from many normal features, so the calculation time is largely reduced. Finally, we selected a cloud detection method based on tree structure and a multiple feature detection method using SVM classifier to compare with the proposed method, the experimental data shows that the proposed cloud detection program in this paper has high accuracy and fast calculation speed.

Effects of Childhood Stress Can Accumulate in the Body. Science Brief

Science.gov (United States)

National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, 2008

2008-01-01

This brief presents the findings of a study that examined the effects of "allostatic load" on children in poverty at age 9 and 13. "Allostatic load" refers to the measurement of the cumulative wear and tear on the body that results from experiencing stress. Research shows that high allostatic load in childhood is associated with long-term…

Journal of Earth System Science | Indian Academy of Sciences

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Home; Journals; Journal of Earth System Science; Volume 119; Issue 5 ... Use of objective analysis to estimate winter temperature and precipitation at ... Numerical study for production of space charge within the stratiform cloud .... Estimates of source parameters of 4.9 Kharsali earthquake using waveform modelling.

Journal of Earth System Science | Indian Academy of Sciences

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Home; Journals; Journal of Earth System Science; Volume 115; Issue 3 ... Modeling of groundwater flow for Mujib aquifer, Jordan ... a cloudburst event with attention to horizontal resolution and the cloud microphysics parameterization. ... Global surface temperature in relation to northeast monsoon rainfall over Tamil Nadu.

Outstanding Science Trade Books for Children in 1989.

Science.gov (United States)

Science and Children, 1990

1990-01-01

Listed are 100 trade books with brief descriptions and availability information. Categories include animals, biography, space science and astronomy, anthropology and paleontology, life sciences, earth science, conservation, medical and health sciences, physics, technology, and engineering. Criteria for inclusion in this annual list are presented.…

The origin of Halley-type comets: probing the inner Oort cloud

Science.gov (United States)

Levison, H.; Dones, L.; Duncan, M.

2000-10-01

We have integrated the orbits of 27,700 test particles initially entering the planetary system from the Oort cloud in order to study the origin of Halley-type comets (HTCs). We included the gravitational influence of the Sun, giant planets, passing stars, and galactic tides. We find that an isotropically distributed Oort cloud does not reproduce the observed orbital element distribution of the HTCs. In order to match the observations, the initial inclination distribution of the progenitors of the HTCs must be similar to the observed HTC inclination distribution. We can match the observations with an Oort cloud that consists of an isotropic outer cloud and a disk-like massive inner cloud. These idealized two-component models have inner disks with median inclinations that range from 10 to 50o. This analysis represents the first link between observations and the structure of the inner Oort cloud. HFL and LD gratefully acknowledges grants provided by the NASA Origins of Solar Systems and Planetary Geology and Geophysics Programs. MJD is grateful for the continuing financial support of the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada and for financial support for work done inthe U.S.from NASA Planetary Geology and Geophysics Programs.

Essentials of cloud computing

CERN Document Server

Chandrasekaran, K

2014-01-01

ForewordPrefaceComputing ParadigmsLearning ObjectivesPreambleHigh-Performance ComputingParallel ComputingDistributed ComputingCluster ComputingGrid ComputingCloud ComputingBiocomputingMobile ComputingQuantum ComputingOptical ComputingNanocomputingNetwork ComputingSummaryReview PointsReview QuestionsFurther ReadingCloud Computing FundamentalsLearning ObjectivesPreambleMotivation for Cloud ComputingThe Need for Cloud ComputingDefining Cloud ComputingNIST Definition of Cloud ComputingCloud Computing Is a ServiceCloud Computing Is a Platform5-4-3 Principles of Cloud computingFive Essential Charact

Brief history of electronic stereoscopic displays

Science.gov (United States)

Lipton, Lenny

2012-02-01

A brief history of recent developments in electronic stereoscopic displays is given concentrating on products that have succeeded in the market place and hence have had a significant influence on future implementations. The concentration is on plano-stereoscopic (two-view) technology because it is now the dominant display modality in the marketplace. Stereoscopic displays were created for the motion picture industry a century ago, and this technology influenced the development of products for science and industry, which in turn influenced product development for entertainment.

Federated and Cloud Enabled Resources for Data Management and Utilization

Science.gov (United States)

Rankin, R.; Gordon, M.; Potter, R. G.; Satchwill, B.

2011-12-01

The emergence of cloud computing over the past three years has led to a paradigm shift in how data can be managed, processed and made accessible. Building on the federated data management system offered through the Canadian Space Science Data Portal (www.cssdp.ca), we demonstrate how heterogeneous and geographically distributed data sets and modeling tools have been integrated to form a virtual data center and computational modeling platform that has services for data processing and visualization embedded within it. We also discuss positive and negative experiences in utilizing Eucalyptus and OpenStack cloud applications, and job scheduling facilitated by Condor and Star Cluster. We summarize our findings by demonstrating use of these technologies in the Cloud Enabled Space Weather Data Assimilation and Modeling Platform CESWP (www.ceswp.ca), which is funded through Canarie's (canarie.ca) Network Enabled Platforms program in Canada.

An interfacial mechanism for cloud droplet formation on organic aerosols.

Science.gov (United States)

Ruehl, Christopher R; Davies, James F; Wilson, Kevin R

2016-03-25

Accurate predictions of aerosol/cloud interactions require simple, physically accurate parameterizations of the cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) activity of aerosols. Current models assume that organic aerosol species contribute to CCN activity by lowering water activity. We measured droplet diameters at the point of CCN activation for particles composed of dicarboxylic acids or secondary organic aerosol and ammonium sulfate. Droplet activation diameters were 40 to 60% larger than predicted if the organic was assumed to be dissolved within the bulk droplet, suggesting that a new mechanism is needed to explain cloud droplet formation. A compressed film model explains how surface tension depression by interfacial organic molecules can alter the relationship between water vapor supersaturation and droplet size (i.e., the Köhler curve), leading to the larger diameters observed at activation. Copyright © 2016, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

CLOUD PARAMETERIZATIONS, CLOUD PHYSICS, AND THEIR CONNECTIONS: AN OVERVIEW

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

LIU, Y.; DAUM, P.H.; CHAI, S.K.; LIU, F.

2002-01-01

This paper consists of three parts. The first part is concerned with the parameterization of cloud microphysics in climate models. We demonstrate the crucial importance of spectral dispersion of the cloud droplet size distribution in determining radiative properties of clouds (e.g., effective radius), and underline the necessity of specifying spectral dispersion in the parameterization of cloud microphysics. It is argued that the inclusion of spectral dispersion makes the issue of cloud parameterization essentially equivalent to that of the droplet size distribution function, bringing cloud parameterization to the forefront of cloud physics. The second part is concerned with theoretical investigations into the spectral shape of droplet size distributions in cloud physics. After briefly reviewing the mainstream theories (including entrainment and mixing theories, and stochastic theories), we discuss their deficiencies and the need for a paradigm shift from reductionist approaches to systems approaches. A systems theory that has recently been formulated by utilizing ideas from statistical physics and information theory is discussed, along with the major results derived from it. It is shown that the systems formalism not only easily explains many puzzles that have been frustrating the mainstream theories, but also reveals such new phenomena as scale-dependence of cloud droplet size distributions. The third part is concerned with the potential applications of the systems theory to the specification of spectral dispersion in terms of predictable variables and scale-dependence under different fluctuating environments

Cloud Computing and Agile Organization Development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bogdan GHILIC-MICU

2014-01-01

Full Text Available In the 3rd millennium economy, defined by globalization and continuous reduction of natural resources, the economic organization becomes the main actor in the phenomenon of transfor-mation and adaptation to new conditions. Even more, the economic environment, which is closely related to the social environment, undergoes complex metamorphoses, especially in the management area. In this dynamic and complex social and environmental context, the econom-ic organization must possess the ability to adapt, becoming a flexible and agile answer to new market opportunities. Considering the spectacular evolution of information and communica-tions technology, one of the solutions to ensure organization agility is cloud computing. Just like the development of any science requires adaptation to theories and instruments specific to other fields, a cloud computing paradigm for the agile organization must appeal to models from management, cybernetics, mathematics, structuralism and information theory (or information systems theory.

Secure cloud computing

CERN Document Server

Jajodia, Sushil; Samarati, Pierangela; Singhal, Anoop; Swarup, Vipin; Wang, Cliff

2014-01-01

This book presents a range of cloud computing security challenges and promising solution paths. The first two chapters focus on practical considerations of cloud computing. In Chapter 1, Chandramouli, Iorga, and Chokani describe the evolution of cloud computing and the current state of practice, followed by the challenges of cryptographic key management in the cloud. In Chapter 2, Chen and Sion present a dollar cost model of cloud computing and explore the economic viability of cloud computing with and without security mechanisms involving cryptographic mechanisms. The next two chapters addres

Comparison of Cloud Properties from CALIPSO-CloudSat and Geostationary Satellite Data

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, L.; Minnis, P.; Chang, F.; Winker, D.; Sun-Mack, S.; Spangenberg, D.; Austin, R.

