Grid expectations for networked computing: from global Earth monitoring to black hole detection   The 'Grid and e-Collaboration for Space Community' workshop took place on 2 and 3 February at ESRIN near Rome. A day of discussion was followed by a day of tutorials on Grid use.   An example of the power of Grid computing: an overview of changing chlorophyll concentrations associated with marine phytoplankton populations during the Mediterranean summer from May to September 2004, created by combining monthly mosaics of ocean colour data from multiple images acquired by the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) on Envisat. Phytoplankton fix carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, forming the base of the marine food chain and help regulate the carbon cycle and through it the global climate system. They are extremely sensitive to variations in local sea conditions. The changing colours indicate chlorophyll concentrations in mg/m3 between 0.01 (darkest blue) to 10.0 (bright red). The white areas mean no data due to cloud cover.   This view of the entire continent of Antarctica is a mosaic of Envisat ASAR Global Monitoring Mode images acquired between 1 and 10 January 2005. The Ross Ice Shelf and McMurdo Sound are at the bottom side of the image. Working in GMM, the ASAR nstrument can provide regular information on areas such as Antarctica where, due to constant cloud cover, the use of optical data is unable to support scientific investigations. What are Grids?     ESRIN is participating in the Megalab (Metropolitan e-Government Application Laboratory) initiative of the Lazio region. It involves setting up high-speed data links between the centre of Rome and the numerous research institutes around Frascati, enabling Grid computing on a Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) scale.   The sharing of computing resources in the form of a Grid delivers greatly enhanced processing abilities to users worldwide. Now DILIGENT is applying that same paradigm to information sharing and data retrieval, in the service of scientific research. A number of virtual Digital Libraries would be hosted on the same, shared Grid resources. ESA is participating in the DILIGENT project. Putting Grids to work     Image shows telescope at the top containing two mirrors encased by a shield. The thicker base is the service module. Going beyond science     Taken during the February 2005 'Grid and e-Collaboration for the Space Community' workshop. For ESA, Grid computing represents a promising way to handle large amounts of data and enable geographically-disparate teams to work together. ESA e-collaboration in action     ESA engineers working in the Concurrent Design Facility at ESTEC   Dr Domenico Laforenza of Italy's National Research Centre Institute of Information Science and Technology (CNR-ISTI) in Pisa, speaking during the February 2005 Grid and e-Collaboration workshop at ESRIN near Rome. He compared the way Grid computing worked to its namesake, the electricity grid, providing processing power on demand to users. The Grid future     Global Grid Forum logo Release date: 29 June 2005