Data reporting formats
Make your data more Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) using guidelines and templates developed by ESS-DIVE and our project partners. Consistent data formatting and descriptions enable both machines and humans to more readily understand and reuse valuable data both now and in the future. Read our paper on the development process of the ESS-DIVE reporting formats (Crystal-Ornelas et al., 2023).
Reporting formats are data standards developed by ESS-DIVE and project partners to standardize metadata and data files of data types commonly collected by DOE ESS projects. These reporting formats will be used to enable synthesis across datasets on ESS-DIVE.
Quick Start Checklist
Use our Reporting Format Checklist to incorporate ESS-DIVE reporting formats in your scientific workflows.
Access metadata and data templates and instructions
Visit our ESS-DIVE Workspace on GitHub and our documentation page to find out more about our reporting formats. There you will find guidelines, templates, and tools for each data reporting format.
| File or (meta)data type | Status |
| CSV Files | Ready for use |
| File Level Metadata | Ready for use |
| Samples – Identifiers and metadata | Ready for use |
| Model data archiving guidelines | Ready for use |
| 16S amplicon sequencing | Ready for use |
| Leaf gas exchange | Ready for use |
| Soil respiration | Ready for use |
| Hydrologic monitoring | Ready for use |
| Water quality / soil samples | Ready for use |
| Locations Metadata | Ready for use |
| Package Level Metadata | Ready for use |
| Unoccupied Aerial Systems | Ready for use |
A roadmap to FAIR data in ESS-DIVE
The figure below illustrates the workflow data contributors can follow to adhere to existing data reporting formats. The blue boxes (A) depict reporting formats (CSV, sample identifiers, locations metadata, and model data guidelines) that can be combined with other domain-specific formats where relevant. The orange boxes (B) describe domain-specific reporting formats and the purple box (C) describes file-level metadata that should be provided for each file in the data package that is uploaded to ESS-DIVE.
Provide Feedback
To provide feedback on any of the formats we recommend visiting our ESS-DIVE Workspace on GitHub. From there, select the format you would like to submit feedback on, and click on the “issues” tab along the top of the reporting format’s page. You can submit a new issue using one of our issue templates that help ESS-DIVE organize updates to the data reporting formats. If you would prefer to submit your feedback over email, please contact the ESS-DIVE support team at ess-dive-support [at] lbl.gov.