2007-01-01

Cloud properties are being derived in near-real time from geostationary satellite imager data for a variety of weather and climate applications and research. Assessment of the uncertainties in each of the derived cloud parameters is essential for confident use of the products. Determination of cloud amount, cloud top height, and cloud layering is especially important for using these real -time products for applications such as aircraft icing condition diagnosis and numerical weather prediction model assimilation. Furthermore, the distribution of clouds as a function of altitude has become a central component of efforts to evaluate climate model cloud simulations. Validation of those parameters has been difficult except over limited areas where ground-based active sensors, such as cloud radars or lidars, have been available on a regular basis. Retrievals of cloud properties are sensitive to the surface background, time of day, and the clouds themselves. Thus, it is essential to assess the geostationary satellite retrievals over a variety of locations. The availability of cloud radar data from CloudSat and lidar data from CALIPSO make it possible to perform those assessments over each geostationary domain at 0130 and 1330 LT. In this paper, CloudSat and CALIPSO data are matched with contemporaneous Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES), Multi-functional Transport Satellite (MTSAT), and Meteosat-8 data. Unlike comparisons with cloud products derived from A-Train imagers, this study considers comparisons of nadir active sensor data with off-nadir retrievals. These matched data are used to determine the uncertainties in cloud-top heights and cloud amounts derived from the geostationary satellite data using the Clouds and the Earth s Radiant Energy System (CERES) cloud retrieval algorithms. The CERES multi-layer cloud detection method is also evaluated to determine its accuracy and limitations in the off-nadir mode. The results will be useful for

Optical emissions associated with energetic electrons produced by stepping leaders in cloud-to-ground lightning discharges

OpenAIRE

Xu , Wei; Celestin , Sebastien; Pasko , Victor

2015-01-01

All data used in this paper are directly available after a request is made to authors W.X. (), S.C. (), or V.P.P. ().; International audience; Both natural cloud-to-ground and rocket-triggered lightning flashes have been found to be associated with intense and brief bursts of X-ray emissions. Using a full energy Monte Carlo model combined with an optical emission model, we quantify the optical emissions induced by the strong accel...

Role of orbital dynamics and cloud-cloud collisions in the formation of giant molecular clouds in global spiral structures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roberts, W.W. Jr.; Stewart, G.R.

1987-01-01

The role of orbit crowding and cloud-cloud collisions in the formation of GMCs and their organization in global spiral structure is investigated. Both N-body simulations of the cloud system and a detailed analysis of individual particle orbits are used to develop a conceptual understanding of how individual clouds participate in the collective density response. Detailed comparisons are made between a representative cloud-particle simulation in which the cloud particles collide inelastically with one another and give birth to and subsequently interact with young star associations and stripped down simulations in which the cloud particles are allowed to follow ballistic orbits in the absence of cloud-cloud collisions or any star formation processes. Orbit crowding is then related to the behavior of individual particle trajectories in the galactic potential field. The conceptual picture of how GMCs are formed in the clumpy ISMs of spiral galaxies is formulated, and the results are compared in detail with those published by other authors. 68 references

CLOUD COMPUTING SECURITY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ştefan IOVAN

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Cloud computing reprentes the software applications offered as a service online, but also the software and hardware components from the data center.In the case of wide offerd services for any type of client, we are dealing with a public cloud. In the other case, in wich a cloud is exclusively available for an organization and is not available to the open public, this is consider a private cloud [1]. There is also a third type, called hibrid in which case an user or an organization might use both services available in the public and private cloud. One of the main challenges of cloud computing are to build the trust and ofer information privacy in every aspect of service offerd by cloud computingle. The variety of existing standards, just like the lack of clarity in sustenability certificationis not a real help in building trust. Also appear some questions marks regarding the efficiency of traditionsecurity means that are applied in the cloud domain. Beside the economic and technology advantages offered by cloud, also are some advantages in security area if the information is migrated to cloud. Shared resources available in cloud includes the survey, use of the "best practices" and technology for advance security level, above all the solutions offered by the majority of medium and small businesses, big companies and even some guvermental organizations [2].

Briefing paper for universities on Core Maths

OpenAIRE

Glaister, Paul

2015-01-01

This briefing paper outlines the rationale for and development of the new Core Maths qualifications, the characteristics of Core Maths, and why Core Maths is important for higher education. It is part of a communication to university vice-chancellors from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) comprising this paper and a joint Ministerial letter from Jo Johnson, Minister of State for Universities and Science in BIS, and Nick Gibb, Minister of State for Schools in the Departm...

eEcoLiDAR, eScience infrastructure for ecological applications of LiDAR point clouds: reconstructing the 3D ecosystem structure for animals at regional to continental scales

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

W. Daniel Kissling

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The lack of high-resolution measurements of 3D ecosystem structure across broad spatial extents impedes major advancements in animal ecology and biodiversity science. We aim to fill this gap by using Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR technology to characterize the vertical and horizontal complexity of vegetation and landscapes at high resolution across regional to continental scales. The newly LiDAR-derived 3D ecosystem structures will be applied in species distribution models for breeding birds in forests and marshlands, for insect pollinators in agricultural landscapes, and songbirds at stopover sites during migration. This will allow novel insights into the hierarchical structure of animal-habitat associations, into why animal populations decline, and how they respond to habitat fragmentation and ongoing land use change. The processing of these massive amounts of LiDAR point cloud data will be achieved by developing a generic interactive eScience environment with multi-scale object-based image analysis (OBIA and interpretation of LiDAR point clouds, including data storage, scalable computing, tools for machine learning and visualisation (feature selection, annotation/segmentation, object classification, and evaluation, and a PostGIS spatial database. The classified objects will include trees, forests, vegetation strata, edges, bushes, hedges, reedbeds etc. with their related metrics, attributes and summary statistics (e.g. vegetation openness, height, density, vertical biomass distribution etc.. The newly developed eScience tools and data will be available to other disciplines and applications in ecology and the Earth sciences, thereby achieving high impact. The project will foster new multi-disciplinary collaborations between ecologists and eScientists and contribute to training a new generation of geo-ecologists.

In Brief: European Earth science network for postdocs

Science.gov (United States)

Showstack, Randy

2008-12-01

The European Space Agency (ESA) has launched a new initiative called the Changing Earth Science Network, to support young scientists undertaking leading-edge research activities aimed at advancing the understanding of the Earth system. The initiative will enable up to 10 young postdoctoral researchers from the agency's member states to address major scientific challenges by using Earth observation (EO) satellite data from ESA and its third-party missions. The initiative aims to foster the development of a network of young scientists in Europe with a good knowledge of the agency and its EO programs. Selected candidates will have the option to carry out part of their research in an ESA center as a visiting scientist. The deadline to submit proposals is 16 January 2009. Selections will be announced in early 2009. The Changing Earth Science Network was developed as one of the main programmatic components of ESA's Support to Science Element, launched in 2008. For more information, visit http://www.esa.int/stse.

Formation of massive, dense cores by cloud-cloud collisions

Science.gov (United States)

Takahira, Ken; Shima, Kazuhiro; Habe, Asao; Tasker, Elizabeth J.

2018-05-01

We performed sub-parsec (˜ 0.014 pc) scale simulations of cloud-cloud collisions of two idealized turbulent molecular clouds (MCs) with different masses in the range of (0.76-2.67) × 104 M_{⊙} and with collision speeds of 5-30 km s-1. Those parameters are larger than in Takahira, Tasker, and Habe (2014, ApJ, 792, 63), in which study the colliding system showed a partial gaseous arc morphology that supports the NANTEN observations of objects indicated to be colliding MCs using numerical simulations. Gas clumps with density greater than 10-20 g cm-3 were identified as pre-stellar cores and tracked through the simulation to investigate the effects of the mass of colliding clouds and the collision speeds on the resulting core population. Our results demonstrate that the smaller cloud property is more important for the results of cloud-cloud collisions. The mass function of formed cores can be approximated by a power-law relation with an index γ = -1.6 in slower cloud-cloud collisions (v ˜ 5 km s-1), and is in good agreement with observation of MCs. A faster relative speed increases the number of cores formed in the early stage of collisions and shortens the gas accretion phase of cores in the shocked region, leading to the suppression of core growth. The bending point appears in the high-mass part of the core mass function and the bending point mass decreases with increase in collision speed for the same combination of colliding clouds. The higher-mass part of the core mass function than the bending point mass can be approximated by a power law with γ = -2-3 that is similar to the power index of the massive part of the observed stellar initial mass function. We discuss implications of our results for the massive-star formation in our Galaxy.

Helix Nebula and CERN: A Symbiotic approach to exploiting commercial clouds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Megino, Fernando H Barreiro; Jones, Robert; Llamas, Ramón Medrano; Ster, Daniel van der; Kucharczyk, Katarzyna

2014-01-01

The recent paradigm shift toward cloud computing in IT, and general interest in 'Big Data' in particular, have demonstrated that the computing requirements of HEP are no longer globally unique. Indeed, the CERN IT department and LHC experiments have already made significant R and D investments in delivering and exploiting cloud computing resources. While a number of technical evaluations of interesting commercial offerings from global IT enterprises have been performed by various physics labs, further technical, security, sociological, and legal issues need to be address before their large-scale adoption by the research community can be envisaged. Helix Nebula – the Science Cloud is an initiative that explores these questions by joining the forces of three European research institutes (CERN, ESA and EMBL) with leading European commercial IT enterprises. The goals of Helix Nebula are to establish a cloud platform federating multiple commercial cloud providers, along with new business models, which can sustain the cloud marketplace for years to come. This contribution will summarize the participation of CERN in Helix Nebula. We will explain CERN's flagship use-case and the model used to integrate several cloud providers with an LHC experiment's workload management system. During the first proof of concept, this project contributed over 40.000 CPU-days of Monte Carlo production throughput to the ATLAS experiment with marginal manpower required. CERN's experience, together with that of ESA and EMBL, is providing a great insight into the cloud computing industry and highlighted several challenges that are being tackled in order to ease the export of the scientific workloads to the cloud environments.

A Coupled GCM-Cloud Resolving Modeling System, and a Regional Scale Model to Study Precipitation Processes

Science.gov (United States)

Tao, Wei-Kuo

2007-01-01

Recent GEWEX Cloud System Study (GCSS) model comparison projects have indicated that cloud-resolving models (CRMs) agree with observations better than traditional single-column models in simulating various types of clouds and cloud systems from different geographic locations. Current and future NASA satellite programs can provide cloud, precipitation, aerosol and other data at very fine spatial and temporal scales. It requires a coupled global circulation model (GCM) and cloud-scale model (termed a superparameterization or multi-scale modeling framework, MMF) to use these satellite data to improve the understanding of the physical processes that are responsible for the variation in global and regional climate and hydrological systems. The use of a GCM will enable global coverage, and the use of a CRM will allow for better and more sophisticated physical parameterization. NASA satellite and field campaign cloud related datasets can provide initial conditions as well as validation for both the MMF and CRMs. The Goddard MMF is based on the 2D Goddard Cumulus Ensemble (GCE) model and the Goddard finite volume general circulation model (fvGCM), and it has started production runs with two years results (1998 and 1999). Also, at Goddard, we have implemented several Goddard microphysical schemes (2ICE, several 31CE), Goddard radiation (including explicitly calculated cloud optical properties), and Goddard Land Information (LIS, that includes the CLM and NOAH land surface models) into a next generatio11 regional scale model, WRF. In this talk, I will present: (1) A brief review on GCE model and its applications on precipitation processes (microphysical and land processes), (2) The Goddard MMF and the major difference between two existing MMFs (CSU MMF and Goddard MMF), and preliminary results (the comparison with traditional GCMs), and (3) A discussion on the Goddard WRF version (its developments and applications).

