SENSOR WEB ENABLEMENT – ITS IMPACT ON CONTINUOUS DIGITAL WORKFLOWS

A major challenge for the use of scientific data is caused by the absence of continuous digital workflows:Research in the earth sciences can span several dimensions, orders of magnitude in time and space, crossing scientific domain boundaries which results in the fields' semantical richness. This research led to the accumulation of a tremendous amount of literature, data, and sample collections. So far, all the findings have been separated and under-utilised due to the absence of continuous (digital) workflows providing sustainable data management. The advent of information technology and internet-based web services has created new options to improve this situation. They offer ways to integrate literature, data and samples from the source of data in the field or laboratory, all the way to their interpretation in the literature. Yet, numerous breaks between data capture and data processing remain to be closed The Sensor Web Enablement standards currently developed by the Open Geospatial Consortium can be used to close the gaps. They provide integrative approaches to environmental monitoring and the capturing of real-time data in earth observing systems. The paradigm of Sensor Web Enablement extends beyond its application in environmental sensor networks. Its ability to model any data source or process as a sensor that takes in data and puts out processed data, in conjunction with directory and system management services, makes it a universal tool for earth science data. In this paper we look at the roles of SWE software tools provided by the Open Source Software Communities for the creation of continuous digital workflows in the earth sciences. These workflows can be used for monitoring and data capture, data processing and modelling, creation of added value chains, and new forms of publication.