Space Physics Interactive Data Resource (SPIDR)
The Space Physics Interactive Data Resource (SPIDR) is a distributed network of synchronous databases and application servers designed to allow a space weather modeling and prediction customer or application to intelligently access and manage historical space physics data for integration with virtual environment models and real-time space weather forecasts. Each SPIDR server resides at a parallel computer cluster and provides fuzzy logic based data mining for space weather events. The system is designed to allow a user or a software client to specify desired spatial, temporal, and parameter conditions in fuzzy linguistic and/or numeric terms and to receive a ranked list of events best matching the desired conditions in the historical archive. Once discovered, the client can request dynamical temporal and spatial visualization using a set of communicating Java applets, browse the archive of Sun and Earth satellite images, and request delivery of the data formatted for inclusion in model runs. Each SPIDR server has a database management interface, which allows data updates performed either by a local user or by another SPIDR server from the Net. The servers communicate to each other for scheduled mirroring of the data and software. Algorithmic and programming patterns developed and utilized in SPIDR are general enough to be used in other Internet-based scientific data mining and visualization systems.
International bodies involved in the data exchange within SPIDR are World Data Centers for Solar-Terrestrial Physics. The project has two key development centers: one at National Geophysics Data Center (NGDC) in Boulder, CO, USA, technical lead Eric KIHN, Eric.A.Kihn@noaa.gov ; another in Center of Geophysical Data Studies Russian Acad. Sci. (CGDS) in Moscow, Russia, technical lead Mikhail ZHIZHIN, jjn@wdcb.ru. These organizations also are hosting SPIDR network nodes at http://spidr.ngdc.noaa.gov and http://clust1.wdcb.ru/spidr. Ionosphere Prediction Service (IPS) in Sidney, Australia has applied 1999 for SPIDR node status and installed SPIDR server and databases software at http://spidr2.ips.gov.au. In 2000 a SPIDR node was installed in the Solar-Terrestrial Environment Lab of the Nagoya University in Japan, at http://gedas22.stelab.nagoya-u.ac.jp/spidr. In 2001 Rhodes University in South Africa has installed a SPIDR node at http://spidr.ru.ac.za/spidr. In 2003 a SPIDR node was installed in the Space Environment Prediction Center in Beijing, China, http://spidr.sepc.an.cn/spidr.
In 2003 NGDC has performed SPIDR usability study by an independent web-development company.
Results and recommendations of the study will be incorporated in the new version of SPIDR system.
In 2004-2005 we plan to build a new version of SPIDR with the three main tasks:
- to implement real-time data loading and synchronization between nodes,
- to provide automated and manual data quality verification tools, and
- to improve usability of the web interface.
Project Advisory Board:
Dr. Joe Allen, SCOSTEP/NOAA, USADr. Herbert W. Kroehl, NGDC NOAA, USA
Prof. Yohsuke Kamide, STELab Director, Nagoya University, Japan
Prof. Alexei Gvishiani, RAS, Russia
Prof. Jean Bonnin, Strasbourg University, France
SPIDR Developers Team:
Eric Kihn, NGDC NOAA, USADr. Mikhail Zhizhin, Institute of Physics of the Earth and Geophysical Center, Russian Acad. Sci.
Dr. Lee-Anne McKinnell, University of South Africa
Michele Wang, Ionospheric Prediction Center, Sydney, Australia
Prof. Tatsuki Ogino, STELab Center for Joint Observations and Data Processing, Nagoya University, Japan
Tong Jishou, Space Environment Prediction Center, Chinese Acad. Sci.
