Abstract Using the NEODAAS-Dundee AVHRR receiving station (Scotland), NEODAAS-Plymouth can provide calibrated brightness temperature data to end users or interim users in near-real time. Between 2000 and 2009 these data were used to undertake volcano hot spot detection, reporting and time-average discharge rate dissemination during effusive crises at Mount Etna and Stromboli (Italy). Data were passed via FTP, within an hour of image generation, to the hot spot detection system maintained at Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology (HIGP, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, USA). Final product generation and quality control were completed manually at HIGP once a day, so as to provide information to onsite monitoring agencies for their incorporation into daily reporting duties to Italian Civil Protection. We here describe the processing and dissemination chain, which was designed so as to provide timely, useable, quality-controlled and relevant information for ‘one voice’ reporting by the responsible monitoring agencies.

Abstract RED SEED stands for Risk Evaluation, Detection and Simulation during Effusive Eruption Disasters, and combines stakeholders from the remote sensing, modelling and response communities with experience in tracking volcanic effusive events. The group first met during a three day-long workshop held in Clermont Ferrand (France) between 28 and 30 May 2013. During each day, presentations were given reviewing the state of the art in terms of (a) volcano hot spot detection and parameterization, (b) operational satellite-based hot spot detection systems, (c) lava flow modelling and (d) response protocols during effusive crises. At the end of each presentation set, the four groups retreated to discuss and report on requirements for a truly integrated and operational response that satisfactorily combines remote sensors, modellers and responders during an effusive crisis. The results of collating the final reports, and follow-up discussions that have been on-going since the workshop, are given here. We can reduce our discussions to four main findings. (1) Hot spot detection tools are operational and capable of providing effusive eruption onset notice within 15 min. (2) Spectral radiance metrics can also be provided with high degrees of confidence. However, if we are to achieve a truly global system, more local receiving stations need to be installed with hot spot detection and data processing modules running on-site and in real time. (3) Models are operational, but need real-time input of reliable time-averaged discharge rate data and regular updates of digital elevation models if they are to be effective; the latter can be provided by the radar/photogrammetry community. (4) Information needs to be provided in an agreed and standard format following an ensemble approach and using models that have been validated and recognized as trustworthy by the responding authorities. All of this requires a sophisticated and centralized data collection, distribution and reporting hub that is based on a philosophy of joint ownership and mutual trust. While the next chapter carries out an exercise to explore the viability of the last point, the detailed recommendations behind these findings are detailed here.

Research in stratigraphy is increasingly multidisciplinary and conducted by diverse research teams whose members can be widely separated. This developing distributed-research process, facilitated by the availability of the Internet, promises tremendous future benefits to researchers. However, its full potential is hindered by the absence of a development strategy for the necessary infrastructure. At a National Science Foundation workshop convened in November 2001, thirty quantitative stratigraphers and database specialists from both academia and industry met to discuss how best to integrate their respective chronostratigraphic databases. The main goal was to develop a strategy that would allow efficient distribution and integration of existing data relevant to the study of geologic time. Discussions concentrated on three major themes: database standards and compatibility, strategies and tools for information retrieval and analysis of all types of global and regional stratigraphic data, and future directions for database integration and centralization of currently distributed depositories. The result was a recommendation to establish an integrated chronostratigraphic database, to be called Chronos, which would facilitate greater efficiency in stratigraphic studies ( http://www.chronos.org/ ). The Chronos system will both provide greater ease of data gathering and allow for multidisciplinary synergies, functions of fundamental importance in a variety of research, including time scale construction, paleoenvironmental analysis, paleoclimatology and paleoceanography. Beyond scientific research, Chronos will also provide educational and societal benefits by providing an accessible source of information of general interest (e.g., mass extinctions) and concern (e.g., climatic change). The National Science Foundation has currently funded a three-year program for implementing Chronos.

Crystal structure data represent one of the most important resources for developing scientific knowledge and should be archived in ways that make them easy to access and preserve. The American Mineralogist Crystal Structure Database currently contains every crystal structure published in American Mineralogist, The Canadian Mineralogist, European Journal of Mineralogy , and Physics and Chemistry of Minerals . It is maintained by the American and Canadian mineralogical societies and is freely accessible through the Internet. The database consists of the data, server-side search and retrieval software and user-side analysis software. It is managed through a partnership of PHP and MySQL programming that provide dynamic construction of Web pages and search procedures. The purpose of this paper is to describe the database and its implementation and to illustrate how to construct similar small, interactive Internet databases.

Geospatial Network (GeoNet) is a distributed information system accessible through the Internet that will permit users from the geoscience community to share and contribute knowledge from the transition zone between the Colorado Plateau and the Basin and Range province. Specifically, the goals of GeoNet are to facilitate the access, analysis, and visualization of geospatial data for use by scientists, policymakers, educators, and the general public. The types of geospatial data provided through GeoNet include satellite imagery, gravity, heat flow, digital elevation models, remote sensing, seismicity, active faults, and basic geographic data. This paper, written as a primer, describes how state-of-the-art technology is being used to realize GeoNet's goals. It also discusses GeoNet's layered architecture and shows how this architecture supports software applications deployed as service-oriented components. Ontologies based on the emerging OWL Web ontology language standard are used to enhance knowledge discovery. Use-case scenarios describe the features of GeoNet and the expected sequences of interaction between GeoNet and different classes of users. GeoNet's design will permit its functionality and data sets to be integrated with the GEON (Geosciences Network) grid and, thus, will contribute to the larger geoscience community.