Characterization of temporal sequences in geophysical databases

The authors examine a specific scientific application that demonstrates the need for temporal concepts familiar to scientists. By concentrating on a particular (geophysical data) application, they are able to identify in some detail realistic and useful temporal concepts. They propose a framework for the specification of time sequence properties and define operator classes. They then work out a case study in detail, and demonstrate the usefulness of these properties and operator classes. They conclude with several examples of queries over time sequences which are not typically supported by existing query languages and commercial database systems.