5th adc meeting

14.3 Linda Moodie presented the status on GEONETCast
Global coverage is provided by EUMETCast, FENGYUNCast and GEONETCast Americas. Data exchange using the GEONETCast Network Centre concept is in progress. Inclusion of Russia’s MITRA system is yet to be initiated at the technical level.
The initial Operational Capability is in place. Effort is now focussed on capacity building and user engagement. GEONETCast is registered as a GEOSS Component and as a Data Access GEOSS Service. A GEONETCast catalogue is being developed to comply with metadata and query standards. GEONETCast will participate in the AIP Phase 2 Workshop.
In 2008 there are plans to present GEONETCast at:

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  Meteorological Satellite Users Conference (Germany);
  
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  GEOSS Americas Symposium (Panama)
  
• 
  EUMETSAT User Forum in Africa (Ghana)
  
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  African Association for Remote Sensing of the Environment (Ghana)
  
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  GEO Plenary (Romania)
  
• 
  NOAA Direct Readout Conference (US)
  
• 
  GEOSS Architecture Workshop (Spain)
  

Question: Could you describe how you communicate with users of this capability? L. Moodie: we have a User Needs form to get feedback and identify products and services that users need. To acquire a receive station, they would contact the regional GEONETCast provider or GEONETCast website to receive information on purchasing the necessary equipment and software. For EUMETCast they would also need to register and get the code for decryption.

Question: How does the user get the information? L. Moodie: data providers send their data or products through the internet to the uplink station in their region. It is then broadcast through the regional GEONETCast system and could be transferred to other regions if there is demand in that region. In the Americas, we have an announcement of opportunity that is being used to provide information about GEONETCast and to solicit data product contributions as well as user needs.
Question: What about potential competition with internet based systems? L. Moodie: we like to look at this as a complimentary system.
Question: If there were a flood, how would people get data on this? L. Moodie: it requires a C-band system, which are usually large, but we’re examining smaller systems that could be moved to a disaster site. Each of the regional GEONETCast providers is also establishing a hazard alert channel on their system, which could be used for forwarding alerts and information on actual disasters.