The Uncertainty Enabled Model Web (UncertWeb)

UncertWeb will create the Uncertainty enabled ModelWeb by allowing interoperability between data and models with quantified uncertainty, building on existing open, international standards. In particular UncertWeb will develop encoding standards, service interface profiles, discovery and chaining mechanisms and open source implementations, and generic tools to realize a "model Web" that takes uncertainty in data and models fully into account. The developments in UncertWeb will be validated by scenarios from four environmental application domains: biodiversity and habitat change, land use and policy modelling, local air quality forecasting, and individual activity in the environment. In each application domain prototype service chains will be built using UncertWeb technology. To further evaluate thediscovery and chaining mechanisms UncertWeb will integrate the air quality and activity modelling toproduce novel service chains that quantify individual exposure and the effects of individual's activity choices on emissions with quantified uncertainty. In the context of a digital Europe and the i2010 strategic framework, a key objective of the European Union's strategy for a sustainable development is to develop a Single Information Space for the Environment in Europe. The aim is to permit interoperability of data and models in a unified system of systems. For such a system to be used for policy or decision making users must be provided with information on the qualityof the outputs, since all system components will be subject to uncertainty. This need is especially pressing in (semi-)automated chains of models, as envisaged in the "model Web" concept. A project advisory board consisting of users and international experts will contribute to steering the UncertWeb developments. The project will deliver encoding standards, interface profiles and open source software implementations to allow continued development of the Uncertainty enabled model Web beyond the funding