Data Integration Committee

Committee Lead(s): Stefan Metzger ([email protected])

Committee Members: Peter Isaac, Gregor Feig, Kazuhito Ichii, David Durden, Sreenath Paleri

Mission and Goals:
The purpose of the Data Integration Committee (DIC) is to facilitate accessibility and utilization of meta/data across measurement types and scales of observation through adherence to FAIR data principles. For this purpose the DIC explores and creates technical solutions for meta/data improvements via three distinct activities: (1) community outreach and consensus, (2) integration across Committees, and (3) applied case studies for early feedback and course corrections.

Activity 1: In pursuit of community standards for meta/data the DIC will work closely with the Education and Outreach Committee, the Early Career Committee and the Regional Network Committee to capture community needs and expectations. The DIC will produce a rubric that scores the relative importance of characteristics for meta/data handling including but not limited to: interactive and query-able (e.g., meta/data-base for biological, ancillary, disturbance, and metadata entry and access); human-readable (e.g., IBM CSV); self-describing (e.g., HDF Group HDF5, Unidata NetCDF); cloud-native (e.g., Apache Hadoop Parquet); novel data types (e.g., CH4, N20, VOCs etc.); scale-aware (e.g., half-hourly flux grids, process encoding); low latency near-real-time data.

Activity 2: In pursuit of technical solutions to implement major rubric elements, the DIC will work closely with the Post-processing Committee, the Early Career Committee, and the Network coordination Committee. Envisioned technical solutions include but are not limited to: meta/data-base; inter-network APIs; data format conversion tools; community code pipeline and plug-ins; FLUXNET codebase; regionalized processing options.

Activity 3: In pursuit of case studies to monitor progress in accessibility and utilization, provide early feedback and allow course corrections the DIC will work closely with all Committees. Case studies that translate scientific discovery and technological advances into immediate societal benefits are strongly encouraged, including but not limited to: carbon sequestration and offsets; monitoring and optimization of global warming potential, water use efficiency, and other integral metrics; calibration and validation of satellite and model products for regulatory purposes; bio-meteorological monitoring and intervention; environmental intelligence incl. early warning systems and insurance for heat, water, etc. impacts; water stress monitoring and irrigation scheduling; quantification and control of industrial emissions.
While the DIC cannot provide funding, it will actively promote synergies with ongoing grants and young investigators, as well as the development of new grants for Activities 1-3. It is envisaged that the DIC will be ideally positioned to apply for competitive funding calls from the FLUXNET Community Council, for example to support international travel and workshop organization.

Expectations of participants:
DIC members are expected to co-lead and/or be actively involved in preparing and interpreting community surveys, software solutions, developing workshops and grants, and coordination incl. with other Committees and the FLUXNET Community Council.
The full DIC shall meet at least quarterly or more often as needed. Meetings can take place via conference call, webinar, or other electronic medium, and meeting times will accommodate different time zones. Ad hoc meetings or consultations with subsets of the DIC may also be conducted as needed to progress work elements.

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