Towards Globally Harmonized Environmental Datasets: a Proof of Concept Using Ecological Drought Data and the Global Ecosystem Research Infrastructure (GERI) Framework

Abstract

Global environmental challenges, such as climate change, transcend international borders, requiring a unified approach to data management and analysis. The Global Ecosystem Research Infrastructure (GERI) was founded to address this need, building relationships and establishing data sharing practices among six of the largest ecosystem research infrastructures in the world. Data harmonization is required to standardize and ingest data products from these infrastructures into a findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable (FAIR) global dataset. Harmonized global data can improve existing global climate models and inform environmental research studies. Here, we present challenges involved in data harmonization and progress to date resulting from a U.S. National Science Foundation AccelNet award. This GERI-affiliated AccelNet project focuses on harmonizing ecological drought data collected by different countries and establishing a broader network-of-networks for pursuing ambitious global-scale environmental science research. We describe the analytical pipelines and the philosophical decisions made in designing the GERI framework, as well as some of the challenges and lessons learned along the way. We also present the initial harmonized drought data products, exploring how environmental variables like soil moisture and temperature vary across the world. Future work will be focused in two areas. First, working with our colleagues at DroughtNet and the International Drought Experiment, we will further explore the implications of these global harmonized drought data. Second, we will begin global data harmonization efforts for new data products related to other research areas, primarily led by the GERI early career researcher working group.