Member Highlight: NCAR

The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) is a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) devoted to service, research and education in the atmospheric and related sciences. NCAR’s mission is to understand the behavior of the atmosphere and related physical, biological and social systems; to support, enhance and extend the capabilities of the university community and the broader scientific community – nationally and internationally; and to foster transfer of knowledge and technology for the betterment of life on Earth. NCAR has been curating and sharing community scientific data collections for decades, and the volume and delivery of these collections are both in the petascale realm. The National Science Foundation is NCAR's primary sponsor, with significant additional support provided by other U.S. government agencies, other national governments and the private sector.

Interesting Project:

In 2011, members of NCAR and its parent organization, the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), created an internal data citation committee. The group, which meets on a bi-monthly basis, has been investigating and developing effective practices for identifying and citing data sets in consistent ways across the organization’s many data archives. In the initial phases, two technical reports were published that provide recommendations for implementing data citations [link to 2012 technote, http://dx.doi.org/10.5065/D6ZC80VN], and higher-level guidance on understanding the key issues and challenges that data citations present [link to 2013 technote, http://dx.doi.org/10.5065/D6PZ56TX]. NCAR and UCAR groups are now assigning Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) to data sets, software packages, and other types of resources, and promoting their use as citable identifiers by resource users. NCAR is also participating in the ESIP Data Preservation and Stewardship cluster’s discussions on this topic.

Why we participate in ESIP:

Tools and data in the earth sciences have continued to grow in volume, diversity and complexity. In response to this trend, national efforts such as NSF’s EarthCube initiative have strongly supported efforts toward convergence of cyberinfrastructure, tools and data services to best meet future scientific challenges and enhance data accessibility. NCAR is involved with EarthCube across the range of current activities (design, building blocks, RCN’s, and governance). We want to promote and take part in the idea that enhanced development in cyberinfrastructure areas can be realized through partnerships with other agencies and organizations in order to continue to meet these evolving needs in a resource limited environment. It is envisioned that NCAR and its community would benefit strongly from these collaborations as the nation converges its cyberinfrastructure in order to address grand challenges in the geosciences. We also feel that ESIP provides an excellent forum and community for data, software and cyberinfrastructure professionals that is unmatched in the context of our scientific fields.

Link: http://www.ncar.ucar.edu
Type: II
Joined: 2012
ESIP Voting Rep: Mike Daniels