SUPPORTING SCIENCE WITH GEOINFORMATICS

Geoinformatics (GI) has established itself as the platform for a new paradigm in how Geoscience research is conducted. The recognized relevance of GI as part of the broader cyberinfrastructure is growing, both within the community and funding agencies. Cyberinfrastructure is envisioned as comprehensive, highly integrated, interactive digital environment that functionally supports research communities in terms of expertise, data, information, communication, tools, and instruments. Data acquisition, data management, data assessment and modeling are at the heart of cyberinfrastructure in the Geosciences. We will showcase major digital data collections for the Earth and Ocean Sciences, including geochemical databases (PetDB, EarthChem), data systems for paleontology and sedimentary geology (GeoStratSys, SedDB), the Ridge2000 and MARGINS data collections and marine seismic databases in the Marine Geoscience Data System, the sample registry SESAR, and data visualization tools such as CoreWall and GeoMapApp.