New Data Archive Aims to Amplify Impact of Ecosystem Research

Data collection in Rifle, Colorado, as part of EESA's Sustainable Systems Scientific Focus Area research project. (Photo credit: Berkeley Lab)

Data collection in Rifle, Colorado, for EESA’s Sustainable Systems Scientific Focus Area 2.0 research project. (Photo credit: Berkeley Lab)

As environmental scientists move towards understanding earth systems at greater resolution than ever before, it’s critical that they have access to needed data sets. Yet much of these data are not archived, publicly available, or collected in a standardized format, due to the multiple challenges of coordinating efforts across independent research groups and institutions worldwide.

Now researchers at Berkeley Lab are taking action to address these challenges. Thanks to $3.6 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Office of Science, the Lab’s Computing Sciences and Earth & Environmental Sciences Area (EESA) are partnering on a three-year project to develop an archive that will serve as a repository for hundreds of DOE-funded research projects under the agency’s Environmental System Science (ESS) umbrella. The ESS domain includes both large-scale and smaller studies of Subsurface Biogeochemical Research and Terrestrial Ecosystem Science around the world.

“Our basic mission is to enable all of DOE’s ESS projects to archive their data with us so that it’s available, and won’t get lost,” said Deborah Agarwal, a senior scientist at Computing Sciences who is leading the effort. “Just as important is to make the data available to the public, as well as to DOE researchers.”

Some research projects funded by the Department of Energy, such as AmeriFlux, use drones to collect ecosystem data. (Photo credit: Deb Agarwal/Berkeley Lab)

Dubbed ESS-DIVE (Environmental System – Science Data Infrastructure for a Virtual Ecosystem), the Lab-hosted archive will make a significant difference for researchers and the public, says Margaret Torn, EESA senior scientist. Torn leads EESA’s Biosphere-Atmosphere Interactions program domain, which encompasses large ESS projects such as AmeriFlux, Next Generation Ecosystem Experiment (NGEE)-Arctic, and NGEE-Tropics.

In addition to providing an archive for her team’s data, Torn says that ESS-DIVE will allow scientists studying similar topics to know that other data exist. And by enabling the community to establish protocols and standards for the archived data—such as using the same variable names and units—it will enable scientists to integrate data from across teams/projects for broader analyses.

“People who aren’t researchers will also benefit from these data,” Torn said, “such as water utilities, farmers, and stewards of environmental remediation.”

Data collection in the field for the Next Generation Ecosystem Experiment-Tropics project. (Photo credit: Kolby Jardine/Berkeley Lab)

Data collection in the field for the Next Generation Ecosystem Experiment (NGEE)-Tropics project. (Photo credit: Kolby Jardine/Berkeley Lab)

The ESS-DIVE team will set up user capabilities in the archive such as advanced data search and data visualization. The team also plans to conduct a user needs assessment in order to ensure a quality user experience.

“The preservation and appropriate curation of data—as well as being able to reuse it—is a key component of good science,” said Jay Hnilo, DOE Program Manager for Data Informatics. ESS-DIVE will create an integrated data environment and help to accelerate DOE’s science going forward, he added.

“We all want to extend our understanding from the sites that we are studying to as much of the Earth as possible, and connect our research with similar research at other sites,” Torn said. “This will allow us to speak a common language and have a broader impact.”

The ESS-DIVE team is composed of an interdisciplinary group of data scientists, digital librarians, and environmental scientists, as well the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, a research center based at the University of California – Santa Barbara. Key Berkeley Lab personnel working on the project include Charuleka Varadharajan, Shreyas Cholia, Cory Snavely, Valerie Hendrix, Dan Gunter, and William Riley.

News & Events

Three EESA scientists receive DOE Early Career Research Awards

August 10, 2017

Three Earth and Environmental Sciences Area (EESA) scientists receive the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science Early Career Research Award for 2017. Congratulations to Nick Bouskill, Charlie Koven, and Neslihan Tas Baas.

EESA Develops New Approach to Restock California’s Groundwater via Almond Orchards, Vineyards

August 3, 2017

Groundwater—the water stored underneath the Earth’s surface between the cracks and spaces in soil, sand, and bedrock—is essential for the California residents and farmers who rely on it for up to 46 percent of their annual water use. Yet during the 2012-2017 drought, the state’s surface water supply was not sufficient to meet demand, resulting in excess groundwater pumping that caused land subsidence of up to 13 inches in some parts of the San Joaquin Valley.

Now a team of scientists at Berkeley Lab’s Earth & Environmental Sciences Area are working with farmers and partners like the Almond Board of California and UC Davis to test on-farm banking, a new approach that has the potential to manage groundwater more sustainably. It’s an improvement on the age-old method of groundwater recharge, the process of replenishing aquifers by infiltrating water from the surface into shallow aquifers.

“On-farm banking has the promise of making the most productive use of the greatest amount of land possible while increasing the reliability and resiliency of California’s groundwater supply,” says EESA scientist Peter Nico, a soil and environmental biogeochemist.

EESA Scientist Builds Cross-Border Collaborations for Geothermal Research

August 1, 2017

Thirty-five years ago, Berkeley Lab’s Earth & Environmental Sciences Area (EESA) scientist Patrick Dobson began his career as a graduate student by conducting field mapping, collecting fluid samples, and learning the ropes from local scientists at the Los Azufres geothermal field in Michoacán, Mexico. During his summer doing field work in Mexico, he met Berkeley Lab’s Marcelo Lippmann, who was attending a symposium on the Cerro Prieto geothermal field, the subject of a collaborative research project between the Lab (funded by the U.S. Department of Energy) and the Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE), Mexico’s state-owned utility.

Now—after decades of leading geothermal exploration projects all over the world, including Indonesia, Central America, and South America— Dobson’s work has come full circle.

Earlier this year, he spent two weeks in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico as a Fulbright Specialist in geothermal research. Hosted by the Center for Scientific Investigation and Higher Education in Ensenada (CICESE), one of the main hubs for geothermal work in the country, Dobson met with Mexican researchers to share knowledge, identify areas of mutual interest, and explore potential areas of collaboration.

Berkeley Lab Scientists Brief California Science Advisory Panel for Food and Agriculture

July 28, 2017

As two-thirds of the fruits and nuts—and over a third of the vegetables—produced in the United States are grown in California, it’s crucial that the Golden State cultivate healthy soils that are resilient to stresses such as climate change, drought, and groundwater overuse. Now scientists at Berkeley Lab’s Earth & Environmental Sciences Area (EESA) and Biosciences Area are contributing to the effort by sharing their expertise with the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA)’s Science Advisory Panel, a group comprised of farmers, agriculture professionals, and experts in areas such as water, conservation, and resource management. Last week, EESA scientist Peter Nico hosted the panel at the Lab to brief them on research related to developing healthy soils, sustainable groundwater management strategies, and climate-adaptive agriculture.