Calling all Sediment Experimentalists

Everyone knows that the image below is a false depiction of the downtrodden physical experimentalist, because laboratory experiments are wonderful and exhilarating (especially after the tenth try when you finally obtain the desired data).



(1) Following up on the EPSP town hall and Gilbert Club discussions at the recent AGU meeting, and* in order to spread, share, and preserve the joy of laboratory experiments and their results*, we propose to gather the community in an effort to document and publish data practices and data tools for laboratory experiments in geomorphology, sediment transport, and stratigraphy.

(2) With the growing number of experimental labs and the precedent set by other geoscience communities (e.g. seismology (IRIS), geochemistry (GfG), oceanography (MGDS), and many others), this is an excellent time to organize and thereby accelerate the progress of successful laboratory experimental data collection, analysis, and publication.

(3) Such an effort will only succeed with broad community participation and feedback. No doubt there are plenty of informal interactions already, let's attempt to advertise all of these existing efforts and collaborate with larger initiatives (e.g. CSDMS, NCED, U.S. agencies, the international community, and many others) to reach the widest possible audience.

If you are interested in participating, advising, leading, or even just learning, please reply to this email (lhsu@ldeo.columbia.edu) and join in. We will let you know more about the near-term plans.

Thank you for your attention!

Leslie Hsu (Lamont-Doherty, lhsu@ldeo.columbia.edu)
Wonsuck Kim (UT Austin, delta@jsg.utexas.edu)
Brandon McElroy (U Wyoming, bmcelroy@uwyo.edu)