Earth Science Domain Ontology

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

flow "EarthScienceDomainOntology" v1.0 {
  ontology:
    id: "earth-science-domain-ontology"
    parent: "scientific-domains"
    purpose: "Represent evidence-backed Earth systems, geological, atmospheric, hydrological and environmental relationships across space and time."

  types:
    EarthSystem: {id: string, sphere: enum[geosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, biosphere, other]}
    EarthFeature: {id: string, kind: string, geometry: string?, reference_frame: string?, provenance: string}
    EarthProcess: {id: string, kind: string, start_time: datetime?, end_time: datetime?, scale: string?}
    Material: {id: string, kind: string, composition: string?, provenance: string}
    Observation: {id: string, variable: string, time: datetime, location: string?, method: string, provenance: string}
    Quantity: {value: number, unit: string, uncertainty: number?, datum: string?, reference_frame: string?}
    Model: {id: string, assumptions: string[], version: string, provenance: string}
    Relationship: {id: string, subject: string, predicate: string, object: string, confidence: number, evidence: string[], temporal_context: string?, spatial_context: string?}

  predicates:
    part_of(feature: EarthFeature, system: EarthSystem)
    located_in(feature: EarthFeature, region: EarthFeature)
    composed_of(feature: EarthFeature, material: Material)
    influences(process_a: EarthProcess, process_b: EarthProcess)
    transforms(process: EarthProcess, material: Material)
    measured_by(variable: string, observation: Observation)
    represented_by(system: EarthSystem, model: Model)
    interacts_with(system_a: EarthSystem, system_b: EarthSystem)
    precedes(process_a: EarthProcess, process_b: EarthProcess)

  constraints:
    - "All relationship endpoints must resolve to typed entities."
    - "Confidence must be within [0, 1]."
    - "Quantities require explicit units and uncertainty when known."
    - "Spatial observations require an appropriate coordinate reference system or datum when applicable."
    - "Temporal comparisons must respect timescale, dating uncertainty and observation epoch."
    - "Correlation, co-location and temporal precedence do not independently establish causation."
    - "Do not assume that influences, located_in or interacts_with are transitive."
    - "Distinguish observations, model predictions and inferred hypotheses."

  inference:
    rule system_interaction_symmetry:
      if interacts_with(a,b) and symmetric_interaction_context(a,b)
      then interacts_with(b,a)
      confidence: "preserve context and supporting evidence"
    rule geographic_containment:
      if located_in(a,b) and located_in(b,c) and compatible_geometries_and_epochs(a,b,c)
      then located_in(a,c)
      confidence: "subject to validated boundary definitions"
    rule observed_variable:
      if measured_by(v,o) and valid(o)
      then evidence_for(v,o)
      confidence: "dependent on instrument quality, sampling and provenance"

  SEMANTIC_EQUIVALENCE:
    - "Align Earth science concepts with versioned, authoritative vocabularies where available."
    - "Distinguish synonymy, similarity, taxonomic inclusion and identity."
    - "Preserve measurement units, spatial datum, timescale and observational context."

  CONFIDENCE:
    range: [0,1]
    factors: [measurement_uncertainty, sampling_bias, source_reliability, spatial_resolution, temporal_resolution, model_assumptions, replication]
    policy: "Do not manufacture certainty by chaining or combining dependent evidence."

  VALIDATION:
    - "Check entity types, unit dimensions, spatial reference systems and chronology."
    - "Verify provenance and distinguish empirical data from simulated outputs."
    - "Flag contradictory observations and unsupported causal interpretations."
    - "Retain competing scientific explanations where evidence remains inconclusive."

  FLOW_HASH:
    algorithm: "SHA-256"
    input: "canonicalised ontology version, typed assertions, rules and provenance"
    note: "Compute 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 Earth science knowledge graph with evidence-backed edges"
    outputs: [entity_links, relation_triples, observation_links, uncertainty_annotations, inferred_edges, provenance_records]
    safeguards: [no_unsupported_causal_claims, preserve_units_and_datums, distinguish_observation_from_model, preserve_uncertainty]
}

END FLOW ALGEBRA