GLOBE Observer and the Association of Science & Technology Centers: Leveraging Citizen Science and Partnerships for an International Science Experiment to Build Climate Literacy

Science.gov (United States)

Riebeek Kohl, H.; Chambers, L. H.; Murphy, T.

2016-12-01

For more that 20 years, the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program has sought to increase environment literacy in students by involving them in the process of data collection and scientific research. In 2016, the program expanded to accept observations from citizen scientists of all ages through a relatively simple app. Called GLOBE Observer, the new program aims to help participants feel connected to a global community focused on advancing the scientific understanding of Earth system science while building climate literacy among participants and increasing valuable environmental data points to expand both student and scientific research. In October 2016, GLOBE Observer partnered with the Association of Science & Technology Centers (ASTC) in an international science experiment in which museums and patrons around the world collected cloud observations through GLOBE Observer to create a global cloud map in support of NASA satellite science. The experiment was an element of the International Science Center and Science Museum Day, an event planned in partnership with UNESCO and ASTC. Museums and science centers provided the climate context for the observations, while GLOBE Observer offered a uniform experience and a digital platform to build a connected global community. This talk will introduce GLOBE Observer and will present the results of the experiment, including evaluation feedback on gains in climate literacy through the event.

Cloud Collaboration: Cloud-Based Instruction for Business Writing Class

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Charlie; Yu, Wei-Chieh Wayne; Wang, Jenny

2014-01-01

Cloud computing technologies, such as Google Docs, Adobe Creative Cloud, Dropbox, and Microsoft Windows Live, have become increasingly appreciated to the next generation digital learning tools. Cloud computing technologies encourage students' active engagement, collaboration, and participation in their learning, facilitate group work, and support…

Satellite-observed cold-ring-shaped features atop deep convective clouds

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Setvák, M.; Lindsey, D. T.; Novák, P.; Wang, P. K.; Radová, Michaela; Kerkmann, J.; Grasso, L.; Su, S.-H.; Rabin, R. M.; Šťástka, J.; Charvát, Z.

2010-01-01

Roč. 97, 1-2 (2010), s. 80-96 ISSN 0169-8095 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA205/07/0905; GA MŠk ME09033 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z30420517 Keywords : convective storm * storm top * cloud top height * cold-ring shape * cold-U shape * enhanced-V feature * overshooting top * lower stratosphere * Meteosat second generation Subject RIV: DG - Athmosphere Sciences, Meteorology Impact factor: 1.597, year: 2010 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016980951000058X

Cloud Computing in Science and Engineering and the “SciShop.ru” Computer Simulation Center

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E. V. Vorozhtsov

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Various aspects of cloud computing applications for scientific research, applied design, and remote education are described in this paper. An analysis of the different aspects is performed based on the experience from the “SciShop.ru” Computer Simulation Center. This analysis shows that cloud computing technology has wide prospects in scientific research applications, applied developments and also remote education of specialists, postgraduates, and students.

Comparison Between CCCM and CloudSat Radar-Lidar (RL) Cloud and Radiation Products

Science.gov (United States)

Ham, Seung-Hee; Kato, Seiji; Rose, Fred G.; Sun-Mack, Sunny

2015-01-01

To enhance cloud properties, LaRC and CIRA developed each combination algorithm for obtained properties from passive, active and imager in A-satellite constellation. When comparing global cloud fraction each other, LaRC-produced CERES-CALIPSO-CloudSat-MODIS (CCCM) products larger low-level cloud fraction over tropic ocean, while CIRA-produced Radar-Lidar (RL) shows larger mid-level cloud fraction for high latitude region. The reason for different low-level cloud fraction is due to different filtering method of lidar-detected cloud layers. Meanwhile difference in mid-level clouds is occurred due to different priority of cloud boundaries from lidar and radar.

Continuous growth of cloud droplets in cumulus cloud

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gotoh, Toshiyuki; Suehiro, Tamotsu; Saito, Izumi

2016-01-01

A new method to seamlessly simulate the continuous growth of droplets advected by turbulent flow inside a cumulus cloud was developed from first principle. A cubic box ascending with a mean updraft inside a cumulus cloud was introduced and the updraft velocity was self-consistently determined in such a way that the mean turbulent velocity within the box vanished. All the degrees of freedom of the cloud droplets and turbulence fields were numerically integrated. The box ascended quickly inside the cumulus cloud due to the updraft and the mean radius of the droplets grew from 10 to 24 μ m for about 10 min. The turbulent flow tended to slow down the time evolutions of the updraft velocity, the box altitude and the mean cloud droplet radius. The size distribution of the cloud droplets in the updraft case was narrower than in the absence of the updraft. It was also found that the wavenumeber spectra of the variances of the temperature and water vapor mixing ratio were nearly constant in the low wavenumber range. The future development of the new method was argued. (paper)

Hidden in the Clouds: New Ideas in Cloud Computing

CERN Multimedia

CERN. Geneva

2013-01-01

Abstract: Cloud computing has become a hot topic. But 'cloud' is no newer in 2013 than MapReduce was in 2005: We've been doing both for years. So why is cloud more relevant today than it ever has been? In this presentation, we will introduce the (current) central thesis of cloud computing, and explore how and why (or even whether) the concept has evolved. While we will cover a little light background, our primary focus will be on the consequences, corollaries and techniques introduced by some of the leading cloud developers and organizations. We each have a different deployment model, different applications and workloads, and many of us are still learning to efficiently exploit the platform services offered by a modern implementation. The discussion will offer the opportunity to share these experiences and help us all to realize the benefits of cloud computing to the fullest degree. Please bring questions and opinions, and be ready to share both!   Bio: S...

Journal of Earth System Science | Indian Academy of Sciences

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Home; Journals; Journal of Earth System Science; Volume 123; Issue 7 ... Net short wave and long wave radiative fluxes substantially varied with cloud dynamics, season, .... Impact of over-exploitation on groundwater quality: A case study from .... using large scale climate variables and downscaling models – A case study.

Journal of Earth System Science | Indian Academy of Sciences

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Articles written in Journal of Earth System Science ... Cloud Motion Wind (CMW) data of METEOSAT satellite and SSM/I surface wind data ... Skills of different mesoscale models over Indian region during monsoon season: Forecast errors ... Impact of vegetation on the simulation of seasonal monsoon rainfall over the Indian ...

Cloud Computing

CERN Document Server

Antonopoulos, Nick

2010-01-01

Cloud computing has recently emerged as a subject of substantial industrial and academic interest, though its meaning and scope is hotly debated. For some researchers, clouds are a natural evolution towards the full commercialisation of grid systems, while others dismiss the term as a mere re-branding of existing pay-per-use technologies. From either perspective, 'cloud' is now the label of choice for accountable pay-per-use access to third party applications and computational resources on a massive scale. Clouds support patterns of less predictable resource use for applications and services a

The CLOUD experiment

CERN Multimedia

Maximilien Brice

2006-01-01

The Cosmics Leaving Outdoor Droplets (CLOUD) experiment as shown by Jasper Kirkby (spokesperson). Kirkby shows a sketch to illustrate the possible link between galactic cosmic rays and cloud formations. The CLOUD experiment uses beams from the PS accelerator at CERN to simulate the effect of cosmic rays on cloud formations in the Earth's atmosphere. It is thought that cosmic ray intensity is linked to the amount of low cloud cover due to the formation of aerosols, which induce condensation.

Press briefing on results from the solar spacecraft SOHO

Science.gov (United States)

1998-04-01

After its launch on 2 December 1995, SOHO travelled to take up a special orbit 1.5 million kilometres away on the sunward side of the Earth, where the Sun never sets. The full scientific programme began in April 1996. The occasion for the briefing is the celebration of that second anniversary and of the mission's extension to 2003. Organized by the European Space Agency, the briefing will be hosted by the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, which is near Oxford. Leading scientists associated with SOHO will announce to the press some remarkable new discoveries about the Sun's interior, atmosphere and solar wind. They will also briefly review the main achievements of the past two years. The role of SOHO as the chief watchdog for storms on the Sun that may affect the Earth will be demonstrated. Europe's creation of the finest spacecraft ever built to observe the Sun will be recalled by a top engineer from ESA. A speaker from NASA will explain transatlantic contributions to SOHO, which is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA. ESA's director of science will also be present, to relate SOHO to ESA's general science programme. A lunch-time talk by the BNSC's director of science completes the line-up of speakers. This is also an exceptional opportunity for the press to meet and interview scientists from all over Europe and the USA, who are attending a meeting at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory of SOHO's Science Working Team (SWT). Journalists are usually excluded from such meetings. The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory plays a prominent part in SOHO, particularly through its provision of the CDS ultraviolet spectrometer. A visit to the CDS group will provide a chance to see what space research is really like. Please indicate your intention to attend, on the accreditation form that follows the schedule. Guidance on how to get to the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory is appended. PROGRAMME Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL), 28 April 1998 10:30 Assembly of

Biomolecular Science (Fact Sheet)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2012-04-01

A brief fact sheet about NREL Photobiology and Biomolecular Science. The research goal of NREL's Biomolecular Science is to enable cost-competitive advanced lignocellulosic biofuels production by understanding the science critical for overcoming biomass recalcitrance and developing new product and product intermediate pathways. NREL's Photobiology focuses on understanding the capture of solar energy in photosynthetic systems and its use in converting carbon dioxide and water directly into hydrogen and advanced biofuels.

