Abstract
Earth scientists collect, store, manage, process, and organize data about the different components of the Earth system, and about natural and simulated processes.The transition from data to information is achieved through computation, visualization, and other processes that make the data more meaningful to the scientists.All of these activities require information systems, which include people such as IT personnel and scientists who can interpret the data, databases that allow storage and management of data, and software and other information technologies that can process and display the data in meaningful ways.In addition to designing, implementing, and maintaining the information system, informaticists and domain scientists apply existing knowledge to interpret the new information, which may help them to discover new knowledge.Earth science informatics, as a specialized branch of informatics science, creates and processes information about the Earth system, to allow conceptualization, design, modeling, and implementation methodologies for the management, processing, and representation of the information and knowledge about the Earth.More specifically, Earth science informatics applies informatics science to study the structure, composition, function, production, environment, and interactions of different components of information systems, including people, that develop theoretical and conceptual models (e.g., an ontology, database schema), or store, process, manage, and convey information and knowledge about the Earth system.