Enabling FAIR data in Earth and environmental science with community-centric (meta)data reporting formats

Robert Crystal-Ornelas; Charuleka Varadharajan; Dylan O'Ryan; Kathleen Beilsmith; Benjamin Bond-Lamberty; Kristin Boye; Madison Burrus; Shreyas Cholia; Danielle S Christianson; Michael Crow; Joan Damerow; Kim S Ely; Amy E Goldman; Susan L Heinz; Valerie C Hendrix; Zarine Kakalia; Kayla Mathes; Fianna O'Brien; Stephanie C Pennington; Emily Robles; Alistair Rogers; Maegen Simmonds; Terri Velliquette; Pamela Weisenhorn; Jessica Nicole Welch; Karen Whitenack; Deborah A Agarwal

doi:10.1038/s41597-022-01606-w

Enabling FAIR data in Earth and environmental science with community-centric (meta)data reporting formats

Sci Data. 2022 Nov 14;9(1):700. doi: 10.1038/s41597-022-01606-w.

Authors

Robert Crystal-Ornelas^{1

2}, Charuleka Varadharajan³, Dylan O'Ryan^{1

4}, Kathleen Beilsmith⁵, Benjamin Bond-Lamberty⁶, Kristin Boye⁷, Madison Burrus¹, Shreyas Cholia⁸, Danielle S Christianson⁸, Michael Crow⁹, Joan Damerow¹, Kim S Ely¹⁰, Amy E Goldman¹¹, Susan L Heinz⁹, Valerie C Hendrix⁸, Zarine Kakalia¹, Kayla Mathes¹², Fianna O'Brien⁸, Stephanie C Pennington⁶, Emily Robles¹, Alistair Rogers¹⁰, Maegen Simmonds^{1

13}, Terri Velliquette⁹, Pamela Weisenhorn⁵, Jessica Nicole Welch⁹, Karen Whitenack¹, Deborah A Agarwal⁸

Affiliations

¹ Earth and Environmental Sciences Area, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
² Github, San Francisco, CA, 94107, USA.
³ Earth and Environmental Sciences Area, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA. cvaradharajan@lbl.gov.
⁴ Environmental Studies Department, California State University, Sacramento, 6000 Jed Smith Dr, Sacramento, CA, 95819, USA.
⁵ Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL, 60439, USA.
⁶ Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Joint Global Change Research Institute at the University of Maryland-College Park, College Park, MD, 20740, USA.
⁷ Environmental Geochemistry Group, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA, 94025, USA.
⁸ Scientific Data Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
⁹ Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, 37830, USA.
¹⁰ Environmental and Climate Sciences Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY, 11973, USA.
¹¹ Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, 99354, USA.
¹² Integrated Life Sciences, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, 23284, USA.
¹³ Pivot Bio, 2910 Seventh Street, Berkeley, CA, 94710, USA.

Abstract

Research can be more transparent and collaborative by using Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) principles to publish Earth and environmental science data. Reporting formats-instructions, templates, and tools for consistently formatting data within a discipline-can help make data more accessible and reusable. However, the immense diversity of data types across Earth science disciplines makes development and adoption challenging. Here, we describe 11 community reporting formats for a diverse set of Earth science (meta)data including cross-domain metadata (dataset metadata, location metadata, sample metadata), file-formatting guidelines (file-level metadata, CSV files, terrestrial model data archiving), and domain-specific reporting formats for some biological, geochemical, and hydrological data (amplicon abundance tables, leaf-level gas exchange, soil respiration, water and sediment chemistry, sensor-based hydrologic measurements). More broadly, we provide guidelines that communities can use to create new (meta)data formats that integrate with their scientific workflows. Such reporting formats have the potential to accelerate scientific discovery and predictions by making it easier for data contributors to provide (meta)data that are more interoperable and reusable.

MeSH terms

Environmental Science*
Metadata
Research Design*
Workflow