A common standard template for representing stable isotope results and associated metadata

Brief description

This dataset contains a common standard template for representing the metadata of stable isotope results environmental samples (e.g., soils, rocks, water, gases) and a CSIRO-specific vocabulary for use across CSIRO research activities. The templates includes core properties of stable isotope results, analytical methods, and uncertainty of analyses, as well as associated metadata such as such as their name, identifier, type, and location. The templates enables users with disparate data to find common ground regardless of differences within the data itself i.e. sample types, collections.
The standardized templates can prevent duplicate sample metadata entry and lower metadata redundancy, thereby improving the stable isotope data curation and discovery. They have been developed iteratively, revised, and improved based on feedback from researchers and lab technicians.
Use of this template and vocabularies will facilitate interoperable and machine-readable platform-ready data collections.

Lineage: CSIRO, in partnership with the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), Geoscience Australia, and the National Measurement Institute, has developed a common metadata template for reporting stable isotope results. The common template was designed to provide a shared language for stable isotope data so that the data can be unified for reuse. Using a simplified data structure, the common template allows for the supply of data from different organisations with different corporate goals, data infrastructure, operating models and different specialist skills. The common ontology describes the different concepts present in the data, giving meaning to the stable isotope observations or measurements of (isotopic) properties of physical samples of the environment. It coordinates this description of samples with standardised metadata and vocabularies, which facilitate machine-readability and semantic cross-linking of resources for interoperability between multiple domains and systems.
This is to assist in reducing the need for human data manipulation which can be prone to errors, to provide a machine-readable format for new and emerging technology use-cases, and to also help stable isotope data align with Australia public data FAIR.
In addition to the common template, the partners have developed a platform for making unified stable isotope data available for reuse, co- funded by the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC). The aim of IsotopesAU is to repurpose existing publicly available environmental stable isotope data into a federated data platform, allowing single point access to the data collections. The IsotopesAU platform currently harmonises and federates stable isotopes data from the partner agencies' existing public collections, translating metadata templates to the common template.

The templates have been developed iteratively, revised, and improved based on feedback from project participants, researchers, and lab technicians.