Clouds of Venus

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Knollenberg, R G [Particle Measuring Systems, Inc., 1855 South 57th Court, Boulder, Colorado 80301, U.S.A.; Hansen, J [National Aeronautics and Space Administration, New York (USA). Goddard Inst. for Space Studies; Ragent, B [National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Moffett Field, Calif. (USA). Ames Research Center; Martonchik, J [Jet Propulsion Lab., Pasadena, Calif. (USA); Tomasko, M [Arizona Univ., Tucson (USA)

1977-05-01

The current state of knowledge of the Venusian clouds is reviewed. The visible clouds of Venus are shown to be quite similar to low level terrestrial hazes of strong anthropogenic influence. Possible nucleation and particle growth mechanisms are presented. The Pioneer Venus experiments that emphasize cloud measurements are described and their expected findings are discussed in detail. The results of these experiments should define the cloud particle composition, microphysics, thermal and radiative heat budget, rough dynamical features and horizontal and vertical variations in these and other parameters. This information should be sufficient to initialize cloud models which can be used to explain the cloud formation, decay, and particle life cycle.

A Statistical Review of CALIOP Version 3 and Version 4 Cloud Aerosol Discrimination

Science.gov (United States)

Zeng, S.

2016-12-01

The Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) on board the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) mission has now delivered a 10-year record of high-resolution profiles of backscatter at 532 nm and 1064 nm and linear depolarization at 532 nm. These long-term active sensor measurements at global scale have led to significant advances in our understanding of the vertical distribution of clouds and aerosols in the atmosphere. In the fall of 2016, the CALIPSO science team is scheduled to release a new version of their cloud and aerosol data products. The new cloud and aerosol discrimination products are derived using updated probability density functions that account for numerous improvements to the CALIOP calibration and the use of the GMAO MERRA-2 meteorological data. Moreover, the CAD algorithm is now applied to all layers detected, thus greatly improving the identification of such features as overshooting convective clouds, stratospheric aerosol layers, and high intensity dust storms. Post-processing modules are added to the standard CAD algorithm to ensure proper identification of (for example) the tenuous edges of cirrus clouds and water clouds lying beneath optically dense smoke layers. This work presents statistical comparisons between the CALIOP version 3 and version 4 data sets. Areas of improvement are highlighted, sources of continuing uncertainty are discussed and a list of best practices for data users is provided.

ASTER cloud coverage reassessment using MODIS cloud mask products

Science.gov (United States)

Tonooka, Hideyuki; Omagari, Kunjuro; Yamamoto, Hirokazu; Tachikawa, Tetsushi; Fujita, Masaru; Paitaer, Zaoreguli

2010-10-01

In the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection radiometer (ASTER) Project, two kinds of algorithms are used for cloud assessment in Level-1 processing. The first algorithm based on the LANDSAT-5 TM Automatic Cloud Cover Assessment (ACCA) algorithm is used for a part of daytime scenes observed with only VNIR bands and all nighttime scenes, and the second algorithm based on the LANDSAT-7 ETM+ ACCA algorithm is used for most of daytime scenes observed with all spectral bands. However, the first algorithm does not work well for lack of some spectral bands sensitive to cloud detection, and the two algorithms have been less accurate over snow/ice covered areas since April 2008 when the SWIR subsystem developed troubles. In addition, they perform less well for some combinations of surface type and sun elevation angle. We, therefore, have developed the ASTER cloud coverage reassessment system using MODIS cloud mask (MOD35) products, and have reassessed cloud coverage for all ASTER archived scenes (>1.7 million scenes). All of the new cloud coverage data are included in Image Management System (IMS) databases of the ASTER Ground Data System (GDS) and NASA's Land Process Data Active Archive Center (LP DAAC) and used for ASTER product search by users, and cloud mask images are distributed to users through Internet. Daily upcoming scenes (about 400 scenes per day) are reassessed and inserted into the IMS databases in 5 to 7 days after each scene observation date. Some validation studies for the new cloud coverage data and some mission-related analyses using those data are also demonstrated in the present paper.

Investigation of Cloud Properties and Atmospheric Profiles with Modis

Science.gov (United States)

Menzel, Paul; Ackerman, Steve; Moeller, Chris; Gumley, Liam; Strabala, Kathy; Frey, Richard; Prins, Elaine; Laporte, Dan; Wolf, Walter

1997-01-01

A major milestone was accomplished with the delivery of all five University of Wisconsin MODIS Level 2 science production software packages to the Science Data Support Team (SDST) for integration. These deliveries were the culmination of months of design and testing, with most of the work focused on tasks peripheral to the actual science contained in the code. LTW hosted a MODIS infrared calibration workshop in September. Considerable progress has been made by MCST, with help from LTW, in refining the calibration algorithm, and in identifying and characterization outstanding problems. Work continues on characterizing the effects of non-blackbody earth surfaces on atmospheric profile retrievals and modeling radiative transfer through cirrus clouds.

The Cc1 Project – System For Private Cloud Computing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J Chwastowski

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The main features of the Cloud Computing system developed at IFJ PAN are described. The project is financed from the structural resources provided by the European Commission and the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education (Innovative Economy, National Cohesion Strategy. The system delivers a solution for carrying out computer calculations on a Private Cloud computing infrastructure. It consists of an intuitive Web based user interface, a module for the users and resources administration and the standard EC2 interface implementation. Thanks to the distributed character of the system it allows for the integration of a geographically distant federation of computer clusters within a uniform user environment.

Moving HammerCloud to CERN's private cloud

CERN Document Server

Barrand, Quentin

2013-01-01

HammerCloud is a testing framework for the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid. Currently deployed on about 20 hand-managed machines, it was desirable to move it to the Agile Infrastructure, CERN's OpenStack-based private cloud.

Security and privacy in the clouds: a bird's eye view

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pieters, Wolter

2010-01-01

Over the last years, something called “cloud computing��? has become a major theme in computer science and information security. Essentially, it concerns delivering information technology as a service, by enabling the renting of software, computing power and storage. In this contribution, we

Cloud Robotics Platforms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Busra Koken

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Cloud robotics is a rapidly evolving field that allows robots to offload computation-intensive and storage-intensive jobs into the cloud. Robots are limited in terms of computational capacity, memory and storage. Cloud provides unlimited computation power, memory, storage and especially collaboration opportunity. Cloud-enabled robots are divided into two categories as standalone and networked robots. This article surveys cloud robotic platforms, standalone and networked robotic works such as grasping, simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM and monitoring.

A motivational account of the undergraduate experience in science: brief measures of students' self-system appraisals, engagement in coursework, and identity as a scientist

Science.gov (United States)

Skinner, Ellen; Saxton, Emily; Currie, Cailin; Shusterman, Gwen

2017-11-01

As part of long-standing efforts to promote undergraduates' success in science, researchers have investigated the instructional strategies and motivational factors that promote student learning and persistence in science coursework and majors. This study aimed to create a set of brief measures that educators and researchers can use as tools to examine the undergraduate motivational experience in science classes. To identify key motivational processes, we drew on self-determination theory (SDT), which holds that students have fundamental needs - to feel competent, related, and autonomous - that fuel their intrinsic motivation. When educational experiences meet these needs, students engage more energetically and learn more, cumulatively contributing to a positive identity as a scientist. Based on information provided by 1013 students from 8 classes in biology, chemistry, and physics, we constructed conceptually focused and psychometrically sound survey measures of three sets of motivational factors: (1) students' appraisals of their own competence, autonomy, and relatedness; (2) the quality of students' behavioural and emotional engagement in academic work; and (3) students' emerging identities as scientists, including their science identity, purpose in science, and science career plans. Using an iterative confirmatory process, we tested short item sets for unidimensionality and internal consistency, and then cross-validated them. Tests of measurement invariance showed that scales were generally comparable across disciplines. Most importantly, scales and final course grades showed correlations consistent with predictions from SDT. These measures may provide a window on the student motivational experience for educators, researchers, and interventionists who aim to improve the quality of undergraduate science teaching and learning.

Unidata's Vision for Transforming Geoscience by Moving Data Services and Software to the Cloud

Science.gov (United States)

Ramamurthy, Mohan; Fisher, Ward; Yoksas, Tom

2015-04-01

Universities are facing many challenges: shrinking budgets, rapidly evolving information technologies, exploding data volumes, multidisciplinary science requirements, and high expectations from students who have grown up with smartphones and tablets. These changes are upending traditional approaches to accessing and using data and software. Unidata recognizes that its products and services must evolve to support new approaches to research and education. After years of hype and ambiguity, cloud computing is maturing in usability in many areas of science and education, bringing the benefits of virtualized and elastic remote services to infrastructure, software, computation, and data. Cloud environments reduce the amount of time and money spent to procure, install, and maintain new hardware and software, and reduce costs through resource pooling and shared infrastructure. Cloud services aimed at providing any resource, at any time, from any place, using any device are increasingly being embraced by all types of organizations. Given this trend and the enormous potential of cloud-based services, Unidata is taking moving to augment its products, services, data delivery mechanisms and applications to align with the cloud-computing paradigm. Specifically, Unidata is working toward establishing a community-based development environment that supports the creation and use of software services to build end-to-end data workflows. The design encourages the creation of services that can be broken into small, independent chunks that provide simple capabilities. Chunks could be used individually to perform a task, or chained into simple or elaborate workflows. The services will also be portable in the form of downloadable Unidata-in-a-box virtual images, allowing their use in researchers' own cloud-based computing environments. In this talk, we present a vision for Unidata's future in a cloud-enabled data services and discuss our ongoing efforts to deploy a suite of Unidata data

COSMIC ORIGINS SPECTROGRAPH OBSERVATIONS OF TRANSLUCENT CLOUDS: Cyg OB2 8A

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Snow, Theodore P.; Destree, Joshua D.; Burgh, Eric B.; Ferguson, Ryan M.; Danforth, Charles W.; Cordiner, Martin

2010-01-01

Data from the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) are presented for the first highly reddened target (Cyg OB2 8A) under the COS Science Team's guaranteed time allocation. Column densities of ionic, atomic, and molecular species are reported and implications are discussed. Data from Cyg OB2 8A demonstrate the ability to analyze highly reddened interstellar sight lines with the COS that were unavailable to previous UV instruments. Measured column densities indicate that the Cyg OB2 8A line of sight contains multiple diffuse clouds rather than a dominant translucent cloud.

