Scientific Workflow Approach (Kepler) for Carbon Flux Data Processing

Scientific workflow systems have become a necessary tool for many applications, enabling the composition and execution of complex analysis. CO₂ flux data observed by eddy covariance technique is large in quantity and the procedure of flux data is complex, scientific workflow technique plays a very important role in the sharing, reusing and automatic calculation of flux data processing method. In this paper, we discuss the feasibility and validity of applying scientific workflow technique to flux data processing and make a tentative approach to construct a scientific workflow system for CO₂ flux data processing by taking Kepler scientific workflow system as the development platform. CO₂ flux data of Changbai Mountain in 2003 is used to verify the scientific workflow system. The results show that scientific workflow system for CO₂ flux data processing can solve many problems of too much multifarious calculation, inconsistent development platform and complicated procedure in flux data processing. This approach indicates that the scientific workflow system applied to CO₂ flux data processing can provide an automatic calculation platform for flux data processing and prompt the communication and sharing of international flux data processing method, which make it easier for scientists to focus on their research and not computation management.