Athens – An international team led by Dr. Stephen Kuehn, associate professor in the Environmental Geosciences Program at Concord University, and three other scientists marks another milestone in their efforts to make the world’s volcano science data openly available. reached.

In late July, their report, “Community Establishes Best Practice Recommendations for Tephra Research—From Collection to Analysis,” was published in the natural journal Scientific Data. The report is open access and free to read by anyone. You can find it online: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-022-01515-y.

The team’s work focuses on improving data practices and digital systems for researchers working with materials produced by explosive volcanic eruptions (volcanic ash and pumice, also known collectively as tephra). Volcanic ash studies play an important role in understanding past volcanic activity and its impact on climate and the environment, as well as potential hazards from current and future eruptions. Widespread ash layers from past eruptions also provide important time markers for many types of geoscience research, archaeology, and more.

“The new Nature Scientific Data report is the latest in a decade-long effort to better document volcano science data and make it open and available to all,” said Dr. Kuehn. .

The group also held the Tephra Fusion 2022 workshop earlier this year, contributed to the development of an earth science field app called StraboSpot, and co-developed a web portal hosted by the EarthChem database.

“These developments support better volcanic science and the public good,” says Dr. Kuehn.

The main organizers and first four authors of this report are Christie Wallace of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Alaska Volcano Observatory, Dr. Marcus Barsik of the University of Buffalo, Dr. Kuhn of Concord, and Dr. Andrei Kurbatov of the University of Maine. His EarthCube program at the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Geological Survey, the IAVCEI Tephrochronology Commission, and other organizations supported efforts leading to the new report.

“This is really just the foundation,” says Dr. Kuehn. “We need to build on our previous work to develop the next generation of data systems.”

One of our next efforts is already underway. Computer science students at Concord are working on building a new database system for Concord’s electron microprobe lab, which will allow other labs to adopt it in the future.

For more information on Concord University’s Environmental Earth Sciences Program, please visit https://www.concord.edu/geosci.