Cloud ERP and Cloud Accounting Software in Romania

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gianina MIHAI

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Nowadays, Cloud Computing becomes a more and more fashionable concept in the IT environment. There is no unanimous opinion on the definition of this concept, as it covers several versions of the newly emerged stage in the IT. But in fact, Cloud Computing should not suggest anything else than simplicity. Thus, in short, simple terms, Cloud Computing can be defined as a solution to use external IT resources (servers, storage media, applications and services, via Internet. Cloud computing is nothing more than the promise of an easy accessible technology. If the promise will eventually turn into something certain yet remains to be seen. In our opinion it is too early to make an assertion. In this article, our purpose is to find out what is the Romanian offer of ERP and Accounting software applications in Cloud and / or as services in SaaS version. Thus, we conducted an extensive study whose results we’ll present in the following.

Security prospects through cloud computing by adopting multiple clouds

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Meiko; Schwenk, Jörg; Bohli, Jens Matthias

2011-01-01

Clouds impose new security challenges, which are amongst the biggest obstacles when considering the usage of cloud services. This triggered a lot of research activities in this direction, resulting in a quantity of proposals targeting the various security threats. Besides the security issues coming...... with the cloud paradigm, it can also provide a new set of unique features which open the path towards novel security approaches, techniques and architectures. This paper initiates this discussion by contributing a concept which achieves security merits by making use of multiple distinct clouds at the same time....

Artificial Intelligence and Science Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Good, Ron

1987-01-01

Defines artificial intelligence (AI) in relation to intelligent computer-assisted instruction (ICAI) and science education. Provides a brief background of AI work, examples of expert systems, examples of ICAI work, and addresses problems facing AI workers that have implications for science education. Proposes a revised model of the Karplus/Renner…

Evaluating Cloud Computing in the Proposed NASA DESDynI Ground Data System

Science.gov (United States)

Tran, John J.; Cinquini, Luca; Mattmann, Chris A.; Zimdars, Paul A.; Cuddy, David T.; Leung, Kon S.; Kwoun, Oh-Ig; Crichton, Dan; Freeborn, Dana

2011-01-01

The proposed NASA Deformation, Ecosystem Structure and Dynamics of Ice (DESDynI) mission would be a first-of-breed endeavor that would fundamentally change the paradigm by which Earth Science data systems at NASA are built. DESDynI is evaluating a distributed architecture where expert science nodes around the country all engage in some form of mission processing and data archiving. This is compared to the traditional NASA Earth Science missions where the science processing is typically centralized. What's more, DESDynI is poised to profoundly increase the amount of data collection and processing well into the 5 terabyte/day and tens of thousands of job range, both of which comprise a tremendous challenge to DESDynI's proposed distributed data system architecture. In this paper, we report on a set of architectural trade studies and benchmarks meant to inform the DESDynI mission and the broader community of the impacts of these unprecedented requirements. In particular, we evaluate the benefits of cloud computing and its integration with our existing NASA ground data system software called Apache Object Oriented Data Technology (OODT). The preliminary conclusions of our study suggest that the use of the cloud and OODT together synergistically form an effective, efficient and extensible combination that could meet the challenges of NASA science missions requiring DESDynI-like data collection and processing volumes at reduced costs.

2010 Atmospheric System Research (ASR) Science Team Meeting Summary

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dupont, DL

2011-05-04

This document contains the summaries of papers presented in poster format at the March 2010 Atmospheric System Research Science Team Meeting held in Bethesda, Maryland. More than 260 posters were presented during the Science Team Meeting. Posters were sorted into the following subject areas: aerosol-cloud-radiation interactions, aerosol properties, atmospheric state and surface, cloud properties, field campaigns, infrastructure and outreach, instruments, modeling, and radiation. To put these posters in context, the status of ASR at the time of the meeting is provided here.

Radiative properties of clouds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Twomey, S.

1993-01-01

The climatic effects of condensation nuclei in the formation of cloud droplets and the subsequent role of the cloud droplets as contributors to the planetary short-wave albedo is emphasized. Microphysical properties of clouds, which can be greatly modified by the degree of mixing with cloud-free air from outside, are discussed. The effect of clouds on visible radiation is assessed through multiple scattering of the radiation. Cloudwater or ice absorbs more with increasing wavelength in the near-infrared region, with water vapor providing the stronger absorption over narrower wavelength bands. Cloud thermal infrared absorption can be solely related to liquid water content at least for shallow clouds and clouds in the early development state. Three-dimensional general circulation models have been used to study the climatic effect of clouds. It was found for such studies (which did not consider variations in cloud albedo) that the cooling effects due to the increase in planetary short-wave albedo from clouds were offset by heating effects due to thermal infrared absorption by the cloud. Two permanent direct effects of increased pollution are discussed in this chapter: (a) an increase of absorption in the visible and near infrared because of increased amounts of elemental carbon, which gives rise to a warming effect climatically, and (b) an increased optical thickness of clouds due to increasing cloud droplet number concentration caused by increasing cloud condensation nuclei number concentration, which gives rise to a cooling effect climatically. An increase in cloud albedo from 0.7 to 0.87 produces an appreciable climatic perturbation of cooling up to 2.5 K at the ground, using a hemispheric general circulation model. Effects of pollution on cloud thermal infrared absorption are negligible

CLOUD STORAGE SERVICES

OpenAIRE

Yan, Cheng

2017-01-01

Cloud computing is a hot topic in recent research and applications. Because it is widely used in various fields. Up to now, Google, Microsoft, IBM, Amazon and other famous co partnership have proposed their cloud computing application. Look upon cloud computing as one of the most important strategy in the future. Cloud storage is the lower layer of cloud computing system which supports the service of the other layers above it. At the same time, it is an effective way to store and manage heavy...

CloudSat observations of cloud-type distribution over the Indian summer monsoon region

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. V. Subrahmanyam

2013-07-01

Full Text Available The three-dimensional distribution of various cloud types over the Indian summer monsoon (ISM region using five years (2006–2010 of CloudSat observations during June-July-August-September months is discussed for the first time. As the radiative properties, latent heat released and microphysical properties of clouds differ largely depending on the cloud type, it becomes important to know what types of clouds occur over which region. In this regard, the present analysis establishes the three-dimensional distribution of frequency of occurrence of stratus (St, stratocumulus (Sc, nimbostratus (Ns, cumulus (Cu, altocumulus (Ac, altostratus (As, cirrus (Ci and deep convective (DC clouds over the ISM region. The results show that the various cloud types preferentially occur over some regions of the ISM, which are consistent during all the years of observations. It is found that the DC clouds frequently occur over northeast of Bay of Bengal (BoB, Ci clouds over a wide region of south BoB–Indian peninsula–equatorial Indian Ocean, and Sc clouds over the north Arabian Sea. Ac clouds preferentially occur over land, and a large amount of As clouds are found over BoB. The occurrence of both St and Ns clouds over the study region is much lower than all other cloud types.The interannual variability of all these clouds including their vertical distribution is discussed. It is envisaged that the present study opens up possibilities to quantify the feedback of individual cloud type in the maintenance of the ISM through radiative forcing and latent heat release.

Data-Intensive Cloud Service Provision for Research Institutes: the Network Connectivity Problem

CERN Document Server

Cass, Tony; CERN. Geneva. IT Department

2016-01-01

Much effort (and money) has been invested in recent years to ensure that academic and research sites are well interconnected with high-capacity networks that, in most cases, span national and continental boundaries. However, these dedicated research and education networks, whether national (NRENs) or trans-continental (RENs), frequently have Acceptable Use Policies (AUPs) that restrict their use by commercial entities, notably Cloud Service Providers (CSPs). After a brief summary of the issues involved, we describe three approaches to removing the network connectivity barrier that threatens to limit the ability of academic and research institutions to profit effectively from services offered by CSPs.

Mobile and cloud based systems proposal for a centralized management of educational institutions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leandro Medeiros de Almeida Machado

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The computational technological efforts towards a centralized data storage and processing have contributed to provide more sustainable solutions under the environmental, administrative and business perspectives. However, it is not yet worldwide adopted by public institutions, specially, in the Brazilian educational systems, where these technological models are still under constant discussions and development. In this sense, this work presents a brief survey about cloud and mobile integrated technologies and their possible contributions to support a centralized data management in educational systems, relating improvements in governance, data security, mobility, economic viability and environmental impact. Therefore, this work also present a list of already free and private technologies and their advantages and disadvantages in the Brazilian scenario. In this sense, the herein technological aspects considers the integration between cloud and mobile technologies as essential alternative to suppress the online requirements, which a limitation for a large number of public institutions that have problems to be effectively connected on the Internet.

VMware vCloud security

CERN Document Server

Sarkar, Prasenjit

2013-01-01

VMware vCloud Security provides the reader with in depth knowledge and practical exercises sufficient to implement a secured private cloud using VMware vCloud Director and vCloud Networking and Security.This book is primarily for technical professionals with system administration and security administration skills with significant VMware vCloud experience who want to learn about advanced concepts of vCloud security and compliance.

