Integration

PITHIA-NRF is a unique European Infrastructure that produces services to the international community of upper atmosphere researchers and stakeholders. PITHIA-NRF, through open access to relevant e-services and trans-national access to experimental facilities, has the ambition to become the European hub that will act as facilitator for coordinated observations, for data processing tools and modelling advances, for software and data-products standardization, and will advise on the transitioning of models to operations providing e-science supporting tools so that models can reach the desired accuracy and standards.

The PITHIA-NRF integration scheme brings together on a European scale the research facilities, databases and models and renders them easily accessible to all European researchers ensuring their optimal use and cooperative development. Access to research facilities allows research users to develop their own research projects using the unique observing capabilities of PITHIA-NRF facilities. Access to long term observational data from near-Earth space, is of fundamental importance to build a comprehensive picture of the ITP system, but also to develop and validate models. Access to validated models and their results, facilitates the training of the new generation of researchers in the basic modeling concepts. In addition to this, researchers will understand how the physics principles are embedded in the empirical models and machine learning processes. This training supports efforts towards the development of new realistic models for the upper atmosphere which are indispensable for describing, explaining and ultimately forecasting the behavior of this complex system, and mitigating the space weather effects on vulnerable technologies.

From its perception, PITHIA-NRF is an integral part of the global network of research infrastructures, since its foundation is based on integration principles set by EGI, URSI, ESA (SSA and EO Programmes) regarding data model standards and maturity scales, while it relies on data collection, management standards and policies set by EOSC, by the INAG/URSI working group, by the IGS GNSS network, by the CCMC/NASA for validation standards, by the Madrigal metadata and client APIs and by the ACTRIS Research Infrastructures. The adoption of specific standards has been considered in the PITHIA-NRF data policy definition, given the specificities of the upper atmosphere data sets that are a mixture of ground-based and space-borne data and also contain a variety of data products extracted from models and data curation tools.

The integration comes from the alighment/use of common standards, observation strategies, data management strategies, data formats, model integration approaches. The integrated system provides extended exploitation potential for users for the data, application models and workflows. Delivery will be via the PITHIA-NRF e-Science Center and promoted by EOSC.