Environmental data for global change studies: Past and present approaches
- Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States); and others
Preserving the rich heritage of extant ecological data depends on adequate documentation, efficient storage and distribution, regular migration to evolving computer technologies, and long-term institutional support. The Environmental Sciences Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has a history of compiling, analyzing, and distributing ecological data, covering long time periods and broad spatial coverages. Examples include the Eastern Deciduous Forest Biological Data Center as part of the International Biological Program; the national Geoecology Database; and lake, stream, and watershed data for the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program.. Most of these data collections became orphans at the end of project funding. Currently ORNL manages and distributes data from three centers: the ORNL Distributed Active Archive Center for Biogeochemical Dynamics, the Carbon Dioxide Information and Analysis Center, and the Atmospheric Radiation Measurements archives World Wide Web network connections provide the scientific community easy access to these data and the centers archive their data holdings. Although individual researchers may adequately maintain their data, continuous long-term institutional support is essential to ensure ecological data will be available to global change researchers in the future.
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-84OR21400
- OSTI ID:
- 95859
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9507129-; ISSN 0012-9623; TRN: 95:004728-0126
- Journal Information:
- Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America, Vol. 76, Issue 2; Conference: 80. anniversary of the transdisciplinary nature of ecology, Snowbird, UT (United States), 30 Jul - 3 Aug 1995; Other Information: PBD: Jun 1995
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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