Carbon Flux Data Analysis and Collaboration Infrastructure
| PI: | Dennis Baldocchi (BWC) |
| Collaborators: | Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry – Germany, University of Tuscia – Italy, FAO-GTOS, iLEAPs, Berkeley Water Center, University of California - Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of Virginia, Oregon State University, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory |
| website: | http://www.fluxdata.org/default.aspx |
FLUXNET is a global network of over 400 carbon flux measurement sensor towers that provide a wealth of long-term carbon, water and energy flux data and metadata. The data from these towers is critical to understanding climate change through cross-site, regional, ecosystem, and global-scale analyses. During this project we have developed a data server to support collaborative analysis of carbon-climate data. That data server now contains more than 960 site years of ˝ hourly carbon flux data from over 250 sites around the world and is relied on by over 72 paper teams which use the server to obtain and analyze FLUXNET data. We support the global FLUXNET synthesis activity and the regional AmeriFlux carbon flux network.
The FLUXNET synthesis dataset is being used by over 400 scientists world-wide. The dataset is a living dataset – a data refresh is expected this year. Subsets of the dataset are also being used by the climate modeling community (eg North American Carbon Program). We have developed a collaborative web portal which enables data browsing on line, orchestrates the data curation virtual conversation, and enables the synthesis team conversation with sites. Behind the portal is an archive database and OLAP data cube for simple data browsing through query. Scientists can download data files, browse data summaries, update metadata and annotate the data through the portal. Synthesis teams can select sites and exchange e-mail with those sites through the portal. The data can also be browsed directly from Excel spreadsheets or MatLab from the scientist desktop; the scientist sees no difference between data “in the cloud” and on the desktop. We believe the portal enables science researchers to concentrate on science rather than data management and the collaboration features enable continued growth.
This work is supported by the Microsoft Corporation.
Publications
Please see the publications page.