4–9 Oct 2026
Europe/Dublin timezone

The Virtual Solar Observatory 2.0: Metadata-Driven Discovery and Access for Heliophysics Data

7 Oct 2026, 14:00
15m
Talk DASH General Session 9

Speaker

Alisdair Davey (National Solar Observatory)

Description

For more than two decades, the Virtual Solar Observatory has provided a common interface for discovering and accessing solar and heliophysics data held by distributed archives. VSO 2.0 modernizes this infrastructure by replacing the original Perl- and SOAP-based system with a predominantly Python-based, REST-oriented architecture.

This presentation provides a high-level overview of VSO 2.0, with particular emphasis on its revised data model and Registry. The new data model provides a more consistent description of observations, datasets, instruments, providers, and services, while distinguishing between information used to construct searches and metadata returned to users. The Registry records both the available data holdings and the capabilities supported by individual providers.

Together, the data model, Registry, APIs, programmatic clients, and redesigned web interface provide a more extensible platform for heliophysics data discovery and access. They also establish a foundation for richer metadata services, reusable search workflows, and the integration of new instruments, archives, and data products.

We will summarize the current implementation, describe how the major components work together, and discuss how VSO 2.0 can contribute to the wider interoperable heliophysics data environment.

Author

Alisdair Davey (National Solar Observatory)

Co-authors

Dr Edward Mansky (ADNET Systems Inc.) Kaushal Patel (Columbus Technologies) Niles Oien (National Solar Observatory) Dr Jack Ireland (NASA/GSFC) Jennifer Spencer (Columbus Technologies) Dr Andrew Inglis (Catholic University, NASA/GSFC)

Presentation materials

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