Mark A. Parsons

A conceptual framework for managing very diverse data for complex, interdisciplinary science

Much attention has been given to the challenges of handling massive data volumes in modern data-intensive science. This paper examines an equally daunting challenge – the diversity of interdisciplinary data, notably research data, and the need to interrelate these data to understand complex systemic problems such as environmental change and its impact. We use the experience of the International Polar Year 2007–8 (IPY) as a case study to examine data management approaches seeking to address issues around complex interdisciplinary science. We find that, while technology is a critical factor in addressing the interdisciplinary dimension of the data intensive science, the technologies developing for exa-scale data volumes differ from those that are needed for extremely distributed and heterogeneous data. Research data will continue to be highly heterogeneous and distributed and will require technologies to be much simpler and more flexible. More importantly, there is a need for both technical and cultural adaptation. We describe a vision of discoverable, open, linked, useful, and safe collections of data, organized and curated using the best principles and practices of information and library science. This vision provides a framework for our discussion and leads us to suggest several short- and long-term strategies to facilitate a socio-technical evolution in the overall science data ecosystem.

Overview of the NASA cold land processes field experiment (CLPX-2002)

NASAs Earth Science Enterprise has identified the need for improved measurement of snow properties and frozen soils via a space-flight mission within the next decade. Microwave sensors appear ideal to measure these properties. Measurements of the Earths surface in the microwave spectral regions can be largely insensitive to weather conditions and solar illumination, which is especially important during cold seasons. Both active and passive microwave sensors have demonstrated sensitivity to snow properties and the freeze/thaw status of soils. Microwave signal response is influenced by snow depth, density, wetness, crystal size and shape, ice crusts and layer structure, surface roughness, vegetation characteristics, soil moisture, and soil freeze/thaw status. These characteristics make microwave remote sensing attractive for providing spatially distributed information to improve and update land surface models for cold regions, either through assimilation of state-variable information estimated from microwave remote sensing observations using inversion algorithms, or through direct assimilation of microwave remote sensing data themselves. At the same time, the sensitivity of microwave signal response to several snow, soil, and vegetation characteristics also complicates the interpretation and analysis of these data. To better understand microwave remote sensing for measurement of snow and frozen soil properties, NASA is conducting the Cold Land Processes Field Experiment (CLPX). The CLPX is a large field experiment being conducted primarily over a two-year period (2002 and 2003) in Colorado, U.S.A. The purpose of the CLPX is to develop the quantitative understanding, models, and measurements necessary to extend our local-scale understanding of water fluxes, storage, and transformations to regional and global scales. Of particular importance is the development of a strong synergism between process-oriented understanding, land surface models and microwave remote sensing. Objectives of the CLPX include evaluation and improvement of algorithms for retrieving snow and frozen soil information from active and passive microwave sensors, evaluating the effects of sensor spatial resolution on retrieval skill, coupling forward microwave radiative transfer schemes to distributed snow/soil models to improve assimilation of microwave remote sensing data, and to develop sensor specifications for a new space-flight mission to measure cold land processes. This paper discusses the data sets collected during the CLPX-2002 to support these objectives.

The role of data management in engaging communities in Arctic research: overview of the Exchange for Local Observations and Knowledge of the Arctic (ELOKA)

Abstract Local and traditional knowledge (LTK) was a key component of many projects in the 2007–2009 International Polar Year (IPY) and much information was amassed through maps, interviews with local experts, photographs, artwork, and other forms of documentation. Unlike conventional physical and life sciences, few options exist for those seeking data management for social, cultural, or traditional knowledge projects. This poses many problems for researchers and communities alike. The collaborative demands of the IPY data policy emphasized the need for effective and appropriate means of recording, preserving, and sharing the information collected in Arctic communities. This article describes the history and activities of the Exchange for Local Observations and Knowledge of the Arctic, a project launched during the IPY that continues to facilitate the collection, preservation, exchange, and use of local observations and knowledge. Using examples, we describe new approaches and special considerations for managing community data. We also show how data management can assist in linking LTK and various sciences and building connections between researchers and communities and across communities. Data management, if designed to serve local needs as well as broader interests, can help to facilitate new relationships between local communities and global researchers.

Formalizing the semantics of sea ice

We have initiated a project aimed at enhancing interdisciplinary understanding and usability of polar data by diverse communities. We have produced computer- and human-understandable models of sea ice that can be used to support the interoperability of a wide range of sea ice data. This has the potential to improve scientific predictive analyses and increase usage of the data by scientists, modelers, and forecasters as well as residents of communities that rely on sea ice. We have developed a family of ontologies, leveraging existing best in class models, including one module describing physical characteristics of sea ice, another describing sea ice charts, and a third modeling “egg codes” - an internationally accepted standard for symbolically representing sea ice within geographic regions. We used a semantic Web methodology to rapidly gather and refine requirements, design and iterate over the ontologies, and to evaluate the ontologies with respect to the use cases. We gathered requirements from a wide range of potential stakeholders reflecting the interests of operational ice centers, ice researchers, and indigenous people. We introduce the driving use case and provide an overview of the resulting open source ontologies. We also introduce some key technical considerations including the prominent role of provenance, terms of use, and credit in the model. We describe how the ontologies are being employed and highlight their compatibility with a wide range of existing standards previously developed by many of the stakeholder communities.

