CHRONOS Admin Blog News and Reviews from CHRONOS

CHRONOS has been funded by the National Science Foundation - Division of Ocean Sciences for the collaborative proposal 'Ocean Drilling Data, Discovery, Global Visualization and Synthesis'. This research is a collaboration between Dr. W.B.F. Ryan of Columbia University and CHRONOS. The goal of this collaborative project is to make all “legacy” sediment and biostratigraphic data from the cores and downhole measurements of the Deep Sea Drilling Project and the Ocean Drilling Program available via Web Services for visualization by the public using our own applications as well as other 3-D virtual globes in order to significantly enhance the use of these data for learning and scientific discovery.

Timescale Converter is a web application that allows for the conversion between Berggren 95 and GTS 2004. This is done through the use of the paleomagnetic chrons. The relative location of a time in one scale is established against a chron. This relative location is then taken to the other timescale and resolved to a corresponding time value. More information is available in this handout

CHRONOS's partnership application was accepted by the Foundation for Earth Science. The Foundation is a non-profit corporation established in 2001 to support scientific programs and organizations that collect, process and analyze science-based Earth science information for a broad range of users. As a voting member in the Federation, CHRONOS plans to be actively involved in the development of standards for Earth science data with the goal to expand its interoperability.

Listen to MS graduate Josh Reed's interview with the Java Posse Guys. In the interview, Josh talks about his experience with Java programming, CHRONOS, Andrill, PSICAT, and his work in Antarctica.

Because of two scheduled power outages to install a new electrical switchboard in the building that houses CHRONOS's servers, the web site and portal will be unavailable on Wed 18 July between 5 AM and 8 AM (Central US Time), and between 6 AM on Sat 28 July and 6 PM of Sun 29 July. We apologize in advance for any inconvenience that this may cause.

Josh Reed was interviewed by the Des Moines Register while in Antarctica with ANDRILL. You can access the article here Note that in spite of what the article says, Josh's work with PSICAT did not require him to sleep outside for two months!

The abridged version of the 2005-2006 Annual Report submitted to NSF in June 2006 is available online as a pdf file. It contains the most significant activities and accomplishments of CHRONOS in its third year of NSF funding. (August 9, 2006)

Linda Hinnov, Johns Hopkins University and CHRONOS's cyclostratigrapher, has won the 2006 AAPG/SEPM Best Poster Award with her presentation: CHRONOS Cyclostratigraphy Tools: Astronomical Calibration of Geologic Time at 0.02 to 0.40 Myr Resolution. Please view The Sedimentary Record, volume 4, June 2006, page 8.

The new CHRONOS System is the result of the merger of PaleoStrat and the old CHRONOS. PaleoStrat is the main data engine for the System and together with Neptune contains the bulk of the data in the CHRONOS System. Information on the joint IT development team is available at the CHRONOS System Community web page

The International Coalition for GeoInformatics was founded at a workshop organized by NSF in Florence, Italy, on August 20, 2004. A report on the meeting that includes a summary of the scope of GeoInformatics and its international importance is appearing in the January 18, 2005, issue of EOS, AGU's weekly journal.

The CHRONOS System proposal (aka CHRONOS II) will be submitted to NSF on Monday 7 February. It is organized as a cooperative agreement with Iowa State University acting as lead institution and subawards to ten other institutions (Boise State University, Johns Hopkins University, Purdue University, Texas A&M University, University of California - Berkeley, University of California - Riverside, University of California - San Diego, University of Illinois - Chicago, University of Kansas, and University Massachusetts - Amherst). Under a cooperative agreement, subawards can be added at any time during the duration of the agreement as projects directly related to CHRONOS are reviewed and funded through normal NSF processes.