Below is a list of important links for projects using
Mercury. For a brief description of these projects, please go
to the Mercury
Projects page.
ORNL Distributed Active Archive
Center (DAAC)
National Biological Information
Infrastructure (NBII)
Large Scale
Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA)
Discovery, Access, and Delivery
of Data for IPY (DADDI)
Modeling and Synthesis Thematic
Data Center (MAST-DC)
USA National Phenology Network
(USA-NPN)
Carbon Dioxide Information
Analysis Center (CDIAC)
Better Air Quality for North
America (NARSTO)
IABIN Invasives Information
Network (I3N)
Inter-American Institute for
Global Change Research (IAI)
Environmental Data for the Oak
Ridge Area (EDORA)
Carbon Sequestration
(CARBONSEQ)
Global Ocean Data Analysis
Project (OCEAN)
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Mercury is a Web-based system to search for metadata and
retrieve associated data. Mercury incorporates a number of
important features. Mercury
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Invokes a new paradigm for managing dynamic distributed
scientific data and metadata
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Provide a single portal to information contained in
disparate data management systems
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Provide free text, fielded, spatial, and temporal search
capabilities
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Puts control in the hands of investigators or other data
providers
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Has a very light touch (i.e., is inexpensive to implement)
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Is implemented using Internet standards, including XML
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Supports international metadata standards, including FGDC,
Dublin-Core, EML, ISO-19115
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Is compatible with Internet search engines
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Is based on a combination of open source tools and
ORNL-developed software
The new Mercury system is based on open source and Service
Oriented Architecture and provides multiple search services
including: RSS, Geo-RSS, OpenSearch, Web Services and JSR-168
Portlets.
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Mercury has the unique capability to extract, or harvest,
metadata from HTML pages or XML files located anywhere on the
Internet. Participating in Mercury is easy for data
providers. No special software is needed by the data
provider, only a Web server on which to post files.
Mercury provides a single portal to information contained in
disparate data management systems. It collects metadata and
key data from contributing project servers distributed around
the world and builds a centralized index. The Mercury search
interfaces then allow the users to perform simple, fielded,
spatial and temporal searches across these metadata sources.
Mercury supports various metadata standards including XML,
Z39.50, FGDC, Dublin-Core, Darwin-Core, EML, and ISO-19115.
The Mercury system is based on a Service Oriented
Architecture and supports various services such as Thesaurus
Service, Gazetteer Web Service and UDDI Directory Services.
This system also provides various search services including:
RSS, Geo-RSS, OpenSearch, Web Services and JSR-168 Portlets.
Other features include: Filtering and dynamic sorting of
search results, book-markable search results, save, retrieve,
and modify search criteria.
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ORNL Distributed Active
Archive Center (DAAC)
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ORNL DAAC Archived Data
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Land Validation Data
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Regional and Global Data
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LPDAAC - MODIS and ASTER Products
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Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network
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Organization of Biological Field Stations
National Biological
Information Infrastructure (NBII)
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Metadata Clearinghouse Principal Node
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Alabama Natural Heritage Program
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Baruch Coastal Monitoring
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BRD Bibliographic Metadata Node
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California Spatial Information Library
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California Department of Fish and Game - BIOS
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California Environmental Information Catalog
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Columbia Environmental Research Center Metadata Node
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Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology - Avian Knowledge Network
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Eastern Sierra Geospatial Data Clearinghouse
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EMAN Data Set Library (Environment Canada Server)
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Fire Research and Management Exchange System (FRAMES)
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Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Data Library
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Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center Metadata Node
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Global Forest Information Service
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Great Basin Information Project
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Hawaii Biodiversity and Mapping Program
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Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium
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Millennium Assessment
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National Gap Analysis Program Metadata Node
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National Wetlands Research Center
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New Mexico Resource Geographic Information System Clearinghouse
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Natural Resource Project Inventory
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National Coastal Data Development Center
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NatureServe Metadata Node
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Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission
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Pennsylvania Spatial Data Access
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Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans
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Texas/Mexico Transboundary Metadata Clearinghouse
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Texas Natural Resources Information Systems (TNRIS)
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University of Alaska Fairbanks