Learning from the International Polar Year to Build the Future of Polar Data Management

The research data landscape of the last International Polar Year was dramatically different from its predecessors. Data scientists documented lessons learned about management of large, diverse, and interdisciplinary datasets to inform future development and practices. Improved, iterative, and adaptive data curation and system development methods to address these challenges will be facilitated by building collaborations locally and globally across the ‘data ecosystem’, thus, shaping and sustaining an international data infrastructure to fulfil modern scientific needs and societal expectations. International coordination is necessary to achieve convergence between domain-specific data systems and hence enable multidisciplinary approaches needed to solve the Global Challenges.

Polar science: global partnership to work on data sharing

SIR — Your Editorial ‘The way ahead for polar science’ (Nature 457, 1057; 2009) correctly points out the critical need for a sustained archive of the data collected during International Polar Year (IPY). As you mention in your News Feature ‘In from the cold’ (Nature 457, 1072–1077; 2009), “the IPY data-management committee is sorting out the options for setting up a fully integrated data-sharing system”. The primary mechanism for this data sharing is the International Polar Year Data and Information Service (IPYDIS). The IPYDIS is a global partnership of data centres, archives and networks, which together ensure proper stewardship of IPY and related data (http://ipydis.org). We seek to create a union catalogue that provides access to all IPY data distributed in archives around the world. As you emphasize, sustained support for this activity is a critical challenge for nations and for the international science community. Australia, Canada, China, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States and others have already started setting up a system, but the work to present the IPY data legacy has only just begun. Although the IPY data policy encourages more comprehensive and more timely release of data, data sharing is still a challenge for polar science. We need to build on our success and extend the effort to a broader community. To this end, the International Council for Science has established a new project, ‘The Polar Information Commons: establishing the framework for long-term stewardship of polar data and information’. The council’s committee on data for science and technology, CODATA, leads this initiative to establish a sustainable long-term framework for the preservation of and access to polar data. We encourage a ‘commons’ approach, as used in other disciplines, that recognizes information as a common societal benefit. Historically, society has managed both to share and administer common property, such as fisheries and telecommunications bandwidth, but to sustain these resources requires ongoing societal attention. This approach can strengthen incentives for scientists, research institutions and nations to contribute and document data, reduce barriers to data sharing and provide a focal point for data assessment by the community. Mark A. Parsons National Snow and Ice Data Center/World Data Center for Glaciology, University of Colorado, 449 UCB, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0449, USA e-mail: parsonsm@nsidc.org

A New Approach to Preservation Metadata for Scientific Data: A Real World Example

The Open Archival Information System (OAIS) Reference Model was developed by the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) in the late 1990s and was adopted as an ISO standard in 2003 (ISO14721:2003) [1]. Recently, many data centers and archives around the world have started to adopt this protocol. As a notable example, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the United States of America adopted the model for their Comprehensive Large Array-data Stewardship System (CLASS). CLASS is expected to be the primary repository and access portal for NOAAs Earth science, satellite-remote-sensing data [2]. Because of the huge scale of these efforts, it is important to carefully consider the manner in which the OAIS Reference Model is implemented. The specifics of the implementation could impact the preservation and therefore the use and usability of vast quantities of remote sensing data for many years.

Interdisciplinary data management in support of the International Polar Year

The International Polar Year (IPY) 2007–2008 will be the largest and most interdisciplinary polar science project ever. David Carlson, director of the IPY International Programme Office (IPO), reports that some 50,000 investigators from more than 60 countries organized in more than 200 international clusters of projects will endeavor to study nearly every aspect of the poles. The projects cover a broad range of physical, life, and social sciences. The data from these projects will be unprecedented in their breadth and diversity and will be the primary legacy of IPY.

User-driven design of a data system for the international polar year

Data systems must serve user needs. This is easier said than done, especially when trying to design a system that will provide discovery and access to a broad array of disparate data for users with differing expertise. The International Polar Year (IPY) provides a particular challenge with its emphasis on interdisciplinary research in the physical, life, and social sciences. Typically, systems designers try to enumerate the various requirements of the system and build the system to meet those requirements. The challenge is ensuring that the requirements accurately reflect evolving user needs and adequately address how a user will use the system to solve problems. A more user-driven and iterative approach is necessary.

Parsons Receives 2009 Charles S. Falkenberg Award

Mark A. Parsons received the AGU Charles S. Falkenberg Award, presented jointly by AGU and the Earth Science Information Partnership (ESIP), at the 2009 Summer Federation of Earth Science Information Partners Conference, held 7–10 July 2009 in Santa Barbara, Calif. The award honors “a scientist under 45 years of age who has contributed to the quality of life, economic opportunities, and stewardship of the planet through the use of Earth science information and to the public awareness of the importance of understanding our planet.”