The Pilot Ocean Data System Science Workstation

The Pilot Ocean Data System (PODS) at Jet Propulsion Laboratory is developing computational workstations to support the analysis of remotely sensed data by oceanographers. The workstation is one part of an overall information system that PODS is building. For some uses, such as interactive image processing, analysis on a terminal with dial-up access to a central archive such as PODS is not practical. Workstations provide a supplemental or alternative analysis environment. Prototype development to date has included technology evaluation and the display and analysis of images representing ocean pigment concentrations and surface temperatures. Experience with the prototype suggests that it is very useful for these tasks. PODS is collecting user requirements for the next phase of workstation development. Requirements gathered thus far indicate that researchers want workstations with features and single-user performance comparable to those of superminicomputers.