[ESIP-all] What's New on esipfed.org

Wed Mar 19 14:45:11 EST 2003

Here is a summary of recent updates and additions to the Federation Website.
Please help keep Federation accomplishments visible by sending us items from
your ESIP to post on: http://www.esipfed.org/

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INSIDE The FEDERATION
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1. ESIPFED.Org Home Page Now Smaller and Faster Loading
Over the last two weeks the web team has removed many of the graphics on the
website and reduced the size of others to make the pages load faster. The
left hand side navigation is now completely text with rollover effects
managed through style sheets. The banner and right hand side images have
been reduced by approximately 50% in volume. We have also changed the home
page from index.html to index.jsp to help automate many of the index page
features and provide for further improvements.

2. On-Line Form Developed to Assist Incorporation of REASoN CAN Winners
A template designed by the Partnership Committee to help with the
incorporation of new ESIPs resulting from the REASoN CAN has been
implemented by the web team. The web-form version of the template has been
verified by Jim Simpson. The template is password protected so I will not
provide the URL. For further information contact the Partnership Committee. 

3. ESIP Foundation Home Page Now On Line
The web team has developed a web page for the ESIP Foundation. The page
gives a short description of the purpose of the Foundation and provides
contact information for Dick and Carol - as well as photos. View the page at
http://www.esipfed.org/foundation/

4. Science News Feed Now Available
News from the world of science is now available from esipfed.org. Headlines
from numerous science news sources are now automatically posted to the news
section of esipfed.org. This feature ensures that breaking news from all
over the world will be automatically posted to our website. News sources
include the Earth Observatory, CNN-Science, National Geographic, NASA News,
and Space Future Update. This technology can also support automatic updates
from individual ESIPs who configure their news pages to allow it. More on
this later. Check it out at: http://www.esipfed.org/news/headlinenews.jsp

5. NODC Membership Application in Review
The National Oceanographic Data Center application for Federation membership
remains in the 30 day review period. The NODC letter of application is
available at:
http://www.esipfed.org/business/committees/pc/NODC_ESIPapp.pdf 

6. Federation Summer Meeting 
Preparation for the Federation Summer Assembly continues. The Executive
Committee selected Boulder, CO to be the site for the 2003 summer/annual
meeting. The meeting is tentatively scheduled for the week of July 28, 2003.
Carol Meyer invites anyone interested to become a member of the planning
committee for this meeting. For more information, please contact Carol at
1-877-870-3747 (phone), 919-870-7141 (fax), or e-mail her at
esipfoundation at mindspring.com

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PARTNER PROFILE - DODS
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The ESIP partner currently profiled is DODS. The Distributed Oceanographic
Data System is a software framework that simplifies all aspects of
scientific data networking, allowing simple access to remote data. Local
data can be made accessible to remote locations regardless of local storage
format by using DODS servers. DODS is also a protocol for requesting and
transporting data across the web. The current DODS Data Access Protocol
(DAP) uses HTTP to frame the requests and responses. DODS 3.3 is available
as a Beta release for Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows XP. 
http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/packages/dods/index.html 
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FEDERATION FEATURE 
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Browse and Purchase Landsat Data On-Line From TRFIC 
The Tropical Rain Forest Information Center
(http://www.bsrsi.msu.edu/trfic/) now has two On-Line Systems for browsing
and ordering Landsat data. A GIS option provides access to all of the data
in their archive using web-based GIS. You can customize your search by
sensor, date, cloud cover, and location. A HTML interface also allows for
browsing and ordering the same Landsat MSS, TM, and ETM+ data for the
Tropics at reduced TRFIC prices ($25-$50 US). Their GeoZoom
multi-resolution/multi-band image browser is now operational for nearly all
scenes. This interface allows the user to view products rapidly at full
image resolution and with any combination of bands 2,3,4,5,& 7. 
Landsat Data Search and Order:
http://www.bsrsi.msu.edu/trfic/browser/browser_trfic.html
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IN THE NEWS
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As we noted above esipfed.org now displays science headlines from syndicated
news organizations such as CNN-Science, NASA and National Geographic. This
automated feature allows the website to display the latest science news -
updated every 10 minutes. The news feed automatically picks up NASA news and
news from the Earth Observatory - items that we were adding manually in the
past. The web team will continue to incorporate ESIP specific news as it
becomes available. The Headline News can be viewed at:
http://www.esipfed.org/news/headlinenews.jsp The Federation News is still
available at: http://www.esipfed.org/news/ 

Please continue to provide us with news from your ESIP for posting to
Federation News.

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EDUCATOR'S ITEM 
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NASA Invites You to Participate in the 5th Annual Summer S'COOL Teacher
Workshop
NASA Langley Research Center will host the 5th annual Summer S'COOL
(Students' Cloud Observations On-Line) Teacher Workshop June 23-27. The
basics of atmospheric science, classification of cloud types, weather
measurements using simple and sophisticated tools and much much more will be
explored during this summer's workshop. Participating teachers will be
provided with useful materials and experience meaningful field trips as they
gain a new excitement for science. Teachers in grades 3 - 5, including those
with limited science backgrounds, are encouraged to apply. More information:
(http://asd-www.larc.nasa.gov/SCOOL/summer2003/)

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DATA YOU CAN USE 
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Climate Atlas of the United States Version 2.0 Now Available From NCDC
(http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/ncdc.html) - $50.00
The CD-ROM contains version 2.0 of the Climate Atlas of the United States,
which features climate maps of all 50 states. It replaces a popular paper
Atlas last published in 1968, and supersedes the Climate Atlas of the
Contiguous United States published on CD in 2000. The new CD Atlas contains
2023 color maps of climatic elements such as temperature, snow,
precipitation, wind, pressure, etc., chosen to portray the climate of the
US. For More Information:
(http://lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/about/cdrom/climatls2/info/atlasad.html)

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OTHER  ITEMS 
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1. ESIP Foundation contact information is now available from the Directory
at: http://www.esipfed.org/directory/search.jsp We added Foundation as an
ESIP keyword so you can search by "Foundation" or individually by entering a
name in the "Search by Individual" text box.

2. View esipfed web site statistics at: 
http://www.esipfed.org/webtrends_reports/

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DID YOU HEAR FROM US? 
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Each week the web team contacts at least one ESIP of each type to solicit
news, product and service updates and any other information that the ESIP
may want on the Federation website. Our first contact is by telephone,
followed by e-mail. Please help us by responding with news from your ESIP.

Danny Hardin
Global Hydrology Resource Center
danny.hardin at msfc.nasa.gov
(256) 961-7792