The European Space Agency is organising a 'Big data from Space' event to address the barriers that hamper an effective use of large volumes of Earth observation data. The event will focus on issues associated with the organisation and delivery of large volumes of contemporary and historical Earth observations, either space-based or from ground (including ubiquitous information-sensing mobile devices, aerial sensory technologies, wireless sensor networks).

The event will be held June 5-7, 2013 in Rome, Italy. Information is available from the event web site.

For many years, the Unidata program has been active in helping university departments deploy and use Unidata technologies. Through our governing committees (which are composed of faculty and staff from member universities), we've learned a lot about the current state of information technology support in geoscience departments today. In hopes of learning more about the evolving university IT landscape in today's budget-constrained environment, we are hoping other members of Unidata's university community will spend a few minutes to give us some insight into how information technology support works in your departments.

This year's annual American Meteorological Society meeting in Austin, Texas hosted more than 3400 attendees — more than the 2012 meeting — despite the fact that many government employees were unable to attend due to uncertainties about the federal budget. We were happy to see many of the Unidata community members participating in the meeting at our booth in the exhibit hall, and to meet so many prospective community members at the AMS Student Conference.

With so much going on at the conference, we can't cover everything here. Instead, we present some highlights as recalled by UPC staff members who attended.

Do you know someone in the Unidata community who has been actively involved and helpful to you and other Unidata members? Perhaps this is someone who volunteers to assist others, contributes software, or makes suggestions that are generally useful for the community.

The Unidata Users Committee invites you to submit nominations for the Russell L. DeSouza Award for Outstanding Community Service. This Community Service Award honors individuals whose energy, expertise, and active involvement enable the Unidata Program to better serve the geosciences. Honorees personify Unidata's ideal of a community that shares ideas, data, and software through computing and networking technologies.

Unidata offers equipment grants to support a variety of projects

The Unidata Program Center is pleased to announce the opening of the 2013 Unidata Community Equipment Awards solicitation. Created under the sponsorship of the National Science Foundation, Unidata equipment awards are intended to encourage new members from diverse disciplinary backgrounds in the geosciences to join the Unidata community, and to encourage existing members to continue their active participation, enhancing the community process. For 2013, a total of $100,000 is available for awards; proposals for amounts up to $20,000 will be considered.