This week I finished duplicating all of the rdfs labels into hidden label for each term within ECSO. I also worked with Margaret O’Brian on the new ENVO import. We now have new polar terms within ECSO imported from ENVO these include the terms I mentioned last week and many more. My personal favorite from this is talik, an area of unfrozen ground surrounded by permafrost. The ENVO new imports were done using the OntoFox web interface but some of the smaller import classes can be done in Protégé using the IRI from the source ontology such as those CHEBI terms mentioned last week (oxygen isotopes 16, 17 and 18). I am also creating new classes for terms that are needed for ECSO but are not currently available in any other external ontology. A few examples of these new terms are:
n-factor : the number of H+ ions replaced by 1 mole of acid in a reaction
thaw consolidation ratio : A dimensionless ratio of the rate of thaw to the rate of consolidation of the thawing soil, which is considered to be a measure of the relative rates of generation and expulsion of excess pore fluids during thaw
thawing index : the cumulative number of degree-days when air temperatures are above zero degrees Celsius
water content : The total amount of water (unfrozen water + ice) contained in soil or rock
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index : A graphical indicator used to analyze remote sensing measurements to determine the density of green on an area of land. Calculated from the distinct colors (wavelengths) of visible and near-infrared sunlight reflected by plants on the surface the NDVI is calculated using the equation: the visible and near-infrared radiation minus visible radiation divided by near-infrared radiation plus visible radiation.
Cryoturbation : the mixing of materials from various horizons of the soil down to the bedrock due to freezing and thawing in permafrost soils
These news terms will eventually be merged into the master ECSO for use on the Arctic Data Center semantics.