Recommendations for developing, documenting, and distributing data products derived from NEON data

Atkins, Jeff W.; Aho, Kelly S.; Chen, Xuan; Elmore, Andrew J.; Fiorella, Richard Pascal; Luo, Wenqi; Lombardozzi, Danica; Lunch, Claire; Manak, Leah; de Pablo, Luis X.; Myers‐Pigg, Allison N.; Record, Sydne; Qiu, Tong; Reed, Samuel; Ruddell, Benjamin; Strange, Brandon; Torrens, Christa L.; Yule, Kelsey; Richardson, Andrew D.

doi:10.1002/ecs2.70159

Title: Recommendations for developing, documenting, and distributing data products derived from NEON data

Journal Article · 22 January 2025 · Ecosphere

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.70159 · OSTI ID:2507024

^[1]; Aho, Kelly S. ^[2];

^[3];

^[4];

^[5]; Luo, Wenqi ^[6]; Lombardozzi, Danica ^[7];

^[8]; Manak, Leah ^[9];

^[10];

^[11];

^[12];

^[13];

^[14]; Ruddell, Benjamin ^[9]; Strange, Brandon ^[9]; Torrens, Christa L. ^[15];

^[16];

^[9]

USDA Forest Service, Savannah River, New Ellenton, SC (United States); Virginia Commonwealth Univ., Richmond, VA (United States)
Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States)
Salisbury University, MD (United States)
Univ. of Maryland, Frostburg, MD (United States). Center for Environmental Science
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Boulder, CO (United States); Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States)
National Ecological Observatory Network, Boulder, CO (United States)
Northern Arizona Univ., Flagstaff, AZ (United States)
Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Sequim, WA (United States). Marine and Coastal Research Laboratory
Univ. of Maine, Orono, ME (United States)
Duke Univ., Durham, NC (United States)
University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN (United States)
Univ. of Montana, Polson, MT (United States). Flathead Lake Biological Station
Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States)

The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) provides over 180 distinct data products from 81 sites (47 terrestrial and 34 freshwater aquatic sites) within the United States and Puerto Rico. These data products include both field and remote sensing data collected using standardized protocols and sampling schema, with centralized quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) provided by NEON staff. Such breadth of data creates opportunities for the research community to extend basic and applied research while also extending the impact and reach of NEON data through the creation of derived data products—higher level data products derived by the user community from NEON data. Derived data products are curated, documented, reproducibly-generated datasets created by applying various processing steps to one or more lower level data products—including interpolation, extrapolation, integration, statistical analysis, modeling, or transformations. Derived data products directly benefit the research community and increase the impact of NEON data by broadening the size and diversity of the user base, decreasing the time and effort needed for working with NEON data, providing primary research foci through the development via the derivation process, and helping users address multidisciplinary questions. Creating derived data products also promotes personal career advancement to those involved through publications, citations, and future grant proposals. However, the creation of derived data products is a nontrivial task. Here we provide an overview of the process of creating derived data products while outlining the advantages, challenges, and major considerations.

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Research Organization:: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER). Earth & Environmental Systems Science (EESS)

Grant/Contract Number:: 89233218CNA000001; AC05-76RL01830

OSTI ID:: 2507024

Report Number(s):: LA-UR--24-20255; PNNL-SA-193898

Journal Information:: Ecosphere, Journal Name: Ecosphere Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 16; ISSN 2150-8925

Publisher:: WileyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
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data licensing
derived data products
ecology
observatory science
open data

Title: Recommendations for developing, documenting, and distributing data products derived from NEON data

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