Cloud Surprises in Moving NASA EOSDIS Applications into Amazon Web Services

Science.gov (United States)

Mclaughlin, Brett

2017-01-01

NASA ESDIS has been moving a variety of data ingest, distribution, and science data processing applications into a cloud environment over the last 2 years. As expected, there have been a number of challenges in migrating primarily on-premises applications into a cloud-based environment, related to architecture and taking advantage of cloud-based services. What was not expected is a number of issues that were beyond purely technical application re-architectures. We ran into surprising network policy limitations, billing challenges in a government-based cost model, and difficulty in obtaining certificates in an NASA security-compliant manner. On the other hand, this approach has allowed us to move a number of applications from local hosting to the cloud in a matter of hours (yes, hours!!), and our CMR application now services 95% of granule searches and an astonishing 99% of all collection searches in under a second. And most surprising of all, well, you'll just have to wait and see the realization that caught our entire team off guard!

International Symposium on Grids and Clouds (ISGC) 2016

Science.gov (United States)

The International Symposium on Grids and Clouds (ISGC) 2016 will be held at Academia Sinica in Taipei, Taiwan from 13-18 March 2016, with co-located events and workshops. The conference is hosted by the Academia Sinica Grid Computing Centre (ASGC). The theme of ISGC 2016 focuses on“Ubiquitous e-infrastructures and Applications”. Contemporary research is impossible without a strong IT component - researchers rely on the existence of stable and widely available e-infrastructures and their higher level functions and properties. As a result of these expectations, e-Infrastructures are becoming ubiquitous, providing an environment that supports large scale collaborations that deal with global challenges as well as smaller and temporal research communities focusing on particular scientific problems. To support those diversified communities and their needs, the e-Infrastructures themselves are becoming more layered and multifaceted, supporting larger groups of applications. Following the call for the last year conference, ISGC 2016 continues its aim to bring together users and application developers with those responsible for the development and operation of multi-purpose ubiquitous e-Infrastructures. Topics of discussion include Physics (including HEP) and Engineering Applications, Biomedicine & Life Sciences Applications, Earth & Environmental Sciences & Biodiversity Applications, Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (HASS) Applications, Virtual Research Environment (including Middleware, tools, services, workflow, etc.), Data Management, Big Data, Networking & Security, Infrastructure & Operations, Infrastructure Clouds and Virtualisation, Interoperability, Business Models & Sustainability, Highly Distributed Computing Systems, and High Performance & Technical Computing (HPTC), etc.

Large Scale Monte Carlo Simulation of Neutrino Interactions Using the Open Science Grid and Commercial Clouds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Norman, A.; Boyd, J.; Davies, G.; Flumerfelt, E.; Herner, K.; Mayer, N.; Mhashilhar, P.; Tamsett, M.; Timm, S.

2015-01-01

Modern long baseline neutrino experiments like the NOvA experiment at Fermilab, require large scale, compute intensive simulations of their neutrino beam fluxes and backgrounds induced by cosmic rays. The amount of simulation required to keep the systematic uncertainties in the simulation from dominating the final physics results is often 10x to 100x that of the actual detector exposure. For the first physics results from NOvA this has meant the simulation of more than 2 billion cosmic ray events in the far detector and more than 200 million NuMI beam spill simulations. Performing these high statistics levels of simulation have been made possible for NOvA through the use of the Open Science Grid and through large scale runs on commercial clouds like Amazon EC2. We details the challenges in performing large scale simulation in these environments and how the computing infrastructure for the NOvA experiment has been adapted to seamlessly support the running of different simulation and data processing tasks on these resources. (paper)

Cloud-Based RFID Mutual Authentication Protocol without Leaking Location Privacy to the Cloud

OpenAIRE

Dong, Qingkuan; Tong, Jiaqing; Chen, Yuan

2015-01-01

With the rapid developments of the IoT (Internet of Things) and the cloud computing, cloud-based RFID systems attract more attention. Users can reduce their cost of deploying and maintaining the RFID system by purchasing cloud services. However, the security threats of cloud-based RFID systems are more serious than those of traditional RFID systems. In cloud-based RFID systems, the connection between the reader and the cloud database is not secure and cloud service provider is not trusted. Th...

Cloud Computing Bible

CERN Document Server

Sosinsky, Barrie

2010-01-01

The complete reference guide to the hot technology of cloud computingIts potential for lowering IT costs makes cloud computing a major force for both IT vendors and users; it is expected to gain momentum rapidly with the launch of Office Web Apps later this year. Because cloud computing involves various technologies, protocols, platforms, and infrastructure elements, this comprehensive reference is just what you need if you'll be using or implementing cloud computing.Cloud computing offers significant cost savings by eliminating upfront expenses for hardware and software; its growing popularit

Integrated cloud-aerosol-radiation product using CERES, MODIS, CALIPSO, and CloudSat data

Science.gov (United States)

Sun-Mack, Sunny; Minnis, Patrick; Chen, Yan; Gibson, Sharon; Yi, Yuhong; Trepte, Qing; Wielicki, Bruce; Kato, Seiji; Winker, Dave; Stephens, Graeme; Partain, Philip

2007-10-01

This paper documents the development of the first integrated data set of global vertical profiles of clouds, aerosols, and radiation using the combined NASA A-Train data from the Aqua Clouds and Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO), and CloudSat. As part of this effort, cloud data from the CALIPSO lidar and the CloudSat radar are merged with the integrated column cloud properties from the CERES-MODIS analyses. The active and passive datasets are compared to determine commonalities and differences in order to facilitate the development of a 3-dimensional cloud and aerosol dataset that will then be integrated into the CERES broadband radiance footprint. Preliminary results from the comparisons for April 2007 reveal that the CERES-MODIS global cloud amounts are, on average, 0.14 less and 0.15 greater than those from CALIPSO and CloudSat, respectively. These new data will provide unprecedented ability to test and improve global cloud and aerosol models, to investigate aerosol direct and indirect radiative forcing, and to validate the accuracy of global aerosol, cloud, and radiation data sets especially in polar regions and for multi-layered cloud conditions.

IBM SmartCloud essentials

CERN Document Server

Schouten, Edwin

2013-01-01

A practical, user-friendly guide that provides an introduction to cloud computing using IBM SmartCloud, along with a thorough understanding of resource management in a cloud environment.This book is great for anyone who wants to get a grasp of what cloud computing is and what IBM SmartCloud has to offer. If you are an IT specialist, IT architect, system administrator, or a developer who wants to thoroughly understand the cloud computing resource model, this book is ideal for you. No prior knowledge of cloud computing is expected.

Cloud Computing Governance Lifecycle

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Soňa Karkošková

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Externally provisioned cloud services enable flexible and on-demand sourcing of IT resources. Cloud computing introduces new challenges such as need of business process redefinition, establishment of specialized governance and management, organizational structures and relationships with external providers and managing new types of risk arising from dependency on external providers. There is a general consensus that cloud computing in addition to challenges brings many benefits but it is unclear how to achieve them. Cloud computing governance helps to create business value through obtain benefits from use of cloud computing services while optimizing investment and risk. Challenge, which organizations are facing in relation to governing of cloud services, is how to design and implement cloud computing governance to gain expected benefits. This paper aims to provide guidance on implementation activities of proposed Cloud computing governance lifecycle from cloud consumer perspective. Proposed model is based on SOA Governance Framework and consists of lifecycle for implementation and continuous improvement of cloud computing governance model.

Lost in the Cloud - New Challenges for Teaching GIS

Science.gov (United States)

Bellman, C. J.; Pupedis, G.

2016-06-01

As cloud based services move towards becoming the dominant paradigm in many areas of information technology, GIS has also moved into `the Cloud', creating a new opportunities for professionals and students alike, while at the same time presenting a range of new challenges and opportunities for GIS educators. Learning for many students in the geospatial science disciplines has been based on desktop software for GIS, building their skills from basic data handling and manipulation to advanced spatial analysis and database storage. Cloud-based systems challenge this paradigm in many ways, with some of the skills being replaced by clever and capable software tools, while the ubiquitous nature of the computing environment offers access and processing from anywhere, on any device. This paper describes our experiences over the past two years in developing and delivering a new course incorporating cloud based technologies for GIS and illustrates the many benefits and pitfalls of a cloud based approach to teaching. Throughout the course, students were encouraged to provide regular feedback on the course through the use of online journals. This allowed students to critique the approach to teaching, the learning materials available and to describe their own level of comfort and engagement with the material in an honest and non-confrontational manner. Many of the students did not have a strong information technology background and the journals provided great insight into the views of the students and the challenges they faced in mastering this technology.

Design of Scalable and Effective Earth Science Collaboration Tool

Science.gov (United States)

Maskey, M.; Ramachandran, R.; Kuo, K. S.; Lynnes, C.; Niamsuwan, N.; Chidambaram, C.

2014-12-01

Collaborative research is growing rapidly. Many tools including IDEs are now beginning to incorporate new collaborative features. Software engineering research has shown the effectiveness of collaborative programming and analysis. In particular, drastic reduction in software development time resulting in reduced cost has been highlighted. Recently, we have witnessed the rise of applications that allow users to share their content. Most of these applications scale such collaboration using cloud technologies. Earth science research needs to adopt collaboration technologies to reduce redundancy, cut cost, expand knowledgebase, and scale research experiments. To address these needs, we developed the Earth science collaboration workbench (CWB). CWB provides researchers with various collaboration features by augmenting their existing analysis tools to minimize learning curve. During the development of the CWB, we understood that Earth science collaboration tasks are varied and we concluded that it is not possible to design a tool that serves all collaboration purposes. We adopted a mix of synchronous and asynchronous sharing methods that can be used to perform collaboration across time and location dimensions. We have used cloud technology for scaling the collaboration. Cloud has been highly utilized and valuable tool for Earth science researchers. Among other usages, cloud is used for sharing research results, Earth science data, and virtual machine images; allowing CWB to create and maintain research environments and networks to enhance collaboration between researchers. Furthermore, collaborative versioning tool, Git, is integrated into CWB for versioning of science artifacts. In this paper, we present our experience in designing and implementing the CWB. We will also discuss the integration of collaborative code development use cases for data search and discovery using NASA DAAC and simulation of satellite observations using NASA Earth Observing System Simulation

Journal of Chemical Sciences | Indian Academy of Sciences

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Home; Journals; Journal of Chemical Sciences; Volume 122; Issue 5. Issue front cover thumbnail. Volume 122, Issue 5. September 2010, pages 665-785. Organic and Related Solids. pp 665-665. Foreword · S Natarajan · More Details Fulltext PDF. pp 667-675. Crystal engineering: A brief overview · Gautam R Desiraju.

