Semantic e-Science

Jim Gray described e-Science as where “IT meets scientists.” (Hey et al. 2009) Science has now fully entered this newmode of operation, which combines science, informatics, computer science, cyberinfrastructure and information technology. It has been six years since the special issue Geoscience Knowledge Representation in Cyberinfrastructure (Brodaric et al. 2009) appeared in the journal Computers & Geosciences. In the ensuing years e-Science has changed how science disciplines conduct both individual and collaborative work. It is time to once again review the state of eScience research. A special session was held at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) 2013 Fall Meeting. This special session, titled Semantically Enabling Annotation, Discovery, Access, and Integration of Scientific Data, hosted 25 presentations on current e-Science projects. We initiated this special issue by sending invitations to authors in the 2009 Computers & Geoscience special issue as well as the 2013 AGU presenters. Submission to this special issue was also open to everyone, and we were happy to have received manuscripts from authors across the world. This finalized special issue consists of 11 papers, which cover various subjects in Earth and environmental sciences, and demonstrate state-of-the-art technologies in knowledge representation, data interoperability, vocabulary and data services, and data processing.