European Grid of Solar Observations

Some of the biggest challenges in science today are related to data. Advances in technology have meant that data are being created in every greater volumes and are much more accessible than they were even five years ago. The advent of the Internet coupled with cheap storage and fast computers means that data need no longer sit in the back of a cupboard and, increasingly, groups are wanting to share their data and undertake collaborative studies. The main problem, particularly for disciplines such as solar and heliospheric physics, is identifying and retrieving data that might be of interest.

EGSO, the "European Grid of Solar Observations", is a Grid test-bed funded under the EC's Fifth Framework Programme. It addresses the problem of combining heterogeneous data from scattered archives of space and ground-based observations into a single "virtual" dataset. EGSO has also created catalogues of solar features and observation data to enable innovative searching, and provide visualisation tools for user-friendly data browsing.

EGSO is a unique resource for the solar physics community, while also serving as an interface to solar data for the Space Weather, Climate Physics and Astrophysics communities.