Cryosphere Sciences Perspectives on Integrated, Coordinated, Open, Networked (ICON) Science

Abstract

Integrated, Coordinated, Open, Networked (ICON) science aims to enhance synthesis, increase resource efficiency, and create transferable knowledge (Goldman et al., 2021). This article belongs to a collection of commentaries spanning geoscience on the state and future of ICON science. For a deeper understanding of the ICON principles, see the introductory article for the collection. ICON-Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable (FAIR) expands upon "Open" to explicitly point to the FAIR data principles (Wilkinson et al., 2016).The cryosphere is one of the five major components of the global climate system along with the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere (IPCC, 2019). Its terminology originates from the Greek word "krios" (κρύος) meaning cold, while in science it encompasses any discipline related to water in a frozen state, whether seasonal or perennial (NOAA, 2021). These include sea ice, lake ice, river ice, snow, ice sheets, ice shelves, glaciers, freshwater ice, and frozen ground (AGU, 2021b; IPCC, 2019). Hence, cryosphere research is a field built around a common archive (ice) that embraces a variety of different research questions across spatial scales, time frames from modern to deep time, and is integrated (I-integrated) between traditional disciplines (i.e., physical, chemical, and biological). For example, in collected ice cores, a variety of measurements from physical properties, chemical species, and biological specimens, as well as atmospheric and ice flow modeling branch into other subdisciplines and require an assessment through integrated multidisciplinary approaches including natural and social sciences (e.g., McConnell et al., 2020;Richter-Menge et al., 2019).Due to recent climate change-forced phenomena, such as glacier retreats (e.g.,

Integrated, Coordinated, Open, and Networked (ICON) Science to Advance the Geosciences: Introduction and Synthesis of a Special Collection of Commentary Articles

“…Almost all the Collection's articles included a suggestion to engage citizen science and to equip it with funding. Other funding related needs were mentioned in the Cryosphere Science article, including support for new types of undergraduate research experiences that can accommodate those unable to travel but who can conduct remote data analysis (Brügger et al., 2021).…”

“…In the ICON Collection's Cryosphere Sciences article, Brügger et al. (2021) highlight that different ice core laboratories may establish chronologies or proxies in ice cores using different methods, leading to challenges comparing within and across ice core records. The importance of the “Coordination” principle extends beyond physical sample collection.…”