EPIC: Providing World Wide Web Access to Oceanographic Observations

1
EPIC Providing World Wide Web Access to
Oceanographic Observations

• D.W. Denbo1, N.N. Soreide2, M.C. Spillane1, and
  W.H. Zhu1

http//www.pmel.noaa.gov/epic/home.html
1Joint Institute for the Study of Ocean and
Atmosphere, University of Washington, Seattle,
WA, 2NOAA/Pacific Marine Environmental
Laboratory, Seattle, WA
2
Background

• EPIC was developed at NOAAs Pacific Marine
  Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) to manage
  hydrographic and time series oceanographic
  observational data sets.
• EPIC Web tools
• Basic web utilities to reduce development time
• EPIC Web Browser provides easy access to on-line
  data
• Java enhanced data selection creates an improved
  interface to the EPIC Web Browser

3
Web Utilities

• EPIC utilities for creating dynamic Web pages
  include
• AnyURL - uses forms to point to static URLs (gif,
  mpeg animations, or other Web pages)
• cover - dynamic generation of graphics or
  listings by running existing utilities from a Web
  page
• clickable maps - cgi script translates mouse
  clicks on a map to a latitude-longitude rectangle
• m2gif - convert Plot Plus output directly to gif
  format

4
EPIC Web Browser

• Web application for viewing observational data by
  creating graphics and listings on the fly.
• Uses a set of perl routines that generate HTML.
  Routines can be called as cgi scripts or from
  other perl scripts.
• Uses EPIC Web utilities to provide functionality.

5
EPIC Web Browser Capabilities

• Plot (T, S, Sigma-t, Ox) vs Pressure/Depth
• Plot Temperature vs Salinity
• Plot user-selected property vs Pressure/Depth
• Plot two user-selected Properties vs
  Pressure/Depth
• Plot Station Locations
• Plot Vertical Sections

6
EPIC Web Browser Capabilities (cont)

• List data files in ASCII format
• Download data file in binary (EPIC/netCDF) format
• View meta-data/attributes of data file
• Edit data file selection list
• Download data file selection list

7
(No Transcript)
8
(No Transcript)
9
(No Transcript)
10
Java Tools

• Java Interface to EPIC data selection
• Combines Java applets with existing HTML forms
  and cgi scripts.
• Provides point and click interface to on-line
  databases from the Web.
• Searches databases then starts the EPIC Web
  Browser.

11
(No Transcript)
12
Java Tools (cont)

• Java-enhanced Interface to Real-time TAO Data
• Interactive access to the most recent TAO data
• Uses existing cgi scripts to generate buoy
  summary plots

13
(No Transcript)
14
Availability

• EPIC is freely available and used at numerous
  oceanographic institutions
• Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute
• U.S. Geological Survey
• Scripps Institution of Oceanography
• etc ...
• Available at http//www.pmel.noaa.gov/epic/epic-t
  oolkits.html
• EPIC Home Page http//www.pmel.noaa.gov/epic/home
  .html
• EPIC Web Browser http//www.epic.noaa.gov/epic/br
  owser/browser_doc.html

15
References

• Denbo, D.W., and N.N. Soreide, 1997 EPIC.
  Oceanography, 9(3), 189-190.
• Denbo, D.W., S. Zube, D.C. McClurg, and N.N.
  Soreide, 1997 EPIC and TAO data access with Java
  applets. Proceedings of the 13th International
  Conference on Interactive Information and
  Processing Systems for Meteorology, Oceanography
  and Hydrology, AMS, 2-7 February 1997, Long
  Beach, CA, 182-183.
• Renton, M.W., and N.N. Soreide, 1997 EPIC
  utilities for data access on the World Wide Web
  via forms. Proceedings of the 13th International
  Conference on Interactive Information and
  Processing Systems for Meteorology, Oceanography
  and Hydrology, AMS, 2-7 February 1997, Long
  Beach, CA, 441-443.

16
References (cont)

• Zube, S., D.C. McClurg, N. Merati, M.W. Renton,
  T. Vance, and W.H. Zhu (1997) Live access to
  oceanographic databases on the World Web Web via
  the EPIC Web Browser. Proceedings of the 13th
  International Conference on Interactive
  Information and Processing Systems for
  Meteorology, Oceanography and Hydrology, AMS, 2-7
  February 1997, Long Beach, CA, 184-186.