Integrating sample management and semantic research-data management in glaciology

The flexible open-source research data management toolkit CaosDB is used in a diversity of fields such as turbulence physics, legal research, maritime research and glaciology. It is used to link research data and make it findable and retrievable and to keep it consistent, even if the data model changes.

CaosDB is used in the glaciology department at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven for the management of ice core samples and related measurements and analyses. Researchers can use the system to query for ice samples linked to, e.g., specific measurements for which they then can request to borrow for further analyses. This facilitates inter-laboratory collaborative research on the same samples. The system helped to solve a number of needs for the researchers, such as: A revision system which intrinsically keeps track of changes to the data and in which state samples were, when certain analyses were performed. Automated gathering of information for the publication in a meta-data repository (Pangaea). Tools for storing, displaying and  querying geospatial information and graphical summaries of all the measurements and analyses performed on an ice core. Automatic data extraction and refinement into data records in CaosDB so that users do not need to enter the data manually. A state machine which guarantees certain workflows, simplifies development and can be extended to trigger additional actions upon transitions.

We demonstrate how CaosDB enables researchers to create and work with semantic data objects. We further show how CaosDB's semantic data structure enables researchers to publish their data as FAIR Digital Objects.