Advances in information and communication technology (ICT), as high-performance computing, processing and storing, new coding standards, the availability of open and costless data, and the strong impulse of the geoinformation technology foster the development of self-sustained monitoring and forecasting systems. All these new technological improvements in the ICT infrastructure, coupled with scientific progress, allow the upgrade of a timely, ready-to-use and user-specific early-warning communication, especially in climate and environmental fields. Despite the availability of huge amount of data from different sources and at different spatial scales, information is frequently scattered and not enough integrated to increase preparedness and planning. Moreover, to be effective operational systems should respond to different priorities and users' needs and have a set of main requirements: information continuously updated and timely delivered, expandable platform and on-demand services, products adequate to the diverse users' competencies and technical skills and respond to the Open Innovation (Open Access, Open Data and Open Source), Open Science and FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) paradigms. Following this approach, the Institute of Biometeorology (recently merged into the Institute of BioEconomy) of the National Research Council, developed the Drought Observatory (DO) https://drought.climateservices.it, a Climate Service providing semi-automatic, detailed and timely information on drought events at national level or for defined geographical windows. Thanks to its interoperable Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI), we are able to improve the dissemination of an updated and customizable information, thus facilitating the transfer of research know-how to operational applications. The DO Climate Service integrates ground-based and satellite data through open source solutions and interoperable services to produce vegetation and rainfall indices able to follow the occurrence and the evolution of a drought event. In particular, the coupled rainfall based and satellite-derived monitoring system allows the assessment of vegetation moisture and temperature conditions at different spatio-temporal scales. The technological infrastructure proposes an innovative approach of the geographic data flows, from the download of remote sensing and climatic data to the storage of final indices, and the related geoprocessing functions are integrated into the Geodatabase. The Service-Oriented Architecture is based on Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards. It is a database-centered architecture, with PostgreSQL as DataBase Management System. Moreover, advanced statistical procedures integrate R Procedural Language into PostgreSQL (PL/pgSQL) through PL/R wrapper. Once the basic architecture is defined, several implementations are possible: input datasets and outputs can be increased or replaced with more detailed or locally suitable new data/models; new procedures of analysis can be easily integrated (also thanks to PL/R libraries) with a relatively low development workload. Different services guarantee the users' needs. The webGIS is a custom Open Source Web Application integrating different datasets and sharing maps of drought indices. The Drought Observatory supplies several API functions for online data retrieving, in standardized and open formats, allowing a technical level of interoperability and the re-use of essential variables for further applications. A first release of data catalogue implemented by CKAN (Comprehensive Knowledge Archive Network) is also available to access metadata of the Drought Climate Service indices.
An Interoperable Climate Service For Drought Monitoring
Ramona Magno;Leandro Rocchi;Edmondo Di Giuseppe;Massimiliano Pasqui;Elena Rapisardi
2019
Abstract
Advances in information and communication technology (ICT), as high-performance computing, processing and storing, new coding standards, the availability of open and costless data, and the strong impulse of the geoinformation technology foster the development of self-sustained monitoring and forecasting systems. All these new technological improvements in the ICT infrastructure, coupled with scientific progress, allow the upgrade of a timely, ready-to-use and user-specific early-warning communication, especially in climate and environmental fields. Despite the availability of huge amount of data from different sources and at different spatial scales, information is frequently scattered and not enough integrated to increase preparedness and planning. Moreover, to be effective operational systems should respond to different priorities and users' needs and have a set of main requirements: information continuously updated and timely delivered, expandable platform and on-demand services, products adequate to the diverse users' competencies and technical skills and respond to the Open Innovation (Open Access, Open Data and Open Source), Open Science and FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) paradigms. Following this approach, the Institute of Biometeorology (recently merged into the Institute of BioEconomy) of the National Research Council, developed the Drought Observatory (DO) https://drought.climateservices.it, a Climate Service providing semi-automatic, detailed and timely information on drought events at national level or for defined geographical windows. Thanks to its interoperable Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI), we are able to improve the dissemination of an updated and customizable information, thus facilitating the transfer of research know-how to operational applications. The DO Climate Service integrates ground-based and satellite data through open source solutions and interoperable services to produce vegetation and rainfall indices able to follow the occurrence and the evolution of a drought event. In particular, the coupled rainfall based and satellite-derived monitoring system allows the assessment of vegetation moisture and temperature conditions at different spatio-temporal scales. The technological infrastructure proposes an innovative approach of the geographic data flows, from the download of remote sensing and climatic data to the storage of final indices, and the related geoprocessing functions are integrated into the Geodatabase. The Service-Oriented Architecture is based on Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards. It is a database-centered architecture, with PostgreSQL as DataBase Management System. Moreover, advanced statistical procedures integrate R Procedural Language into PostgreSQL (PL/pgSQL) through PL/R wrapper. Once the basic architecture is defined, several implementations are possible: input datasets and outputs can be increased or replaced with more detailed or locally suitable new data/models; new procedures of analysis can be easily integrated (also thanks to PL/R libraries) with a relatively low development workload. Different services guarantee the users' needs. The webGIS is a custom Open Source Web Application integrating different datasets and sharing maps of drought indices. The Drought Observatory supplies several API functions for online data retrieving, in standardized and open formats, allowing a technical level of interoperability and the re-use of essential variables for further applications. A first release of data catalogue implemented by CKAN (Comprehensive Knowledge Archive Network) is also available to access metadata of the Drought Climate Service indices.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
