GEOFON

Good keywords promote discovery of your data by other researchers, including from other domains.

The digital object identifiers (DOIs) produced by GEOFON are a well-known resource which already contain much metadata about each dataset. This includes subjects and keywords. These appear as <subject> elements in the DataCite XML for the data set. As we develop further, these will be used to support filtering of datasets that we host.

PI contributions

PIs are encouraged to use this capability by providing their own keywords relevant to particular datasets.

• We encourage you to use terms from a controlled vocabulary (see below) to minimise confusion about their meaning and make it easier to find your data.
• These keywords are displayed on our network (data set) home pages.

• In particular, please examine the list of SeisData terms to find one or two terms from the categories there. Terms in the following categories may be particularly helpful:

  • Deployment context
  • Geodynamic context
  • Observatory

Controlled vocabularies

A controlled vocabulary is a selected list of words or phrases ("terms") with their definitions. Using such a vocabulary allows tagging of datasets to support finding them in convenient ways.

• GCMD Instruments and GCMD Platforms.
• NASA/GCMD Earth Science Keywords, retired in 2022; see KMS and the KMS User's Guide.
• GEneral Multilingual Environmental Thesaurus (GEMET)
• Our own SeisData controlled vocabulary (under development). Draft documentation is at the SeisData web page.

GEOFON defaults

Currently (2024) we generally assign the following subjects to most datasets:

• (NASA/GCMD Earth Science Keywords) EARTH SCIENCE > SOLID EARTH > TECTONICS > EARTHQUAKES
• (NASA/GCMD Earth Science Keywords) EARTH SCIENCE > SOLID EARTH > TECTONICS > VOLCANIC ACTIVITY
• (GCMD Instruments) In Situ/Laboratory Instruments > Magnetic/Motion Sensors > Seismometers
• (GCMD Platforms) In Situ Land-based Platforms > GEOPHYSICAL STATIONS/NETWORKS
• (GCMD Platforms) In Situ Land-based Platforms > GEOPHYSICAL STATIONS/NETWORKS > SEISMOLOGICAL STATIONS
• (SeisData) MiniSEED, Passive, Seismometers, Velocity

This is not exhaustive, and we are happy to make changes after discussion with PIs. We may make changes to these keywords after data set publication to better fit in with existing keyword and subject vocabularies.

Seismic data controlled vocabulary

We are working with other groups to develop a vocabulary of terms specific to the needs of seismology.

• Seisdata draft definitions, 2023

Other sources of standard terms

• The Schlumberger Energy Glossary