Director’s Report

Unidata Policy Committee MeetingUnidata Policy Committee Meeting

5 February 20045 February 2004

Mohan RamamurthyMohan RamamurthyUnidata Program CenterUnidata Program CenterUCAR Office of ProgramsUCAR Office of Programs

Boulder, COBoulder, CO

Community Relations:Community Relations:MeetingsMeetings

UPC staff actively UPC staff actively participated at both the participated at both the AGU Fall Meeting in San AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco (Dec 8-12) and Francisco (Dec 8-12) and the AMS Annual Meeting in the AMS Annual Meeting in Seattle (Jan 10-15)Seattle (Jan 10-15)

A new Unidata booth was A new Unidata booth was unveiled at the AMS unveiled at the AMS Annual Meeting in SeattleAnnual Meeting in Seattle• Compared to some other Compared to some other

UCAR booths, there was UCAR booths, there was good traffic through the good traffic through the Unidata booth;Unidata booth;

• Staff had many useful Staff had many useful interactions with the interactions with the community;community;

Russel L. DeSouza AwardRussel L. DeSouza Award

This award honors “individuals whose energy, expertise, and active involvement enable the Unidata Program to better serve the geosciences.” Honorees personify Unidata's ideal of a community that shares data, software, and ideas through computing and networking technologies.

2004 Award Winner: Dan Vietor, Unisys Corporation (formerly at Purdue University)

“Your development of WXP enabled universities to analyze and visualize weather observations and forecasts and helped pioneer the production of graphical meteorological products for access via the World Wide Web.”

AMS Annual Meeting PapersAMS Annual Meeting Papers

The staff was involved in a record number of 15 The staff was involved in a record number of 15 papers at the AMS Annual Meetingpapers at the AMS Annual Meeting

Topics covered:Topics covered:• IDV and Level II dataIDV and Level II data• Merging NetCDF and HDF5Merging NetCDF and HDF5• LDM and THREDDSLDM and THREDDS• MeteoForumMeteoForum• GIS integrationGIS integration• NNTP and P2P technologies for data deliveryNNTP and P2P technologies for data delivery• IDV as a collaborative toolIDV as a collaborative tool• Community driven portal with web servicesCommunity driven portal with web services• LEADLEAD• VGEEVGEE

Unidata Presentations: A SampleUnidata Presentations: A Sample

MeetingsMeetings Unidata was involved in two important meetings during the AMS Unidata was involved in two important meetings during the AMS

Annual Meeting in SeattleAnnual Meeting in Seattle

MeteoForum meeting (Jan 10, 2004, Organized by COMET)MeteoForum meeting (Jan 10, 2004, Organized by COMET)• MeteoForum participants met to discuss the progress and future of MeteoForum participants met to discuss the progress and future of

the MeteoForum projectthe MeteoForum project• 18 participants from WMO, WMO RMTCs (6), COMET, Unidata, and 18 participants from WMO, WMO RMTCs (6), COMET, Unidata, and

UOP;UOP;• IDD-Brazil inaugurated at the end of December; 4 sites already IDD-Brazil inaugurated at the end of December; 4 sites already

participating;participating;• Reverse data flow (from S. America to U. S.) may begin soonReverse data flow (from S. America to U. S.) may begin soon

CRAFT-CONDUIT (C2) meeting (Jan 14, 2004, USWRP)CRAFT-CONDUIT (C2) meeting (Jan 14, 2004, USWRP)• The two groups are being combinedThe two groups are being combined• The C2 Advisory Committee will be responsible for developing The C2 Advisory Committee will be responsible for developing

strategies for Internet access to real time (streaming) meteorological strategies for Internet access to real time (streaming) meteorological observations, as well as output from both experimental and observations, as well as output from both experimental and operational forecast models, for use by the education and research operational forecast models, for use by the education and research communities. communities.

• Committee will comprise university, government and private sector Committee will comprise university, government and private sector membersmembers

StaffingStaffing

Hiring of two Software Engineers for LEAD in final stages.

Hiring of an Administrative Assistant for the front office is in progress.

A Software Engineer in the IDV group left UPC in early January to pursue other interests.

Another Software Engineer/Web Developer is no longer working as of this week.

A silver lining: These (temporary) vacancies are resulting in some easing of pressure on our FY04 budget

Space: The Final Frontier!Space: The Final Frontier!

