Advancing educational capacity using the SCOOP educational virtual appliance

To meet the challenge of developing a more accessible educational content delivery system for the Southeastern Universities Research Association's (SURA) Coastal Ocean Observing and Prediction Program (SCOOP), a SCOOP Educational Virtual Appliance (EVA) is being developed. The EVA is based on the Grid Appliance (http://www.grid-appliance.org) which is a self-configuring Virtual Machine (VM) appliance that contains all necessary cyberinfrastructure, applications and tools to demonstrate a variety of SCOOP services in a single easy-to-use container. Applications and tools contained within the EVA include examples of how to find, download, and plot SCOOP data as well as the ability to perform simulations of storm surge and inundation. The storm surge application includes the ability to setup, perform and visualize the simulation of storm surge and inundation using CH3D-SSMS in several hypothetical domains as well in Charlotte Harbor, FL during the landfall of Hurricane Charley (2004). In addition to the EVA, a companion web-based tutorial is also under development. Lessons plans cover many aspects of the SCOOP program including: file naming conventions; how to find, download and plot archived data; how to use SCOOP web services; how to use the EVA; and an introduction to hurricane storm surge. The EVA is currently being used in several educational and research settings and is publically available on the Internet (http://www.grid-appliance.org/scoopwiki/ index.php/Main-Page).