A new workshop held at USC’s Information Sciences Institute hopes to have a ripple effect throughout the geoscience Big Data community. The FROGS (Facilitating Reproducible Open GeoScience) workshop held last month drew participants from various fields within geosciences.
Examples given included, “Dannielle Fougere a paleoseismologist, is focused on understanding the behavior of the Garlock Fault in the Mojave Desert. Her research involves calculating slip rates to determine how fast the fault has been moving over time, which is crucial for understanding seismic activity in the region. Fougere explained, “Paleoseismology is not very quantitative. With techniques learned here, I’d like to add a component in my thesis that’s a bit more quantitative to solidify things for editors and reviewers.”
Victor Olawoyin, a Ph.D. student in earthquake seismology at Boston College, found the workshop particularly beneficial for learning time series analysis and improving the reproducibility of his research. “The time series analysis is crucial for interpreting seismograms. The publishing part was also really cool, as it helps in releasing data and software with better workflow,” Olawoyin said. He plans to apply these new skills directly to his Ph.D. thesis and future research projects.
Venkataramana Sridhar, a faculty member from Virginia Tech specializing in hydrology, climate change, and water resources, saw the workshop as a way to enhance both his research and teaching. “This program covered a wide range of topics from publishing to data analytics, all crucial for my research on how climate change impacts hydrology and water resources. The skills and insights gained here will be invaluable in both my classroom teachings and research endeavors,” he stated.
Sreedevi Puthiyamadam Vasu, a Ph.D. student in Atmospheric Science at the Florida Institute of Technology, found the training perfectly tailored to her research needs. “My work on seasonal and sub-seasonal prediction of precipitation relies heavily on time series analysis. The focus on Python and R was exactly what I needed to transition from proprietary software like MATLAB to open-source tools, enhancing my ability to contribute to open science.””
The workshop was hosted by LinkedEarth, a community of paleoscientists developing standards and software to enable paleoscience in the era of Big Data. This community produces data products and standards, software, cyberinfrastructure, and training opportunities. PyRATES (Python and R Analysis of Time SerieS), catered to researchers with little to no experience in computer programming
LinkedEarth originated in 2016 from the US National Science Foundation EarthCube program, to create a platform for the archival of paleoclimate datasets and standards. This has evolved towards building automated tools for analysis of these data and other tools.
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