GLOBAL EARTH OBSERVATION GRID (GEO GRID): DEVELOPMENT OF AN IT INFRASTRUCTURE FOR THE EARTH SCIENCE USING SATELLITE DATA

Global Earth Observation Grid (GEO Grid) is aiming at providing an E-Infrastructure to understand our Earth more insightful and more precisely, but faster and easier. On the E-Infrastrucutre we are able to share data, application programs, and scientific workflows without knowing deep knowledge in IT where the grid technology is provisioned. GEO Grid provides large archives of earth observation satellite data securely and rapidly and integrated service with various observation databases and GIS data, and makes them easy-to-use for users.

The core contents of the system are the observation data from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) developed by METI, Japan and geoscientific information, such as geological and environment technology data, accumulated for a long period of time at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST). As a core technology, the GEO Grid provides international standard compliant grid technology and develops systems (Figure 1, see also http://www.geogrid.org/). The ASTER data contains multi-spectral images of visible-near infrared region (VNIR: 3 bands), short infrared region (SWIR: 6 bands), and thermal infrared region (TIR: 5 bands) with a spatial resolution of 15 m (for VNIR). We constructed a hard disk-based archive system for the ASTER data that reaches more than 1 million scenes. The level 0 ASTER data (raw data) are stored in this system and higher products are generated by on demand processing. These products contain orthorectified images and 15 m resolution DEM generated from Band 3N (nadir) and 3B (backward) images.

We will present several sample applications using ASTER data and the GEO Grid system; pyroclastic flow simulation using ASTER DEM, integration with other satellite images and ground truth data for the accurate global land use change detection and carbon cycle modeling (http://kushi.geogrid.org/), and integration with the geologic GIS data. The GEO Grid system supports Web Map Service (WMS) to provide the ASTER images and maps generated from ASTER data. This allows users to integrate ASTER image and GIS data such as geologic maps easily. We had several experiments in which the ASTER image is overlaid on a geologic map provided from Geological Survey of Japan or Geoscience Network in USA by using WMS. We also plan to support the Web Coverage Service (WCS) which allows users to use ASTER DEM/Ortho data for scientific analyses. The pyroclastic flow simulation application provides a possible coverage map of pyroclastic flow deposits caused by a volcanic dome collapse, and that can contribute to make an emergency volcanic hazard map. An energy line model is used for calculation of the maximum possible flow distance (Takarada et al., 1993). The user can choose collapse point and physical parameters of pyroclastic flow and submit a job using a web browser. The result map is provided by using the WMS, and appears on a web browser.