We describe the architecture and implementation of the Solid Earth Research Virtual Observatory (SERVO)’s Complexity Computational Environment. We base our design on a globally scalable
distributed “cyber-infrastructure,” or Grid, built around a Web Services-based approach consistent with the extended Web Service Interoperability (WS-I+) model. In order to investigate problems in earthquake modeling and forecasting, we need to programmatically couple numerical simulation codes and data assimilation and mining tools to online observational data sets, including GPS stations, fault data, and seismic activity catalogs. These observational data sets are now available on-line in internet-accessible forms, and the quantity of this data is expected to grow explosively over the next decade. As part of our efforts in building SERVO, we are extending these online data repository capabilities so that they are not just available directly for human users, but may also
be searched, filtered, and streamed to simulation codes that are also managed by SERVO services.

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We discuss a general architectural approach to knowledge and information management and delivery in distributed systems. Our approach is based on the recognition that time-stamped, streaming information message units form the core of seemingly disparate systems that range from online sensors and scientific instruments to Web information retrieval. Globally distributable Grid services manage these information streams. Geographical Information System services provide exemplary realizations of this picture and may be used as a model for other scientific domains. With this unified architecture in place, we may begin to consider the problems of information integration as equivalent to sensor federation.

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