Update on the Tephra Information Portal: A FAIR Data Framework for Tephra Research

The Tephra Information Portal (TIP) is a next-generation prototype framework designed to enhance the global tephra research community's access to standardized, machine-readable, FAIR-compliant data. In collaboration with IEDA2 (EarthChem, SESAR) under the Framework for FAIR Data Communities (FFDC), TIP uses a phased approach to build on existing cyberinfrastructure (e.g., StraboSpot, GeoDIVA, TephraBase, Smithsonian GVP) to serve as an information hub for tephra data discovery, access, and use. Ongoing system implementation objectives include providing seamless assistance in selecting data repositories, ensuring consistent metadata following disciplinary standards, curating datasets within secure workspaces, and supporting advanced toolkits.

Leveraging a decade of community consensus and best practice development, TIP addresses diverse data types (physical properties, stratigraphy, geochemistry, geochronology) and data collection methods to meet interdisciplinary needs. Similar datasets are utilized in mineralogy, petrology, and sedimentology, thus making components of this project potentially transferable. By fostering collaborations and prototyping next-generation cyberinfrastructure, TIP aims to enhance future data accessibility, streamline curation, and establish a model for FAIR data frameworks across scientific disciplines.