Aggregated Data: Environmental Monitoring and Observations Effort 2010-present

This collection contains aggregated metadata on environmental monitoring and observing activities from three Australian national research infrastructures (NRIs): biodiversity survey events from the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA), marine observations collected by the Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS), and site-based monitoring and survey efforts by the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN). This dataset provides a summary breakdown of these efforts by survey topic, region, and time period from 2010 to the present.

Survey topics are mapped to an EcoAssets Earth Science Features vocabulary based on the Earth Science keywords from the Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) vocabulary, modified to use taxonomic concept URIs from the Australian National Species List (ANSL) in place of the GCMD Earth Science > Biological Classification vocabulary. ANSL categories map more readily to biodiversity survey categories, since GCMD depends on a top-level division between vertebrates and invertebrates rather than offering an animal category. The EcoAssets Earth Science Features vocabulary, including alternative keywords used in ALA, IMOS, or TERN datasets, is included in this collection.

The primary asset is aggregated_env_monitoring.csv. This contains all faceted data records for the period and supported facets related to time, space, and features observed.

Two derived assets (summary_monitoring_effort_terrestrial.csv, summary_monitoring_effort_marine.csv) further summarise the faceted data. Each is a pivot of the aggregated dataset.

vocabulary_earth_science_features.csv contains the hierarchical terms used within this asset to categorise earth science features. treeview_earth_science_features.txt provides a simpler, more readable view. keyword_mapping.csv shows the mappings between these terms and the keywords used in source datasets. The data_sources_env_monitoring.csv file includes information on the source datasets within the Atlas of Living Australia that contributed to this asset.