Data Tools for the Hydrology Community: CUAHSI HydroShare

Abstract:

Domain specific data repositories, with tools for data sharing and collaboration, can be an effective mechanism for conducting domain-specific or multi-disciplinary research. For example, data collected and used by hydrologists are diverse in type and in source. Cyberinfrastructure that provides access to hydrologic data from a variety of sources and that supports data discovery, archival, and publication can improve the efficiency of the scientific process through a reduction in the effort required to build and manage data sets for various applications. Moreover, as research and applied studies become more interdisciplinary and grow in complexity and scope, efficient collaboration on multiple levels is needed to ensure transparency and trust. CUAHSI (The Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc.) hosts the domain-specific repository HydroShare, which offers tools and cyberinfrastructure for collaboration, publication, and dissemination of water science data, models, and code.

HydroShare enables sharing and publishing a broad range of water science data, apps, and models. Project-specific data sets containing multiple file types, models, and code can be stored privately or made publicly available and discoverable with a digital object identifier (DOI). Flexible metadata forms ensure that every data type can be described thoroughly and subsequently discovered. This flexibility allows for data sets large and small to be findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR). Users can manage sharing permissions on multiple levels to privately share their resources with a trusted colleague, a group, or a community comprised of multiple groups. Version control allows resources to be updated without sacrificing workflow documentation. This presentation will give an overview of the role of CUAHSI HydroShare as a domain-specific cyberinfrastructure that serves additional purposes beyond just data archival.