Web-system for processing and visualization of meteorological data for Siberian environment research

Abstract

At present, mainly GIS software is used for exploration and visualization of spatially distributed data. At the same time an approach based on the combination of advanced web technologies along with the standard rules of information-computational system development is more suitable for performing tasks requiring more sophisticated data analysis. In this report, functional capabilities of the information-computational system created for meteorological and climatic data processing and online visualization are introduced. The system represents a dedicated web-interface, which allows performing of mathematical and statistical operations on the diverse observational and model data and to determine characteristics of global and regional climate changes. Currently such datasets as NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis, ECMWF ERA-40 Reanalysis, etc. are available for processing. In particular, the system allows calculating of temporal average and extremum values, time trends, etc. at arbitrary spatial and temporal ranges for different meteorological parameters. The possibility of online intercomparison of meteorological characteristics calculated for different datasets is also realized in the system. The final version of the system being developed is supposed to find application in meteorological and climatological investigations and should help researchers to save time during performing routine analytical tasks by simplifying handling of huge arrays of spatially distributed meteorological data.