Understanding the earth better through digital networking

31.01.2020/Kiel. Changes in climate, the threat of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, the importance of biodiversity - in researching these topics, scientists are generating huge amounts of data. These data must be processed quickly, but they must also be compatible with each other and findable. This is why the Digital Earth project was launched in June 2018. It is a collaborative project in the Helmholtz Association's Earth and Environment Divisions.

The aim of this project is to develop a concept through interdisciplinary cooperation that links all data in the Helmholtz Association's Research Field Earth and Environment across disciplinary boundaries and, in the best case, standardises data processing and handling. In this way, knowledge gained in the future can be better linked to existing data and better used and integrated in ongoing research.

This week, more than fifty natural scientists and data scientists from eight Helmholtz Centres met at the Helmholtz Centre Potsdam German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) to discuss the progress of the project at the 2nd Digital Earth Interim Meeting. "The very special about the Digital Earth project is that we really live multi- and interdisciplinary; through these meetings we bring together colleagues with extensive expertise from all research divisions of earth and environmental sciences with data sciences in order to approach a scientific issue", explains Jens Greinert from GEOMAR and scientific coordinator of the project.

A further milestone for the Digital Earth project is the organisation of a summer school. This event aims to increase awareness of young Earth scientists on how relevant the exchange between data and Earth is. The Summer School will take place in Gummersbach, Germany at the end of September. "The concept of this summer school is an important step towards implementing the awareness of the 'next generation' for the necessity of integrating data science in the natural and environmental sciences", emphasizes Doris Dransch, GFZ. Further information on the summer school can be found at (https://www.digitalearth-hgf.de/de/summer-school).
 

Link: 

https://www.digitalearth-hgf.de/de Digital Earth