• Invokes a new paradigm for managing dynamic distributed scientific data and metadata
• Provide a single portal to information contained in disparate data management systems
• Provide free text, fielded, spatial, and temporal search capabilities
• Puts control in the hands of investigators or other data providers
• Has a very light touch (i.e., is inexpensive to implement)
• Is implemented using Internet standards, including XML
• Supports international metadata standards, including FGDC, Dublin-Core, EML, ISO-19115
• Is compatible with Internet search engines
• Is based on a combination of open source tools and ORNL-developed software

The new Mercury system is based on open source and Service Oriented Architecture and provides multiple search services including: RSS, Geo-RSS, OpenSearch, Web Services and JSR-168 Portlets.

Mercury has the unique capability to extract, or harvest, metadata from HTML pages or XML files located anywhere on the Internet. Participating in Mercury is easy for data providers. No special software is needed by the data provider, only a Web server on which to post files.

Mercury provides a single portal to information contained in disparate data management systems. It collects metadata and key data from contributing project servers distributed around the world and builds a centralized index. The Mercury search interfaces then allow the users to perform simple, fielded, spatial and temporal searches across these metadata sources. Mercury supports various metadata standards including XML, Z39.50, FGDC, Dublin-Core, Darwin-Core, EML, and ISO-19115.

The Mercury system is based on a Service Oriented Architecture and supports various services such as Thesaurus Service, Gazetteer Web Service and UDDI Directory Services. This system also provides various search services including: RSS, Geo-RSS, OpenSearch, Web Services and JSR-168 Portlets. Other features include: Filtering and dynamic sorting of search results, book-markable search results, save, retrieve, and modify search criteria.

Mercury's business model is based on a consortium of users (projects) who share general costs and share the benefits of development funded by all participants. Users share the cost of hardware maintenance and upgrades, software maintenance and support, tool development, engineering, and operations.

Naturally, some projects would also pay for certain extras, such as

• unique project development requirements;
• unusually high use of resources, including disk space and network bandwidth
• direct support or training of data providers.

As components of the Earth Observing System (EOS) Data Information System (EOSDIS), DAACs generate EOS standard data products and carry out NASA's responsibilities for data archival, distribution, and management. Many of these sites also carry related data products that pre-date EOS. DAACs and affiliated data centers have home pages and FTP sites for transfer of information and data.

The NBII Program is managed by the U.S. Geological Survey's Biological Informatics Office.

The overall objective of the proposed MAST-DC is to provide data management support to NACP investigators and agencies performing modeling and synthesis activities. Based on specific requirements established by NACP, we will provide data products for modeling and synthesis in consistent and uniform grids, projections, and formats.

Phenology (the study of periodic plant and animal life cycle events and how these are influenced by seasonal and interannual variations in climate) can be used as a predictor for a variety of processes and variables of importance at local to global scales. Phenology modulates the abundance and diversity of organisms, their inter-specific interactions, their ecological functions, and their effects on fluxes in water, energy, and chemical elements at various scales. Phenological data and models are useful in agriculture, drought monitoring, and wildfire risk assessment, as well as management of invasive species, pests, and infectious diseases. Integration of spatially-extensive phenological data and models with both short and long-term climatic forecasts offer a powerful agent for human adaptation to ongoing and future climate change.

With the recognition for the need to better understand the natural and social processes which drive large scale environmental change, the IAI encourages interactive exchanges between scientists and policy makers. The goal of the IAI is to augment the scientific capacity of the region and to provide information in a useful and timely manner to policy makers. Its primary objective is to encourage research beyond the scope of national programs by advancing comparative and focused studies based on scientific issues important to the region as a whole.

• U. S. Department of Energy funded studies of watershed hydrology and forest nutrient dynamics,
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration funded studies of forest micrometeorology,
• studies of atmospheric deposition under the National Atmospheric Deposition Program,
• the International Biological Program Eastern Deciduous Forest Biome Project,
• National Science Foundation sponsored studies of trace element cycling and stream nutrient spiraling, and
• Electric Power Research Institute funded studies of the effects of acidic deposition on canopy processes and soil chemistry.

These projects have all contributed to a more complete understanding of how forest watersheds function and have provided insights into the solution of energy-related problems associated with air pollution, contaminant transport, and forest nutrient dynamics. This is one of a few sites in the world characterized by long-term, intensive environmental studies.

• Sequestering Carbon in Underground Geologic Repositories: Geosciences research related to understanding the geophysics and geochemistry of potential reservoirs appropriate for subsurface sequestration of carbon dioxide.
• Enhancing the Natural Terrestrial Cycle: Identifying ways to enhance carbon sequestration of the terrestrial biosphere through CO2 removal from the atmosphere by vegetation and storage in biomass and soils. Current Projects
• Carbon Sequestration in the Oceans: Enhancing the net oceanic uptake from the atmosphere by fertilization of phytoplankton with nutrients, and injecting CO2 to ocean depths greater than 1000 meters.
• Sequencing Genomes of Micro-organism for Carbon Management: Sequencing the genomes of microbes that produce fuels such as methane and hydrogen or aid in carbon sequestration, to allow an evaluation of their potential use to produce, for example, methane or hydrogen from either fossil fuels or other carbonaceous sources, including biomass or even some waste products.