Identification of the data sets of interest can then be done by using relational queries, or by applying search engines to the entire metadata collection. The data structure defines the organization of the data into general tensor classes. The data format specifies the data types, binary formats, and byte ordering. The data content defines the data units, data range, and associated coordinate system. The description of these provisions is an element of the object's metadata.
Behaviors are executable instructions that control animation of the data set.
These capabilities allow the creation of a system in which data can be dynamically located, analyzed, and displayed without any prior knowledge. In particular, data can be combined with a chosen function to form an encapsulated object that can be processed on any available compute platform, or migrated to another site. The result is that operations on data sets become executable objects that can be treated on a par with compute-intensive applications. We will conduct a survey of the data access requirements of representative scientific applications. Results of the survey will be analyzed, classified and used as the basis for the development of an API which will be used by scientific applications to access and manipulate data in the database.