The GeoLink Modular Oceanography Ontology

GeoLink is one of the building block projects within EarthCube, a major effort of the National Science Foundation to establish a next-generation knowledge infrastructure for geosciences. As part of this effort, GeoLink aims to improve data retrieval, reuse, and integration of seven geoscience data repositories through the use of ontologies. In this paper, we report on the GeoLink modular ontology, which consists of an interlinked collection of ontology design patterns engineered as the result of a collaborative modeling effort. We explain our design choices, present selected modeling details, and discuss how data integration can be achieved using the patterns while respecting the existing heterogeneity within the participating repositories.