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U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
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U.S. Geological Survey South Florida Ecosystem
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Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries
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Virginia Natural Resources Geospatial Clearinghouse
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Washington State Geospatial Clearinghouse Node
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World Data Center
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Wyoming Natural Resources Data Clearinghouse
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Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network
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Andrews Forest (AND) LTER Project
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Arctic (ARC) LTER Project
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Bonanza Creek (BNZ) LTER Project
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Central Arizona Phoenix (CAP) LTER Project
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Cedar Creek Natural History Area LTER Project
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Coweeta (CWT) LTER Project
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Florida Coastal Everglades (FCE) LTER Project
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Georgia Coastal Ecosystems (GCE) LTER Project
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Harvard Forest (HFR) LTER Project
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Hubbard Brook (HBR) LTER Project
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Jornada del Muerto (JRN) LTER Project
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Kellog Biological (KBS) LTER Project
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Konza Prairie (KNZ) LTER Project
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LTER Network Office (LNO) LTER Project
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Luquillo Experimental Forest (LUQ) LTER Project
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McMurdo Dry Valleys (MCM) LTER Project
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Moorea Coral Reef (MCR) LTER Project
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North Temperate Lakes (NTL) LTER Project
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Niwot Ridge (NWT) LTER Project
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Plum Island Ecosystem (PIE) LTER Project
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Santa Barbara Coastal (SBC) LTER Project
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Sevilleta (SEV) LTER Project
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Short Grass Steppe (SEP) LTER Project
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Virginia Coast Reserve (VCR) LTER Project
Large Scale
Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA)
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Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment
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Earth Science Information Partners Program
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Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research
Discovery, Access, and
Delivery of Data for IPY (DADDI)
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Canadian Cryospheric Information Network (CCIN) Data
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Center for Internation Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN)
Data
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National Snow and Ice Data Center
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ORNL DAAC Archived Data (ORNL DAAC)
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IPY data at the Global Change Master Directory (GCMD)
Modeling and Synthesis
Thematic Data Center (MASTDC)
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Thematic Data Products for NACP
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North American Data
USA National Phenology Network
(USA-NPN)
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USANPN - USA National Phenology Network
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National Biological Information Infrastructure Clearinghouse
Carbon Dioxide Information
Analysis Center (CDIAC)
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Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center
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Land Validation Data (LandVal)
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Regional and Global Data (RGD)
Better Air Quality for North
America (NARSTO)
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NARSTO Data
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NARSTO Documents
IABIN Invasives Information
Network (I3N)
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I3N Web Pages
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NBII Clearinghouse - Western Hemisphere
Inter-American Institute for
Global Change Research (IAI)
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Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research
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Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA)
Environmental Data for the
Oak Ridge Area (EDORA)
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Data for Walker Branch Watershed and Oak Ridge Area
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Remote sensing and validation data for Walker Branch Watershed
Carbon Sequestration
Project(CARBONSEQ)
Global Ocean Data Analysis
Project (OCEAN)
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OCEAN Discrete
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OCEAN Underway
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Mercury's business model is based on a consortium of users
(projects) who share general costs and share the benefits of
development funded by all participants. Users share the cost of
hardware maintenance and upgrades, software maintenance and support,
tool development, engineering, and operations.
Naturally, some projects would also pay for certain extras, such as
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unique project development requirements;
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unusually high use of resources, including disk space and network
bandwidth
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direct support or training of data providers.
To become a Mercury Consortium partner, please contact Bruce Willson
(wilsonbe[at]ornl.gov)
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The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)
Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) for
Biogeochemical Dynamics is operated by the ORNL
Environmental Sciences Division (ESD)
as part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA)
Earth Science Enterprise (ESE)
program. The ORNL DAAC archives data and model products related
to biogeochemical dynamics which are the result of the
interactions between the biological, geological, and chemical
components of the Earth's environment.
