EarthCube IA: Collaborative Proposal: Advancing biogeoscience community standards and cyberinfrastructure via Critical Zone domain engagement in synthesis science

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The Critical Zone (CZ) is the Earth's permeable near-surface layer from the atmosphere at the vegetation's canopy to the lower boundary of actively circulating groundwaters. There has been a recent movement in the US Critical Zone Observatory (CZO) program to promote cross-CZO collaborations, with a major emphasis on biogeochemistry and related microbial ecology research. The project enable the CZ community to use software via training workshops, and better use CZ biogeochemistry and microbial ecology data. These objectives will be accomplished through a set of virtual and in-person workshops where CZ scientists have the opportunity to learn how to use the new cyberinfrastructure products, and use them to synthesize important biogeosciences and microbial ecology data from across numerous CZ sites. This effort will concurrently support the development of community-led standards for data collection and sharing. Direct involvement of software development teams as IA project personnel and collaborators will facilitate the training of members of the CZ community to use newly developed software. CZ scientists will then use these tools in a set of real-life use cases, in the form of synthesis of existing CZO data and analysis of collaboratively designed cross-CZO biogeochemical and metagenomic sample collection and analysis and ancillary measurements. This effort will not only train CZ scientists to use newly emerging EC CI tools, but also solicit community input on software improvements and identify remaining gaps and needs for further EarthCube CI development.This project lays the groundwork for the whole-earth analysis and simulation capability envisioned through EarthCube, by bringing critical zone scientists together with hands-on training to test available cyberinfrastructure tools with comprehensive multiparameter datasets spanning a wide range of scales. The project will further improve access to the products of critical zone research by promoting the sharing, standardization, synthesis and analysis of biogeochemical and metagenomic data via EarthCube cyberinfrastructure, enabling a broader array of geosciences communities to shape future EarthCube activities and outcomes. This effort will support synthesis of broad swaths of data currently being collected at critical zone sites in the US and worldwide, as well as identify and fill key data gaps. The project will answer key biogeochemistry and microbial ecology questions, such as 1) measuring and modeling the fate of phosphorus during soil formation, and the relative role of bedrock vs. dust inputs to ecosystem phosphorus across diverse systems, and 2) evaluating nutrient availability and its impacts on microbial communities, growth rates and functions, across diverse systems. This project will also facilitate integrative scientific applications using critical zone data. The project will engender broad scientific dissemination of key EarthCube and Critical Zone Observatory products through targeted scientific outreach activities and engagement of diverse types of scientists, including a unique interaction between the computational science and geoscience communities. Key findings will be communicated through collaborative research and synthesis papers and presentations. This project will contribute extensive capacity-building in early-career researchers through targeted workshop participation. Finally, project findings and products will be used to inform future EarthCube development through the activity of the PIs and collaborators in the EarthCube Science Committee and Technology and Architecture Committee, as well as through the broader engagement of critical zone scientists into earthcube activities.