Supporting Data Sharing and Discovery for the Earth's Critical Zone through Cross-Repository Interoperability
Abstract
Critical Zone (CZ) scientists study the coupled chemical, biological, physical, and geological processes operating across scales to support life at the Earth's surface. In 2020, the U.S. National Science Foundation funded a network of Thematic Cluster projects called “CZ Net” to work collaboratively in answering scientific questions related to effects of urbanization on CZ processes; CZ function in semi-arid landscapes and the role of dust in sustaining these ecosystems; deep bedrock processes and their relationship to CZ evolution; CZ recovery from disturbances such as fire and flooding; and changes in the coastal CZ related to rising sea level. Data collected by these projects are diverse, ranging from time series from in situ sensors to laboratory analysis of physical samples, geophysical measurements, and others. Thus, coordinating data collection, archival, discovery, and access for the network presents significant challenges. Given the diversity in scientific domains represented, data produced, and collaborations, no single repository fully meets the needs of CZ scientists, posing questions of which repositories to use, how to enable discovery of and access to data across different repositories, and how to develop and promote best practices for sharing research products. This presentation describes cyberinfrastructure (CI) development by the CZ Net Coordinating Hub that leverages existing, domain-specific repositories for managing, curating, disseminating, and preserving data and research products from the CZ Net projects. We have developed CI that links existing data facilities and services, including HydroShare, EarthChem, Zenodo, and other repositories via a CZ Hub that provides tools for data submission, resource registry, metadata cataloging, resource discovery/access, and links to computational resources for analysis and visualization. The CZ Hub’s goal is to make data, samples, software, and other research products created by CZ Net projects Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR), using existing domain-specific repositories. The repository interoperability we have demonstrated for delivering data services for an interdisciplinary science program may provide a template for future development of integrated, interdisciplinary data services.