As components of the Earth Observing System (EOS)
Data Information System (EOSDIS),
DAACs generate EOS standard data products and carry out NASA's
responsibilities for data archival, distribution, and
management. Many of these sites also carry related data products
that pre-date EOS.
DAACs and
affiliated data centers have home pages and FTP sites for
transfer of information and data.
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The National Biological
Information Infrastructure (NBII) is a broad, collaborative
program to provide increased access to data and information on
the nation's biological resources. The NBII links diverse,
high-quality biological databases, information products, and
analytical tools maintained by NBII partners and other
contributors in government agencies, academic institutions,
non-government organizations, and private industry. NBII
partners and collaborators also work on new standards, tools,
and technologies that make it easier to find, integrate, and
apply biological resources information. Resource managers,
scientists, educators, and the general public use the NBII to
answer a wide range of questions related to the management, use,
or conservation of this nation's biological resources.
The NBII Program is managed by the U.S. Geological Survey's
Biological Informatics Office.
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The Large-Scale Biosphere Atmosphere Experiment in
Amazonia (LBA) is a cooperative international
project led by Brazil. The Brazilian Ministry of Science and
Technology - MCT - is responsible for the policy management of
LBA. The National Institute for Amazonian Research - INPA - is
responsible for the scientific coordination of the experiment
and for its implementation. Created through an international
cooperative agreement, LBA has important institutional
relations, including ties with over 40 Brazilian institutions,
25 institutions from various Amazonian countries, as well as
institutions from the US and 8 European nations.
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Discovery, Access, and Delivery of Data for IPY (DADDI) is a NASA-supported project to improve the availability of Arctic coastal data.
Our goal is to develop a system that can be readily extended to support the International Polar Year (IPY).
DADDI is a collaborative project between NSIDC, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center
for Biogeochemical Dynamics (ORNL DAAC), the Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC) at Columbia University,
and the Canadian Cryospheric Information Network (CCIN). We are also collaborating with the International Permafrost
Association's Arctic Coastal Dynamics (ACD) project and the interagency Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH).
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The Modeling and Synthesis Thematic Data Center (MAST-DC) is a
component of the data system of the North American Carbon Program
(www.nacarbon.org) data system designed to support NACP by providing
data products and data management services needed for modeling and
synthesis activities.
The overall objective of the proposed MAST-DC is to provide data
management support to NACP investigators and agencies performing
modeling and synthesis activities. Based on specific requirements
established by NACP, we will provide data products for modeling and
synthesis in consistent and uniform grids, projections, and formats.
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The USA National Phenology Network (USA-NPN) is a collaborative program involving multiple U.S. agencies and interested organizations to create a coordinated network of phenological observations and tools for working with phenological data.
Phenology (the study of periodic plant and animal life cycle events and how these are influenced by seasonal and interannual variations in climate) can be used as a predictor for a variety of processes and variables of importance at local to global scales. Phenology modulates the abundance and diversity of organisms, their inter-specific interactions, their ecological functions, and their effects on fluxes in water, energy, and chemical elements at various scales. Phenological data and models are useful in agriculture, drought monitoring, and wildfire risk assessment, as well as management of invasive species, pests, and infectious diseases. Integration of spatially-extensive phenological data and models with both short and long-term climatic forecasts offer a powerful agent for human adaptation to ongoing and future climate change.
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The Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC) is the primary climate-change
data and information analysis center of the U.S. Department of Energy
(DOE). CDIAC is located at DOE's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)
and includes the World Data Center for Atmospheric Trace Gases.
