Blueprints for Semantic Integration and AI Readiness (BITS 2.0)

While the goal for Earth System Sciences (ESS) is a seamless, machine-actionable and AI-ready data ecosystem, the reality is different. Current infrastructures are often isolated into siloed "islands" and large data “continents”, separated by inconsistent technical standards and metadata conventions - like a "data archipelago". Despite major investments from consortia like NFDI4Earth in Germany and Data Terra in France, these fragments are only loosely connected by semantic bridges, leaving the ESS community with a landscape of scattered repositories rather than a unified digital environment. To address this growing fragmentation of the ESS data landscape, the BITS 2.0 project aims to establish a Semantic Fabric for ESS. Instead of merely linking individual repositories, this approach overlays heterogeneous data holdings with an intelligent, semantic shared layer. Building on the original BITS project, which successfully established a quality-controlled hub of ESS terminologies, BITS 2.0 will develop advanced, AI-powered data annotation services combined with a sustainable, community-driven governance model. BITS 2.0 is envisioned as a trusted semantic enabler for the emerging hybrid ESS data space, providing the essential “semantic glue” required for meaningful interoperability. By transforming a fragmented infrastructure landscape into a coherent, searchable knowledge space, BITS 2.0 will support the combined use of larger and more diverse datasets to address complex Earth System research questions.