• FL4 remodeling put on hold – not enough money in the budget

• Remodeling won’t happen for until the next bond release

• Meanwhile, some FL4 programs will be moved around

• UPC will expand into the south wing, occupying the entire east wing, 1st Floor

• Have more space

• Have all staff in one wing

Unidata

Equipment AwardsEquipment Awards

Equipment awards will again be available this year;

Announcement to community made in early January 2004; A reminder went out on February 3rd;

Total pool in FY04: $100K

More tomorrow

Real-time Data FlowsReal-time Data Flows

• As noted at the last two Polcom meetings, LDM-6 has greatly improved the timeliness and reliability of data streams.

• As a result, 29 sites are now receiving CONDUIT data

• 35 sites are receiving WSR-88D Level II data via CRAFT

• NWS will use LDM-6 to distribute WSR-88D Level II data operationally.

• Unidata Real-time data distribution via IDD/LDM6

Operational LDM Use

INTERNET2(Abilene)

NE

XR

AD

S

NWSNet

NWSNet

NWSNet

NWSNet

Eastern RegionLDM Server

Central RegionLDM Server

Southern RegionLDM Server

Western RegionLDM Server

WFO

WFO

WFO

WFO

WFO

WFO

WFO

WFO

WFO

WFO

WFO

WFO

Utah EducationNetwork GigapoP

NOAA NWSSilver Spring

DS3 Gigabit

DS3

DS3

OC3

Mid Atlantic Crossroads(MAX) GigaPoP

North Texas GigaPoP

Great PlainsNetwork GigaPoP

Ethernet

ONENetGigaPoP

(Oklahoma City)

OU LDM Server

Private SectorClients

I2 GigaPoP

Unidata ClientUniversity LDM

Server

I2 GigaPoP

Unidata ClientUniversity LDM

Server

TOC LDMServer

ERC GigaPoP(NCDC Asheville, NC)

ERC LDMServer

Backup Capability

LDM Feeds to Univ ersities

LDM Feeds to TOC Serv er

LDM Feeds to ERCWC Serv er

LDM Feeds to OU Serv er

Distribution of NEXRAD Level II Archive DataTo Research/Private Sector Users

(11/13/2003)

NCEP LDMServer

NCDC LDMServer

Private SectorClients

GigabitEthernet

OC3 ATM

Recently, the Korean Meteorological Administration has started using the LDM for some of their internal data distribution to/from nearly 40 weather service offices.

Email Support LoadEmail Support Load

The total support load at the UPC remains high and appears to be varying seasonally.

Proposal ActivityProposal Activity

Unidata is collaborating in a couple of new ITR Unidata is collaborating in a couple of new ITR proposals:proposals:• Advancing digital gazetteers:  Theory and practice of the Advancing digital gazetteers:  Theory and practice of the

integration of space and place in networked information integration of space and place in networked information systems, PI: Linda Hill, UCSB. (Unidata Co-PI: Ben systems, PI: Linda Hill, UCSB. (Unidata Co-PI: Ben Domenico)Domenico)

• A comprehensive framework for use of NEXRAD data in A comprehensive framework for use of NEXRAD data in Hydrometeorology and Hydrology, PI: Krajewski, U. Iowa Hydrometeorology and Hydrology, PI: Krajewski, U. Iowa (Unidata Co-PI: Mohan Ramamurthy)(Unidata Co-PI: Mohan Ramamurthy)

ESIP/OGC proposal to NSFESIP/OGC proposal to NSF• Earth System Science - Improving Interdisciplinary Earth System Science - Improving Interdisciplinary

Information Sharing, PI: Liping Di, George Mason U. Information Sharing, PI: Liping Di, George Mason U. (Unidata Co-PI: Ben Domenico)(Unidata Co-PI: Ben Domenico)

State of the Program: State of the Program: A SnapshotA Snapshot

Community relationsCommunity relations: : GreenGreen Data sourcesData sources : : Green Green IDDIDD : : GreenGreen Software DevelopmentSoftware Development : : Yellow (due to support load)Yellow (due to support load) CollaborationsCollaborations :: Green Green StaffingStaffing : : YellowYellow Support LoadSupport Load : : GreenGreen SpaceSpace :: Yellow,Yellow, soon to be Greensoon to be Green Finances (Core)Finances (Core) : : Yellow (More in budget Yellow (More in budget

report)report) Non-core fundingNon-core funding : : Yellow (More in budget Yellow (More in budget

report)report)