INTERDISCIPLINARY EARTH DATA ALLIANCE (IEDA): A MODEL FOR A COLLABORATIVE DATA FACILITY THAT ENHANCES COMMUNITY-DRIVEN DATA SERVICES IN THE SOLID EARTH SCIENCES

The vision of digital and data-driven Geosciences can only be realized if it creates a comprehensive data infrastructure that will make data across all domains discoverable and persistently accessible for re-use in a scientifically meaningful manner and interoperable with data from other domains. Many Geoscience domains, particularly the many small ‘long-tail’ data communities in the Solid Earth Sciences, remain underserved with respect to data infrastructure, lacking sustained data services with domain-specific data standards and following international repository practices for persistent storage, identification, and access to the data. Some of these communities are served by databases that provide highly valuable resources and often lay the foundation for community-based data standards, but do not operate according to standards for digital data repositories with respect to curation procedures, reliability, and persistence.

In order to enhance data resources of these smaller data communities, broaden integration of Geoscience domains into EarthCube, and advance both interdisciplinary and discipline-specific data science, the IEDA Data Facility is creating a multi-institutional, interdisciplinary alliance of data providers that share common data services. IEDA started in 2009 as a partnership of the Marine Geoscience Data System and EarthChem, serving complementary, yet distinct communities in the solid Earth sciences with domain-specific services and tools for the complete data life cycle. Integrating additional data communities that scientifically complement IEDA’s scope increases economies of scale for the operation of shared infrastructure; helps to align metadata, vocabularies, and workflows across data systems; enhances community access to resources; and provides interdisciplinary perspectives for data analysis and visualization tools. Effective use of social science tools and methods will ensure the successful development of the ‘alliance model’, identifying and aligning collective interests and defining the framework in which the Alliance will operate. Common and integrative data services of the Alliance will take advantage of the newest approaches developed within EarthCube to ensure that all resources of Alliance partners are brought into the EarthCube framework.