CDIAC's data holdings include records of the concentrations of carbon
dioxide and other radiatively active gases in the atmosphere; the
role of the terrestrial biosphere and the oceans in the
biogeochemical cycles of greenhouse gases; emissions of carbon
dioxide to the atmosphere; long-term climate trends; the effects of
elevated carbon dioxide on vegetation; and the vulnerability of
coastal areas to rising sea level. CDIAC provides data management
support for major projects, including the AmeriFlux Network,
continuous observations of ecosystem level exchanges of CO2, water,
energy and momentum at different time scales for sites in the
Americas; the Ocean CO2 Data Program of CO2 measurements taken aboard
ocean research vessels; DOE-supported FACE experiments, which
evaluate plant and ecosystem response to elevated CO2 concentrations,
and NARSTO, which assesses ozone and fine particle processes in the
troposphere over North America.
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The
NARSTO partnership is a non-binding, tri-national
public/private alliance, open to science agencies, regulatory
agencies, regulated industries, academic institutions,
environmentalists, and public interests groups in Canada, Mexico and
the United States. The NARSTO mission is to plan, coordinate,
and facilitate comprehensive, long-term, policy-relevant scientific
research and assessment of primary and secondary pollutant species
emitted, formed, transformed, and transported in the troposphere
over the North American continent. The current emphasis is directed
toward the study of ozone, particulate matter, and their precursors.
To accomplish this mission, NARSTO provides a cross-organization
planning process that determines the most effective strategies for
scientific investigation, and establishes and maintains effective
communication channels with the policy, control technology, and
health and ecological effects communities.
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The Inter-American
Biodiversity Information Network is an Internet-based forum
for technical and scientific cooperation that seeks to promote
greater coordination among Western Hemisphere countries in the
collection, sharing, and use of biodiversity information
relevant to decision-making and education. IABIN is an
initiative of the Summit of the Americas on Sustainable
Development and was mandated as Initiative 31 of the
Action Plan resulting from the December 1996 Summit in Bolivia.
The Inter-American Committee on Sustainable Development (CIDS)
of the Organization of American States endorsed IABIN in a
resolution passed in October 1999. Thirty-four countries in the
Americas have designated official IABIN Focal Points to
coordinate national efforts to implement the network. The U.S.
Geological Survey is the U.S. Focal Point for IABIN. The
IABIN Council comprises the official national
Focal Points as well as representatives from interested
inter-governmental organizations and initiatives. The
Executive Committee guides the operations of IABIN and
executes the policy decisions of the Council.
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The IAI is an inter-governmental organization supported by 19
countries in the Americas dedicated to pursuing the principles of
scientific excellence, international cooperation, and the full and
open exchange of scientific information to increase the understanding
of global change phenomena and their socio-economic implications.
Image
With the recognition for the need to better understand the natural
and social processes which drive large scale environmental change,
the IAI encourages interactive exchanges between scientists and
policy makers. The goal of the IAI is to augment the scientific
capacity of the region and to provide information in a useful and
timely manner to policy makers. Its primary objective is to
encourage research beyond the scope of national programs by
advancing comparative and focused studies based on scientific issues
important to the region as a whole.
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Walker Branch Watershed
is located on the U. S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge
Reservation near Oak Ridge, in Anderson County, Tennessee. The
watershed consists of two subcatchments with a total area of
approximately 100 ha. The climate is typical of the humid southern
Appalachian region. The forest soils are acidic, very cherty,
infertile, and permeable. They are formed over dolomitic bedrock, but
retain little evidence of their carbonate parent material. The forest
vegetation is primarily oak-hickory with scattered pine on the ridges
and mesophytic hardwoods in the valleys. The Walker Branch Watershed
Project began in 1967 under sponsorship of the U. S. Atomic Energy
Commission (now the U. S. Department of Energy). Initially, the
project centered primarily on the geologic and hydrologic processes
that control the amounts and chemistry of water moving through the
watershed. Past projects have included:
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U. S. Department of Energy funded studies of watershed hydrology
and forest nutrient dynamics,
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National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration funded studies of
forest micrometeorology,
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studies of atmospheric deposition under the National Atmospheric
Deposition Program,
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the International Biological Program Eastern Deciduous Forest Biome
Project,
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National Science Foundation sponsored studies of trace element
cycling and stream nutrient spiraling, and
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Electric Power Research Institute funded studies of the effects of
acidic deposition on canopy processes and soil chemistry.
