Distributed Synchronization System of Meteorological Metadata: An Exploratory Development

The current meteorological information system will be unable to meet the telecommunicating, storing and computing requirements of enormous weather radar data in the near future. Therefore, the New Generation Weather Radar Information Sharing Platform (WRISP) has been planned, the main target of which is sharing the meteorological data countrywide. The project should begin with sharing and exchanging the meteorological metadata, then it's imperative to set up a meteorological metadata synchronization system across WAN. A research is conducted on some related conceptions such as meteorological metadata, synchronization protocol of metadata and data consistency, etc. Meteorological metadata, as the subject carried on the synchronization system is interpreted including its characters and defects, then methods are provided to improve it. Mechanism of metadata synchronization, models of data consistency, and metadata harvesting protocols such as OAI PMH are analyzed and feasibility studies are carried out. The general design thought of the synchronization system, which consists of topological design, conceptive model, data flow and technical architecture is proposed. Two performance tests are taken on the test prototype, and the obtained data is evaluated and leads to a preliminary conclusion. The meteorological metadata synchronization system on the meteorological dedicated WAN described in the prototype is a distributed data exchange platform. It's able to synchronize and exchange the metadata conformed to the WMO Core Metadata Profile among multiple nodes under the distributed WAN environment, and ensures the FIFO and monotonic write consistency as well. The prototype may help to promote the research on WIS and build a cornerstone of WRISP which facilitate the sharing of the meteorological data nationwide.