EarthCube GEO Domain Workshop: Articulating Cyberinfrastructure Needs of the Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics Community

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole MA

Investigators

Abstract

Ocean ecosystem dynamics encompasses a broad array of disciplines that seek to increase our understanding of the interplay between the physical, biological, and chemical processes in the ocean. Ocean ecosystem dynamics studies include ocean productivity, population dynamics, biogeography, and biogeochemistry. It is an interdisciplinary science that produces highly diverse data types that pose unique challenges for data management, integration, and analysis. The goal of this workshop is to surface requirements in this important ocean science arena for a major new NSF data and knowledge management initiative (i.e., EarthCube) that is dedicated to revolutionizing geoscience by providing easy access to, discovery of, and visualization of data from across the geo- and environmental sciences. This workshop will bring together ~50 ocean water column scientists to identify science drivers in the next 15 years in the ocean ecosystem dynamics field and inform the EarthCube process about the data and cyberinfrastructure needs of the associated scientific community. Issues of different scales in time and space of both data and modeling efforts will be discussed in reference to oceans, coastal waters, and the Great Lakes. The workshop will also include cyber/computer science experts; and together workshop participants will collectively define future science goals and focus on identifying the most critical, widespread, cyberinfrastructure and data management issues and problems holding back scientific advances in the area of ocean ecosystem dynamics. Workshop participants will also discuss needs in software and visualization that are needed to better understand and model both present and new data. Broader impacts of the work include building infrastructure for science by identifying needs that will help to shape the final form of EarthCube cyberinfrastructure, support of two PIs whose gender is under-represented in the sciences and engineering, and engagement of early career scientists. A virtual component of the workshop will be held to help broaden participation beyond those present on-site.