Continued rise of the cloud advances and trends in cloud computing

CERN Document Server

Mahmood, Zaigham

2014-01-01

Cloud computing is no-longer a novel paradigm, but instead an increasingly robust and established technology, yet new developments continue to emerge in this area. Continued Rise of the Cloud: Advances and Trends in Cloud Computing captures the state of the art in cloud technologies, infrastructures, and service delivery and deployment models. The book provides guidance and case studies on the development of cloud-based services and infrastructures from an international selection of expert researchers and practitioners. A careful analysis is provided of relevant theoretical frameworks, prac

Exploring clouds, weather, climate, and modeling using bilingual content and activities from the Windows to the Universe program and the Center for Multiscale Modeling of Atmospheric Processes

Science.gov (United States)

Foster, S. Q.; Johnson, R. M.; Randall, D.; Denning, S.; Russell, R.; Gardiner, L.; Hatheway, B.; Genyuk, J.; Bergman, J.

2008-12-01

The need for improving the representation of cloud processes in climate models has been one of the most important limitations of the reliability of climate-change simulations. Now in its third year, the National Science Foundation-funded Center for Multi-scale Modeling of Atmospheric Processes (CMMAP) at Colorado State University is addressing this problem through a revolutionary new approach to representing cloud processes on their native scales, including the cloud-scale interaction processes that are active in cloud systems. CMMAP has set ambitious education and human-resource goals to share basic information about the atmosphere, clouds, weather, climate, and modeling with diverse K-12 and public audiences through its affiliation with the Windows to the Universe (W2U) program at University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR). W2U web pages are written at three levels in English and Spanish. This information targets learners at all levels, educators, and families who seek to understand and share resources and information about the nature of weather and the climate system, and career role models from related research fields. This resource can also be helpful to educators who are building bridges in the classroom between the sciences, the arts, and literacy. Visitors to the W2U's CMMAP web portal can access a beautiful new clouds image gallery; information about each cloud type and the atmospheric processes that produce them; a Clouds in Art interactive; collections of weather-themed poetry, art, and myths; links to games and puzzles for children; and extensive classroom- ready resources and activities for K-12 teachers. Biographies of CMMAP scientists and graduate students are featured. Basic science concepts important to understanding the atmosphere, such as condensation, atmosphere pressure, lapse rate, and more have been developed, as well as 'microworlds' that enable students to interact with experimental tools while building fundamental knowledge

Science Academies Refresher Course on Crustal Strength ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

2017-05-26

May 26, 2017 ... Sponsored by Indian Academy of Sciences, Bengaluru. Indian National Science ... Only 25 outstations and 10 Local ... a brief statement (between 250 and 500 words) as to why they think the Course will help to improve their.

Achieve a Better Understanding of Cloud and Precipitation Processes for the Promotion of Water Security in Arid and Semi-Arid Regions

Science.gov (United States)

Farrah, S.; Al Yazidi, O.

2016-12-01

The UAE Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science (UAEREP) is an international research initiative designed to advance the science and technology of rain enhancement. It comes from an understanding of the needs of countries suffering from scarcity of fresh water, and its will to support innovation globally. The Program focuses on the following topics: Climate change, Climate modelling, Climatology, Atmospheric physics, Atmospheric dynamics, Weather modification, Cloud physics, Cloud dynamics, Cloud seeding, Weather radars, Dust modelling, Aerosol physics , Aerosol chemistry, Aerosol/cloud interactions, Water resources, Physics, Numerical modelling, Material science, Nanotechnology, Meteorology, Hydrology, Hydrogeology, Rocket technology, Laser technology, Water sustainability, Remote sensing, Environmental sciences... In 2015, three research teams from Japan, Germany and the UAE led by Prof. Masataka Murakami, Volker Wulfmeyer and Linda Zou have been respectively awarded. Together, they are addressing the issue of water security through innovative ideas: algorithms and sensors, land cover modification, and nanotechnologies to accelerate condensation. These three projects are undergoing now with extensive research and progresses. This session will be an opportunity to present their latest results as well as to detail the evolution of research in rain enhancement. In 2016 indeed, the Program saw a remarkable increase in participation, with 91 pre-proposals from 398 scientists, researchers and technologists affiliated to 180 institutes from 45 countries. The projects submitted are now focusing on modelling to predict weather, autonomous vehicles, rocket technology, lasers or new seeding materials… The science of rain enhancement offers considerable potential in terms of research, development and innovation. Though cloud seeding has been pursued since the late 1940s, it has been viewed as a relatively marginal field of interest for scientists. This benign neglect

Community Cloud Computing

Science.gov (United States)

Marinos, Alexandros; Briscoe, Gerard

Cloud Computing is rising fast, with its data centres growing at an unprecedented rate. However, this has come with concerns over privacy, efficiency at the expense of resilience, and environmental sustainability, because of the dependence on Cloud vendors such as Google, Amazon and Microsoft. Our response is an alternative model for the Cloud conceptualisation, providing a paradigm for Clouds in the community, utilising networked personal computers for liberation from the centralised vendor model. Community Cloud Computing (C3) offers an alternative architecture, created by combing the Cloud with paradigms from Grid Computing, principles from Digital Ecosystems, and sustainability from Green Computing, while remaining true to the original vision of the Internet. It is more technically challenging than Cloud Computing, having to deal with distributed computing issues, including heterogeneous nodes, varying quality of service, and additional security constraints. However, these are not insurmountable challenges, and with the need to retain control over our digital lives and the potential environmental consequences, it is a challenge we must pursue.

Cloud Computing Law

CERN Document Server

Millard, Christopher

2013-01-01

This book is about the legal implications of cloud computing. In essence, ‘the cloud’ is a way of delivering computing resources as a utility service via the internet. It is evolving very rapidly with substantial investments being made in infrastructure, platforms and applications, all delivered ‘as a service’. The demand for cloud resources is enormous, driven by such developments as the deployment on a vast scale of mobile apps and the rapid emergence of ‘Big Data’. Part I of this book explains what cloud computing is and how it works. Part II analyses contractual relationships between cloud service providers and their customers, as well as the complex roles of intermediaries. Drawing on primary research conducted by the Cloud Legal Project at Queen Mary University of London, cloud contracts are analysed in detail, including the appropriateness and enforceability of ‘take it or leave it’ terms of service, as well as the scope for negotiating cloud deals. Specific arrangements for public sect...

Tropical High Cloud Fraction Controlled by Cloud Lifetime Rather Than Clear-sky Convergence

Science.gov (United States)

Seeley, J.; Jeevanjee, N.; Romps, D. M.

2016-12-01

Observations and simulations show a peak in cloud fraction below the tropopause. This peak is usually attributed to a roughly co-located peak in radiatively-driven clear-sky convergence, which is presumed to force convective detrainment and thus promote large cloud fraction. Using simulations of radiative-convective equilibrium forced by various radiative cooling profiles, we refute this mechanism by showing that an upper-tropospheric peak in cloud fraction persists even in simulations with no peak in clear-sky convergence. Instead, cloud fraction profiles seem to be controlled by cloud lifetimes — i.e., how long it takes for clouds to dissipate after they have detrained. A simple model of cloud evaporation shows that the small saturation deficit in the upper troposphere greatly extends cloud lifetimes there, while the large saturation deficit in the lower troposphere causes condensate to evaporate quickly. Since cloud mass flux must go to zero at the tropopause, a peak in cloud fraction emerges at a "sweet spot" below the tropopause where cloud lifetimes are long and there is still sufficient mass flux to be detrained.

Cloud Computing: A study of cloud architecture and its patterns

OpenAIRE

Mandeep Handa,; Shriya Sharma

2015-01-01

Cloud computing is a general term for anything that involves delivering hosted services over the Internet. Cloud computing is a paradigm shift following the shift from mainframe to client–server in the early 1980s. Cloud computing can be defined as accessing third party software and services on web and paying as per usage. It facilitates scalability and virtualized resources over Internet as a service providing cost effective and scalable solution to customers. Cloud computing has...

Middle Grades to High School: Mending a Weak Link. Research Brief.

Science.gov (United States)

Cooney, Sondra; Bottoms, Gene

This research brief describes a study of the readiness for high school of eighth-graders who participated in the Southern Regional Education Board's (SREB) Middle Grades Assessment in spring 2000. The assessment included testing in reading, math, and science, and surveys of students and teachers. Following the 2000-01 school year, SREB gathered…

Quantifying Diurnal Cloud Radiative Effects by Cloud Type in the Tropical Western Pacific

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Burleyson, Casey D.; Long, Charles N.; Comstock, Jennifer M.

2015-06-01

Cloud radiative effects are examined using long-term datasets collected at the three Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facilities in the tropical western Pacific. We quantify the surface radiation budget, cloud populations, and cloud radiative effects by partitioning the data by cloud type, time of day, and as a function of large scale modes of variability such as El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phase and wet/dry seasons at Darwin. The novel facet of our analysis is that we break aggregate cloud radiative effects down by cloud type across the diurnal cycle. The Nauru cloud populations and subsequently the surface radiation budget are strongly impacted by ENSO variability whereas the cloud populations over Manus only shift slightly in response to changes in ENSO phase. The Darwin site exhibits large seasonal monsoon related variations. We show that while deeper convective clouds have a strong conditional influence on the radiation reaching the surface, their limited frequency reduces their aggregate radiative impact. The largest source of shortwave cloud radiative effects at all three sites comes from low clouds. We use the observations to demonstrate that potential model biases in the amplitude of the diurnal cycle and mean cloud frequency would lead to larger errors in the surface energy budget compared to biases in the timing of the diurnal cycle of cloud frequency. Our results provide solid benchmarks to evaluate model simulations of cloud radiative effects in the tropics.

