TerriaMap for the Hunga Tonga Case Study¶
One of the key challenges in the Hunga Tonga study was to make geographic exploration visual, intuitive, and interdisciplinary. To address this, the team set up and customized TerriaMap, an open-source web application designed to integrate and visualize diverse geospatial datasets within a single interactive dashboard.
A tailored TerriaMap instance was deployed on the FAIR-EASE infrastructure hosted by Université de Clermont Auvergne. This setup allowed participants to visualize and interact with a wide range of datasets, including:
- Volcanic and seismic activity: magnitude, depth, and location in the time period around the eruption.
- Satellite data on the volcanic plume, including SO₂ emissions.
- Satellite ocean colour data for tracking changes in surface waters.
- In situ physical and biogeochemical ocean data from ARGO floats.
- Biological and omics datasets, with dynamic links to external repositories such as the European Nucleotide Archive (ENA).
- Bathymetric maps and other environmental layers.
Dynamic feature info templates were configured to provide context and direct access to related resources. The integration was further enhanced by enabling TerriaMap to be launched directly from within Galaxy through a dedicated interactive tool, making geospatial exploration accessible alongside analytical workflows.
TerriaMap’s open-source nature and support for a wide variety of data formats and services (WMS, ERDDAP, CSV, COG, etc.) made it an ideal platform for cross-disciplinary data integration. Its flexibility opens possibilities for future enhancements, such as improved support for:
- ERDDAP data services
- OGC SensorThings API
- RO-Crates
- SpatioTemporal Asset Catalog (STAC) items and catalog groups
The Data Stories functionality—an interactive narrative mode that can guide users through curated datasets—was identified as a particularly promising feature. For the Hunga Tonga case, it could be used to build a timeline-based story showing the sequence of events and data layers of interest, from the first seismic activity to post-eruption biological changes.
Although time constraints during the Hackathon limited exploration of all of TerriaMap’s capabilities, the experience demonstrated its strong potential for:
- Cross-disciplinary integration of FAIR-EASE use case datasets.
- Serving as a powerful, browser-based dashboard for environmental research.
- Curating and publishing complex geospatial datasets in an accessible and visually engaging way.
In the context of Hunga Tonga, TerriaMap provides a means to connect atmospheric, oceanographic, geochemical, and biological data into a single, intuitive interface—allowing researchers to explore correlations, identify patterns, and better understand the event’s impact across multiple environmental domains.