Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research Data and Information System

IAI/DIS

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research Data and Information System

IAI/DIS

Inter American Workshop on Environmental Data AccessInter American Workshop on Environmental Data Access3-6 March 2004, Campinas, Brazil3-6 March 2004, Campinas, Brazil

Global Change

“Changes in the global environment (including alterations in the climate, land productivity, oceans or other water resources, atmospheric chemistry, and ecological systems) that may alter the capacity of the earth to sustain life.”

Signatory and Ratifying Countries(Agreement entered into force: March 11, 1994)

1. Argentina 16. Perú 2. Bolivia 17. Estados Unidos3. Brasil 18. Uruguay 4. Canadá 19. Venezuela 5. Chile 6. Colombia 7. Costa Rica8. Cuba9. República Dominicana 10. Ecuador 11. Guatemala 12. Jamaica 13. México 14. Panamá 15. Paraguay

INTER-AMERICAN INSTITUTE FOR GLOBAL CHANGE RESEARCH

IAI Main Goals

• Conduct and promote research on global change and their interaction with human activities [Agreement Art.II a) to e), g), h)]

• Improve public awareness and serve as an effective interface between science and the governmental policy process [Agreement Art II, f)]

Constituent bodies: CoP, EC, SAC, Directorate

Programmatic framework: Science agenda

Structure: Distributed network of national and international research and policy

institutionsActivities:

Science program and funded research, CRN, GrantsTraining and educationSupport to workshops, conferences and seminarsSurveys (HD of GC)Data and Information System (DIS)NewsletterListserver

IAI framework

1. Understanding Climate Change and Variability in the Americas 

2. Comparative Studies of Ecosystem, Biodiversity, Land Use and Cover, and Water Resources in the Americas

3. Understanding Global Change Modulations of the Composition of the Atmosphere, Oceans and Fresh Waters

4. Understanding the Human Dimensions and Policy Implications of Global Change, Climate Variability and Land Use

IAI SCIENTIFIC AGENDA

GEC deals with the Earth system “in toto”: Ecosphere + the human factor

Ecosphere

Human factor

atmospherecryospherehydrospherelithospherebiosphere

anthropospherehuman decisions and actions

“Anthropocene” era

Involve a large and wide spectrum of issues

• Multifaceted

• Inter-, Intra- & trans-disciplinary (cross-cutting)

• Multi scales (time & space)

• Required interactions and dialogue between:

- Hard sciences (Earth System Science ESS) -- well established methodologies

- Soft sciences (HD, socio-economic) -- no standard methodologies

Global change

Global Environmental Change Data

Needed for

• SCIENCE

• MANAGEMENT, POLICY , DECISION MAKING

Establishment of open and on-going processes identifying data and information requirements from research scientists and managers and policy makers may be of great help

Sea-ice extent

Monthly anomalies (millions of km2) of Arctic and Antarctic sea-ice extent for the period 1973-2002, derived from satellite passive microwave sounder data

(Source: HadlSST1 data set, Hadley Centre, UK Met Office)

Trend : - 2.8 % per decade

Antarctic sea ice decline since the 50s (M.A.J. Curran et all., Science, Vol.302, 14 Nov. 2003)

MSA:Methanesulphonic acid

SIE:Sea ice extent for the80E to 180E sector(satellite derived)

Trend:20% decline in SIEsince about 1950

• an Internet based system dedicated to the dissemination of scientific information produced by the IAI projects, following a pre-defined standard (Z3950), as well as to ease the exchange of that information between institutions/organizations. It was developed by CIESIN (Center for International Earth Science Information Network) .

What is IAI-DIS ?

IAI-DIS main objectives

• Disseminate global change research information produced by the IAI, and other affiliated institutions, and

• Contribute for the standardization and exchange of scientific data between different institutions.

NationalNationalNodeNode

POPOPOPO

CoordinatorCoordinatorNodeNode

LBA-DISLBA-DIS

Ciesin SEDACCiesin SEDAC

IAI-DIS

PO: Participating organizations

Main features of the IAI-DIS system:

• WEB access and user-friendly interface;

• Integrated Search and Retrieval modules; and

• Two levels of METADATA ( “information about data” – a short, organized and searchable form of documentation used to find data).

What IS NOT IAI-DIS

• It is not a statistical system; and • It is not a tool to make automatic comparisons between actual data

Metadata Distribution (IAIDIS)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

1

Metadata Categories

To

tal o

f M

etad

ata

Posters

Presentations

Publications

Reports

Workshops

Documents

DIS

Other

Drawbacks

• System up and running for 4 years – some components obsolete

• Present system is not easy for a layman user

Future actions

• “Aggiornamento” - update of the system - increase the “user-friendliness”

• Creation of a distributed network of GEC DIS in the Americas

www.iai.int

http://disbr1.iai.int

iaidis@ dir.iai.int 55-12-3945-6868