Lake observatories

Data

People

3 Networks

Lake siteCyber-support site

1. 19 countries participating

2. More than 120 scientists

3. Most sites are developing

Lake Sunapee Photo: Midge Eliassen

• Collaboration – scientists, educators,

lake association

• Motivated by diverse interests

• Supported by diverse funding

Lake Sunapee, NH – a recent addition

GLEON Activities

Share experience, expertise, and data

Catalyze joint projects Develop tools Conduct multi-site

training Create opportunities

for students Meet and

communicate regularly

New research enabled by the “observatory” approach

• Coupling of physical and biological processes

• Role of episodic events, thresholds, and non-linear dynamics

• Source, movement, and fate of carbon in lakes and watersheds

• Lakes as “sensors” of landscape & climate change

• Future of the availability and quality of the world’s fresh water

Field station Data center

Lake siteCyber-support site

Products

Data

1. Maintain local autonomy and diversity

2. Improve global coverage and interoperability – scaling issues

3. Reduce time to science products4. Train scientists to operate in large

networks5. Transform science

1. Maintain local autonomy and diversity

2. Improve global coverage and interoperability – scaling issues

3. Reduce time to science products4. Train scientists to operate in large

networks5. Transform science

Getting there…• Science issues

– Multi-scale, multi-system– Interdisciplinary and adaptable

• Technology issues– Better, more reliable coverage– Interoperability (knowledge representation)– Data, model, knowledge integration

• Social issues– New venues for products– Training for a new network culture– Partnering with new organizations– Policy issues

Recommendations to NSF

• Reliable, world-wide network coverage– Continue promoting international

collaborations– Encourage/support access to remote areas

• Support of diverse and evolving network needs – Technology that scales– Compatibility– Flexibility