The proposed project will demonstrate the applicability and utility of a Environmental Digital Observatory (EDO) design whose components are currently being developed by the Hydrologic Information System (HIS) group of CUAHSI for use by both the CLEANER and CUAHSI communities. While the 4 components of the EDO system have been identified (Environmental Digital Library (EDL), Environmental Observations Database (EOD), Digital Environment-Shed (DES), Environmental Analysis System (EAS)), only some of the components are currently in a state to be deployed in a beta-testing mode, most notably the EDL and to some extent the DES. Because of the complexity of the system components it is impossible to produce a roll-out product that would meet all the expectations from the start. Hence, it is crucial that these components are put to a test in a test-bed environment to investigate how the components behave, what pieces are missing, what additional developments need to be carried out, and most importantly whether they are effective for the purpose they were designed. Because of the envisioned scope in funding and time as well as the availability and current state of the developments, this project will focus on the first of the components (the EDL), which constitutes the base layer upon which all of the other components rest. Objectives: The objectives are to: (1) test and demonstrate the usefulness of a EDL for inclusion in the EDO as applied to nutrient fluxes in both the Susquehanna River Basin (SRB) and Chesapeake Bay (CB) for which a data gap analysis will be performed (2) demonstrate the feasibility of using existing CI components (EDO from CUAHSI and CyberCollaboratory from CLEANER) to meet a merged and overlapping science agenda as demonstrated on the SRB/CB test-bed, and (3) further develop and extend existing components as well as provide feedback on the design and functionality of CI components to the technology partners at SDSC and NCSA. Methodology: To accomplish these objectives an instance of the EDL will be installed at Drexel University. Together with the project partners representing an upstream Hydrologic Observatory region and a downstream Environmental Observatory region, we will identify and collect as many nutrient data as is possible and currently available for these regions for inclusion in the EDL. While the population of the EDL in the first step will require substantial effort to further develop current CI components (appropriate metadata tags and tools for creating instantiations) we will conduct a data gap analysis in the upstream region for missing or insufficient data. The gap analysis will be carried out using a statistical modeling tool (SPARROW), which will yield predictions that can be compared to existing data sets. The quality or match of these comparisons will be an indicator for the overall quality of the data sets as far as their temporal and spatial coverage is concerned. This is an important step towards an improved knowledge on the fluxes, stores, and pathways of water as well as nutrients within the SRB and the receiving waters of the CB. Intellectual merit: This project would be the first effort to investigate how hydrologists and environmental engineers can make use of the suite of technical support applications currently under development. This is a crucial step in further developing CI for the environmental and hydrology communities by providing feedback in a beta-testing mode. In addition, the use of the CyberCollaboratory prototype will allow the project team to test a collaboratory system while executing a research project as well as generate valuable information on how well the system can be used for the purpose of supporting observatory science and design. Both systems are IT cornerstones for a shared CI between and CUAHSI and CLEANER and as such must be evaluated before being released to the communities. Broader impacts: Besides the impact this project will have on the CI development for hydrologic and environmental engineering communities in identifying future research needs, it will also address the educational sector. One of the major goals of both communities is to bring water related data and tools into the class room as well to i) better train the future workforce on issues related to water, and ii) to expose them to aspects of information technology that could place future professionals at the interface of water and IT, an educational goal that has been identified by the NSF Blue Ribbon Advisory Panel on Cyberinfrastructure as being one of the most pressing educational needs of the future.
