| Title | StreamChemDB: development of a web-accessible database of stream chemistry for U.S. Forest Service Experimental Forests and National Science Foundation Long-Term Ecological Research sites |
| Publication Type | Conference Proceedings |
| Year of Publication | 2012 |
| Authors | Greathouse, EA, Johnson, SL, Henshaw, D, Sebestyen, SD, Rhoades, CC, McDowell, WH, Jones, JB, Ice, G, Argerich, A |
| Conference Name | National Water Quality Monitoring Conference, Portland, OR |
| Abstract | StreamChemDB aims to provide one-stop access to long-term stream chemistry data records and associated metadata for two national networks: the U.S. Forest Service Experimental Forests and Range (EFR) system and the National Science Foundation’s Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) sites. This proposed database builds on former LTER-EFR cyberinfrastructure projects ClimDB and HydroDB (http://www.fsl.orst.edu/climhy/), which similarly provide one-stop access to climate and hydrology data across 45 EFRs and LTERs. The project combines data sets that are currently unavailable on the web or are only accessible on disparate web sites in a variety of formats. Here we present the status of our prototype, which allows dynamic downloads of data from a relational database. The prototype contains nitrate data from four sites (Bonanza Creek Experimental Forest and LTER/Caribou-Poker Creeks Research Watershed in Alaska, H. J. Andrews Experimental Forest/LTER in Oregon, Luquillo Experimental Forest/LTER in Puerto Rico, Marcell Experimental Forest in Minnesota). Controlled vocabularies have been implemented in the database to standardize analytical and sampling methods, detection limits, analytes and units. Once completed, StreamChemDB will facilitate cross-site studies and long-term archival of EFR/LTER stream chemistry data and will be available in a format compatible with existing and emerging environmental observatories and related water quality databases, such as LTER’s Network Information System, the National Environmental Methods Index, WQX/STORET, NEON, Critical Zone Observatories (CZO program), the National Network of Reference Watersheds and the CUAHSI Hydrologic Information System. |
