Climate Science Domain Ontology

FLOW ALGEBRA
TITLE: Climate Science Domain Ontology
DOMAIN: Domain Ontologies / Earth & Environmental Domains / Climate Science
SOURCE: https://kirethresearch.org/booksai-core/ontologies/domain-ontologies/earth-environmental-domains/climate-science-domain-ontology.html
VERSION: 1.0
AUTHORS: Mark Anthony Higgins — Sky (Recursive AI)
STATUS: Companion formalisation; source-page specification not independently verified.

flow "ClimateScienceDomainOntology" v1.0 {
  ontology:
    id: "climate-science-domain-ontology"
    parent: "earth-environmental-domains"
    purpose: "Represent climate systems, drivers, observations, models, impacts and uncertainty with evidence-backed relationships."

  types:
    ClimateSystem: {id: string, component: enum[atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere, land, biosphere, coupled], region: string?}
    ClimateVariable: {id: string, name: string, unit: string, spatial_scale: string?, temporal_scale: string?}
    ClimateDriver: {id: string, kind: enum[greenhouse_gas, aerosol, solar, volcanic, land_use, internal_variability, other]}
    ClimateProcess: {id: string, kind: string, mechanism: string?}
    Observation: {id: string, variable_id: string, value: number, unit: string, time: string, region: string, uncertainty: number?, provenance: string}
    ClimateModel: {id: string, model_type: string, scenario: string?, version: string, assumptions: string[], provenance: string}
    Projection: {id: string, model_id: string, variable_id: string, period: string, scenario: string, uncertainty: string?, provenance: string}
    Impact: {id: string, affected_system: string, indicator: string, period: string?, region: string?}
    Relationship: {id: string, subject: string, predicate: string, object: string, context: string?, confidence: number, evidence: string[]}

  predicates:
    influences(driver: ClimateDriver, process: ClimateProcess)
    affects(process: ClimateProcess, variable: ClimateVariable)
    observed_in(variable: ClimateVariable, system: ClimateSystem)
    measured_by(variable: ClimateVariable, observation: Observation)
    simulated_by(system: ClimateSystem, model: ClimateModel)
    projects(model: ClimateModel, projection: Projection)
    impacts(process: ClimateProcess, impact: Impact)
    coupled_with(a: ClimateSystem, b: ClimateSystem)
    supported_by(relationship: Relationship, observation: Observation)

  constraints:
    - "All relationship endpoints must resolve to compatible typed entities."
    - "Confidence must lie within [0, 1]."
    - "Measurements require units, temporal scope, spatial scope and provenance."
    - "Distinguish observations, reanalyses, model simulations and projections."
    - "Projections must identify model version, scenario and time horizon."
    - "Distinguish weather events from long-term climate statistics."
    - "Correlation or temporal precedence alone does not establish causation."
    - "Do not assume all climate relationships are transitive or symmetric."
    - "Do not treat model agreement as independent empirical confirmation."

  inference:
    rule coupling_symmetry:
      if coupled_with(a,b) and symmetric_coupling_context(a,b)
      then coupled_with(b,a)
      confidence: "retain original evidence and context"
    rule observation_support:
      if measured_by(v,o) and valid(o) and consistent_units(v,o)
      then evidence_for(v,o)
      confidence: "condition on uncertainty and observational quality"
    rule projection_traceability:
      if projects(m,p) and valid(m) and valid(p)
      then traceable_projection(p,m)
      confidence: "retain scenario and model assumptions"
    rule impact_hypothesis:
      if influences(d,p) and impacts(p,i) and independently_supported(d,p,i)
      then candidate_impact_path(d,i)
      confidence: "do not infer established causality from a path alone"

  SEMANTIC_EQUIVALENCE:
    - "Normalise climate variable names against versioned scientific vocabularies."
    - "Preserve distinctions between anomaly, absolute value, trend and variability."
    - "Require compatible units, baselines, regions and periods before equating observations."
    - "Keep scenario identifiers and model versions distinct."

  CONFIDENCE:
    range: [0,1]
    factors: [measurement_uncertainty, sampling_coverage, model_skill, scenario_assumptions, source_reliability, independent_replication]
    policy: "Do not increase confidence solely by chaining inferences or counting correlated models."

  VALIDATION:
    - "Check units, baselines, time periods, spatial resolution and provenance."
    - "Verify scenario and model version consistency."
    - "Flag unsupported causal attribution and mismatched uncertainty intervals."
    - "Preserve competing hypotheses and unresolved uncertainties."

  FLOW_HASH:
    algorithm: "SHA-256"
    input: "canonicalised ontology version, typed assertions, inference rules and provenance"
    note: "Compute hash at execution; no hash value is claimed here."

  UPDATE_MODEL:
    strategy: "versioned, provenance-preserving incremental update"
    steps: [ingest, normalise, validate, compare, reconcile, recompute_inferences, publish]
    rollback: true

  AI_CONSUMPTION:
    representation: "typed climate knowledge graph with evidence-backed edges"
    outputs: [entity_links, climate_relationships, observational_evidence, scenario_projections, uncertainty_annotations, provenance_records]
    safeguards: [no_unsupported_causal_claims, preserve_units_and_baselines, distinguish_observation_from_projection, retain_uncertainty]
}

END FLOW ALGEBRA