These projects have all contributed to a more complete understanding
of how forest watersheds function and have provided insights into
the solution of energy-related problems associated with air
pollution, contaminant transport, and forest nutrient dynamics. This
is one of a few sites in the world characterized by long-term,
intensive environmental studies.
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The
Carbon sequestration refers to the provision of long-term storage of carbon in the terrestrial biosphere, underground, or the oceans so that the buildup of carbon dioxide (the principal greenhouse gas) concentration in the atmosphere will reduce or slow. In some cases, this is accomplished by maintaining or enhancing natural processes; in other cases, novel techniques are developed to dispose of carbon. DOE's Office of Science is focusing its carbon sequestration efforts on:
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Sequestering Carbon in Underground Geologic Repositories: Geosciences research related to understanding the geophysics and geochemistry of potential reservoirs appropriate for subsurface sequestration of carbon dioxide.
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Enhancing the Natural Terrestrial Cycle: Identifying ways to enhance carbon sequestration of the terrestrial biosphere through CO2 removal from the atmosphere by vegetation and storage in biomass and soils.
Current Projects
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Carbon Sequestration in the Oceans: Enhancing the net oceanic uptake from the atmosphere by fertilization of phytoplankton with nutrients, and injecting CO2 to ocean depths greater than 1000 meters.
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Sequencing Genomes of Micro-organism for Carbon Management: Sequencing the genomes of microbes that produce fuels such as methane and hydrogen or aid in carbon sequestration, to allow an evaluation of their potential use to produce, for example, methane or hydrogen from either fossil fuels or other carbonaceous sources, including biomass or even some waste products.
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CDIAC provides data management support for the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS) CO2 measurements taken aboard research vessels during World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) Hydrographic Program (WHP) cruises. WOCE is a major component of the World Climate Research Program with the overall goal of better understanding the oceans role in climate and climatic changes resulting from both natural and anthropogenic causes. The levels of CO2 in the oceans are unevenly distributed because of complex circulation patterns and biogeochemical cycles. Although CO2 was not an official WOCE measurement, a coordinated effort, supported in the U.S. by DOE, was made on WOCE cruises through 1998 to measure the global-scale and temporal distributions of total carbon dioxide (TCO2) and related parameters.
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October 17, 2008
Mercury won NASA ESDS Peer-Recognition Software Reuse Award!
view award details
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September 03, 2008
The new LBA Beija-flor search system has been released to
public, URL is
http://mercury.ornl.gov/lba
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August 15, 2008
CDIAC is now using
Mercury quick data search
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August 11, 2008
The new CDIAC search system has been released to public, URL
is
http://mercury.ornl.gov/CDIAC
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April 17, 2008
NBII World Data Center is now using RSS feed from Mercury,
URL is
http://wdc.nbii.gov/portal/server.pt
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March 25, 2008
The new NBII Clearinghouse system has been released to
public, URL is
http://mercury.ornl.gov/nbii
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January 15, 2008
http://daac.ornl.gov/ is
now using Mercury for quick data search
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January 11, 2008
Released the Beta version of NBII Clearinghouse
http://mercdev3.ornl.gov/nbii3/
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November 29, 2007
The new ORNL DAAC Mercury has been moved to production, URL
is
http://mercury.ornl.gov/ornldaac
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Mercury Presentation Slides
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The following individuals directly contributed to
the design, development, or adaptation of the new Mercury.
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Giri Palanisamy
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Jim Green
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Ranjeet Devarakonda
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Bruce Wilson
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Chris Lindsley
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Tim Rhyne
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please send an email to mercury-support[at]ornl.gov
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