Molecular clouds near supernova remnants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wootten, H.A.

1978-01-01

The physical properties of molecular clouds near supernova remnants were investigated. Various properties of the structure and kinematics of these clouds are used to establish their physical association with well-known remmnants. An infrared survey of the most massive clouds revealed embedded objects, probably stars whose formation was induced by the supernova blast wave. In order to understand the relationship between these and other molecular clouds, a control group of clouds was also observed. Excitation models for dense regions of all the clouds are constructed to evaluate molecular abundances in these regions. Those clouds that have embedded stars have lower molecular abundances than the clouds that do not. A cloud near the W28 supernova remnant also has low abundances. Molecular abundances are used to measure an important parameter, the electron density, which is not directly observable. In some clouds extensive deuterium fractionation is observed which confirms electron density measurements in those clouds. Where large deuterium fractionation is observed, the ionization rate in the cloud interior can also be measured. The electron density and ionization rate in the cloud near W28 are higher than in most clouds. The molecular abundances and electron densities are functions of the chemical and dynamical state of evolution of the cloud. Those clouds with lowest abundances are probably the youngest clouds. As low-abundance clouds, some clouds near supernova remnants may have been recently swept from the local interstellar material. Supernova remnants provide sites for star formation in ambient clouds by compressing them, and they sweep new clouds from more diffuse local matter

AIRS-CloudSat cloud mask, radar reflectivities, and cloud classification matchups V3.2

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This is AIRS-CloudSat collocated subset, in NetCDF 4 format. These data contain collocated: AIRS Level 1b radiances spectra, CloudSat radar reflectivities, and MODIS...

Cloud Computing (1/2)

CERN Multimedia

CERN. Geneva

2012-01-01

Cloud computing, the recent years buzzword for distributed computing, continues to attract and keep the interest of both the computing and business world. These lectures aim at explaining "What is Cloud Computing?" identifying and analyzing it's characteristics, models, and applications. The lectures will explore different "Cloud definitions" given by different authors and use them to introduce the particular concepts. The main cloud models (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS), cloud types (public, private, hybrid), cloud standards and security concerns will be presented. The borders between Cloud Computing and Grid Computing, Server Virtualization, Utility Computing will be discussed and analyzed.

Cloud Computing (2/2)

CERN Multimedia

CERN. Geneva

2012-01-01

Cloud computing, the recent years buzzword for distributed computing, continues to attract and keep the interest of both the computing and business world. These lectures aim at explaining "What is Cloud Computing?" identifying and analyzing it's characteristics, models, and applications. The lectures will explore different "Cloud definitions" given by different authors and use them to introduce the particular concepts. The main cloud models (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS), cloud types (public, private, hybrid), cloud standards and security concerns will be presented. The borders between Cloud Computing and Grid Computing, Server Virtualization, Utility Computing will be discussed and analyzed.

Marine cloud brightening

OpenAIRE

Latham, John; Bower, Keith; Choularton, Tom; Coe, Hugh; Connolly, Paul; Cooper, Gary; Craft, Tim; Foster, Jack; Gadian, Alan; Galbraith, Lee; Iacovides, Hector; Johnston, David; Launder, Brian; Leslie, Brian; Meyer, John

2012-01-01

The idea behind the marine cloud-brightening (MCB) geoengineering technique is that seeding marine stratocumulus clouds with copious quantities of roughly monodisperse sub-micrometre sea water particles might significantly enhance the cloud droplet number concentration, and thereby the cloud albedo and possibly longevity. This would produce a cooling, which general circulation model (GCM) computations suggest could—subject to satisfactory resolution of technical and scientific problems identi...

CloudTPS: Scalable Transactions for Web Applications in the Cloud

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zhou, W.; Pierre, G.E.O.; Chi, C.-H.

2010-01-01

NoSQL Cloud data services provide scalability and high availability properties for web applications but at the same time they sacrifice data consistency. However, many applications cannot afford any data inconsistency. CloudTPS is a scalable transaction manager to allow cloud database services to

Lost in Cloud

Science.gov (United States)

Maluf, David A.; Shetye, Sandeep D.; Chilukuri, Sri; Sturken, Ian

2012-01-01

Cloud computing can reduce cost significantly because businesses can share computing resources. In recent years Small and Medium Businesses (SMB) have used Cloud effectively for cost saving and for sharing IT expenses. With the success of SMBs, many perceive that the larger enterprises ought to move into Cloud environment as well. Government agency s stove-piped environments are being considered as candidates for potential use of Cloud either as an enterprise entity or pockets of small communities. Cloud Computing is the delivery of computing as a service rather than as a product, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices as a utility over a network. Underneath the offered services, there exists a modern infrastructure cost of which is often spread across its services or its investors. As NASA is considered as an Enterprise class organization, like other enterprises, a shift has been occurring in perceiving its IT services as candidates for Cloud services. This paper discusses market trends in cloud computing from an enterprise angle and then addresses the topic of Cloud Computing for NASA in two possible forms. First, in the form of a public Cloud to support it as an enterprise, as well as to share it with the commercial and public at large. Second, as a private Cloud wherein the infrastructure is operated solely for NASA, whether managed internally or by a third-party and hosted internally or externally. The paper addresses the strengths and weaknesses of both paradigms of public and private Clouds, in both internally and externally operated settings. The content of the paper is from a NASA perspective but is applicable to any large enterprise with thousands of employees and contractors.

Data intensive high energy physics analysis in a distributed cloud

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Charbonneau, A; Impey, R; Podaima, W; Agarwal, A; Anderson, M; Armstrong, P; Fransham, K; Gable, I; Harris, D; Leavett-Brown, C; Paterson, M; Sobie, R J; Vliet, M

2012-01-01

We show that distributed Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) compute clouds can be effectively used for the analysis of high energy physics data. We have designed a distributed cloud system that works with any application using large input data sets requiring a high throughput computing environment. The system uses IaaS-enabled science and commercial clusters in Canada and the United States. We describe the process in which a user prepares an analysis virtual machine (VM) and submits batch jobs to a central scheduler. The system boots the user-specific VM on one of the IaaS clouds, runs the jobs and returns the output to the user. The user application accesses a central database for calibration data during the execution of the application. Similarly, the data is located in a central location and streamed by the running application. The system can easily run one hundred simultaneous jobs in an efficient manner and should scale to many hundreds and possibly thousands of user jobs.

Data intensive high energy physics analysis in a distributed cloud

Science.gov (United States)

Charbonneau, A.; Agarwal, A.; Anderson, M.; Armstrong, P.; Fransham, K.; Gable, I.; Harris, D.; Impey, R.; Leavett-Brown, C.; Paterson, M.; Podaima, W.; Sobie, R. J.; Vliet, M.

2012-02-01

We show that distributed Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) compute clouds can be effectively used for the analysis of high energy physics data. We have designed a distributed cloud system that works with any application using large input data sets requiring a high throughput computing environment. The system uses IaaS-enabled science and commercial clusters in Canada and the United States. We describe the process in which a user prepares an analysis virtual machine (VM) and submits batch jobs to a central scheduler. The system boots the user-specific VM on one of the IaaS clouds, runs the jobs and returns the output to the user. The user application accesses a central database for calibration data during the execution of the application. Similarly, the data is located in a central location and streamed by the running application. The system can easily run one hundred simultaneous jobs in an efficient manner and should scale to many hundreds and possibly thousands of user jobs.

Science, Society and Policy

Science.gov (United States)

White, K. S.; Teich, A. H.

2010-12-01

Apart from the journals they produce, scientific societies play an important role in communicating scientific findings and norms to the broader society. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) includes among its goals to promote and defend the integrity of science and its use; provide a voice for science on societal issues; promote the responsible use of science in public policy; and increase public engagement with science and technology. AAAS websites and programs, including Communicating Science (www.aaas.org/communicatingscience), Working with Congress (http://www.aaas.org/spp/cstc/wwc/book.htm) and ScienceCareers.org (http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org), provide tools for scientists to become more directly engaged in effectively communicating their findings and involved in the policy process. Education programs work to build the next generation of scientists and a science-literate public. To bridge the current communication gap between scientists, the public and policymakers, AAAS, like other scientific societies, maintains policy and outreach programs with limited budgets and staff. AAAS works to engage policymakers and provide scientific underpinning to key issues through congressional briefings, meetings, policy briefs, and media outreach. AAAS responds to challenges to accepted scientific findings and processes through op-eds, letters to government officials, resolutions, and Board statements. Some of these initiatives occur on a local level in partnership with local civic leaders, whose endorsement makes them more powerful. On a national scale, they assure that the voice of science is included in the debate. The changing media landscape presents opportunities and challenges for future AAAS endeavors.

Cloud Computing as a Core Discipline in a Technology Entrepreneurship Program

Science.gov (United States)

Lawler, James; Joseph, Anthony

2012-01-01

Education in entrepreneurship continues to be a developing area of curricula for computer science and information systems students. Entrepreneurship is enabled frequently by cloud computing methods that furnish benefits to especially medium and small-sized firms. Expanding upon an earlier foundation paper, the authors of this paper present an…

Cloud computing models and their application in LTE based cellular systems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Staring, A.J.; Karagiannis, Georgios

2013-01-01

As cloud computing emerges as the next novel concept in computer science, it becomes clear that the model applied in large data storage systems used to resolve issues coming forth from an increasing demand, could also be used to resolve the very high bandwidth requirements on access network, core

RenderSelect: a Cloud Broker Framework for Cloud Renderfarm Services

OpenAIRE

Ruby, Annette J; Aisha, Banu W; Subash, Chandran P

2016-01-01

In the 3D studios the animation scene files undergo a process called as rendering, where the 3D wire frame models are converted into 3D photorealistic images. As the rendering process is both a computationally intensive and a time consuming task, the cloud services based rendering in cloud render farms is gaining popularity among the animators. Though cloud render farms offer many benefits, the animators hesitate to move from their traditional offline rendering to cloud services based render ...