A Common Ontology for Stable Isotope Data

A common ontology for stable isotope data has been created from a collaboration between the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Geoscience Australia (GA), the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) and the National Measurement Institute (NMI). These organisations also represent the principal custodians and generators of stable isotope data in Australia. The aim of this ontology is to facilitate the harmonisation and integration of disparate stable isotope datasets while retaining data integrity.

Environmental stable isotope data is commonly used to identify and trace processes and flows to understand natural, managed, and industrial systems. Environmental stable isotope data contributes to many disciplines and, as a result, has a high potential for re-use. However, due to the highly specialised analytical requirements, isotope measurements have remained nearly exclusively in the arena of research organisations. Harmonising data is difficult, datasets are complex and data volumes are growing at an exponential rate, with Geoscience Australia seeing a 550% increase in their geoscience data holdings from July 2018 to July 2024. There is a rapid uptick in tools that use ‘big data’ i.e. ‘Internet of Things’, ChatGPT, and which highlights the need to increase discoverability, accessibility and use of existing data, especially in the public sector. This common ontology for stable isotope data and associated metadata provides a methodology to harmonise stable isotope data across scientific domains and applications

This project received investment from the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC) as part of their Food Security Data Challenges program (https://doi.org/10.47486/DC103).

Citation: Nina Welti, Steph Hawkins, Kathryn Waltenberg, Cath Hughes, Jagoda Crawford, Yanfeng Shu, Regina Campbell, Alex Leslie, Athina Puccini, Christoph Gerber, Axel Suckow, Geoff Fraser, Lian Flick, A common ontology for stable isotope data, Applied Geochemistry, Volume 198, 2026, 106682, ISSN 0883-2927, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeochem.2026.106682.