VIRTUAL OBSERVATORIES IN GEOSCIENCES

Virtual Observatories can provide access to vast stores of scientific data: observations and models with the overall goal of making diverse and highly distributed holdings appear to be local and appear to be integrated. Consequently, there is potential to improve the efficiency, interoperability, collaborative potential, and impact of a wide range of interdisciplinary scientific research. In order to realize this potential, many technical challenges need to be addressed concerning (at least) representations and interoperability of data, access, and usability.

This presentation will define the virtual observatory (VO) as it has now evolved in areas of geoscience, explain its general concepts and the paradigm it has introduced. We then survey some existing and planned virtual observatories, describe their goals, design, current implementations and technical infrastructure. We present what has been learned about building such VOs and what the future holds for the general paradigm and what potential technical challenges remain.