Managing and supporting large integrated and interdisciplinary field studies: The BOREAS example

Abstract

Abstract. Large integrated and interdisciplinary field studies, such as the Boreal Ecosystem-Atmosphere Study (BOREAS), are conducted to refine our understanding of the interactions between the land surface and the atmosphere. Viewed as a case study, the BOREAS research objectives and final data set exemplify the complex nature and requirements of earth systems science research. The management and data system activities required to execute the study also echo this complexity. Rather than several research teams providing the needed management and data support, BOREAS management used a dedicated project staff to handle these functions. As the study progressed, the project staff transitioned from support of logistics and study management to information system operation and data publication, drawing upon the background knowledge gained from the earlier stages of the project. Data publication involves the creation and distribution of quality-checked and documented data with all ancillary information required to make it useful to someone unfamiliar with the study. We assert that the success of large integrated and interdisciplinary field studies depends upon having a dedicated staff. This staff focuses on the overall goals of the study throughout all phases of the effort: contributing to project planning, logistics, management, and data collection efforts; distributing, quality checking, and integrating the diverse data sets; working with the science teams to develop standardized data set documentation; integrating the diverse data and documentation for archiving; and publishing the data for long-term use by the larger scientific community. In this paper, the different phases of BOREAS are discussed, and the contributions that the dedicated staff made are examined. The value of spending resources on a centralized staff for project support and data publication activities is also examined. IntroductionEarth systems science (ESS) attempts to understand the complex interactions of Earth's climate using data from a wide variety of science disciplines. Field studies are an important element of ESS: They help to develop an understanding of important processes and provide a baseline data set for future climate studies of specific regions. Managing a large field study requires a great deal of planning and organization, and the large amount of collected data must also be handled and archived for ongoing and future analyses.The , 1995, 1997a] is a useful case study that illustrates the problems and challenges of a large interdisciplinary field study. In order to create a complete data set that characterizes the ecosystem-atmosphere interactions studied in BOREAS and to preserve this data set for future interdisciplinary modeling and analysis work, resources needed to be allocated for the central storage and integration of the data. The BOREAS Information System (BORIS) integrated and documented the BOREAS data, completing its task with the release of 266 fully documented data sets to an on-line archive and a large subset of th...

Remote sensing in BOREAS: Lessons learned

“…Activities were greatly facilitated by a science staff that assisted in the overall project coordination, field logistics, and data archiving, all of which were essential for the integrative aspects of the project (Newcomer et al, 2001). Large amounts of project data were archived at the Oak Ridge National Lab's Distributive Active Archive Center (ORNL DAAC, accessible at http://www- Lefsky et al, 1999Lefsky et al, , 2002 Polarization and Directionality of Earth's Radiation (POLDER) helicopter and C-130 spectral radiance and BRDF Bicheron et al, 1997 Advanced Solid-State Array Spectrometer (ASAS) C-130 spectral radiance and BRDF Russell et al, 1997;Sandmeier & Deering, 1999 (Newcomer et al, 2001). BOREAS remains a ''work in progress.''…”

Coupled modeling of the hydrological and carbon cycles in the soil–vegetation–atmosphere system

“…Soil moisture measurements were made by a neutron probe sensor. Details on the forest site measurement instrumentation and available information are reported in Baldocchi et al (1997); Newcomer et al (2000).…”

Data management for the Cold Land Processes Experiment: improving hydrological science

“…Many large field experiments coordinate data management by having multiple data producers provide their data to a centrally managed repository for archiving and distribution (see Newcomer et al (2001) and Strebel et al (1990)). CLPX used this approach, but the CLP PIs enhanced the experiment design by actively including professional data mangers in the data collection phase and by designating one person, the 'data wrangler', to facilitate the acquisition and documentation of the data.…”

“…The congenial feedback loop between PIs, data specialists, and surveyors was essential to maintaining a high quality, consistent, and complete data collection. Managers of previous large-scale field experiments have (Newcomer et al, 2001), flexible information systems, and scientific involvement in data management (Strebel, et al, 1990;Olson et al, 1999). Experience from CLPX suggests that the direct field involvement of professional data specialists, in close collaboration with scientific investigators, has resulted in a higher quality, more complete data set than would otherwise have been possible.…”

“…Data sets should outlive any particular field study or analysis, but data preservation is not simple, and as the overall data volumes and complexities increase, so do the challenges to data management (Duerr et al, 2004). Consequently, there is increasing national and international guidance on scientific data management in general (CCSDS, 2002;CCSP, 2003;National Research Council, 2003 and specifically in support of large field experiments (Strebel et al, 1990(Strebel et al, , 1998National Research Council, 1995;Olson et al, 1999;Newcomer et al, 2001). The guidance tends to be in the form of guidelines, techniques, frameworks, and general principles, which we consciously applied during CLPX.…”