Appendix B:
Data Portal Examples
Below are some examples of existing web portals to earth
science data. Where known, the names of the funding and supporting agencies and
institutions are given.
This list was initially compiled
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Earth Reference Data and Models
The EarthRef.org portal provides access to data
describing the geochemical make-up of all earth reservoirs. It serves, for
example, databases compiled as part of the Geochemical Earth Reference Model
(GERM) project. The portal is coordinated and hosted by researchers at Scripps
Institution of Oceanography (SIO), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL),
and San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC). (No mention is made of funding source on the site.)
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Global Change Master Directory
NASA’s Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) allows
topical data searches of more than 3000 datasets, including those for oceanography,
atmosphere, biosphere and paleoclimate. Users can also search for services such
as data analysis, visualization and metadata handling tools, model downloads,
and educational resources. The portal is maintained by Goddard Space Flight
Center. GCMD is the American Coordinating Node of the Committee on Earth
Observation Satellites (CEOS) International Directory Network (http://idn.ceos.org/).
.
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MARGINS and RIDGE 2000 Data Portals
http://www.marine-geo.org/margins/
http://www.marine-geo.org/ridge2000/
These
data portals provide access to cruise information and data collected during
MARGINS- and Ridge 2000-funded projects. They include mapping and gridding utilities. Access to these data portals is through
the Marine Geoscience Data Management System at Lamont Doherty Earth
Observatory (LDEO). Funding is provided by NSF. (Note: On their web site, Ridge
2000 refers to their data portal as the “Ridge 2000 Open Data Exchange System,”
or RODES.)
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Marine Environmental Data Inventory (MEDI)
MEDI
contains an inventory of world-wide marine-related datasets within the UNESCO
Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission’s International Oceanographic Data
and Information Exchange program (IODE, http://iode.org/).
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National Geospatial Data Clearinghouse
This
portal allows access to 100 spatial data servers for digital geographic data
for use in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), image processing systems, and
other software. This is an initiative of the Federal Geographic Data Committee,
a 19-member
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NOAAServer
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/NOAAServer/
NOAAServer provides access to NOAA’s
nationally distributed environmental information databases.
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NOAA/PMEL Live Access
Server (LAS)
http://ferret.pmel.noaa.gov/Ferret/LAS/ferret_LAS.html
The
Live Access Server is a portal that provides access to a growing number of
geo-referenced climate data systems, including NODC’s
World Ocean Data Base, the National Virtual Ocean Data System, Pacific Fisheries
Environmental Laboratory, the NGDC coastal bathymetry and topography data, and NOAA,
NASA, Navy, DOE, LDEO, NERC, CNRS and CSIRO model output. The LAS is funded by
NOAA and is operated primarily by personnel at NOAA’s
Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL, http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/).
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Ocean Biogeographical Information System
(OBIS)
OBIS
provides taxonomically- and geographically- resolved data on marine life and
oceanography, access to physical oceanographic data at regional and global
scales and software tools for biogeographic analysis.
OBIS is supported by The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation,
NSF, ONR and the U.S. National Oceanographic Partnership Program (http://www.nopp.org/). It is hosted by the
Rutgers University Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences (http://marine.rutgers.edu/).
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Petrological Database of the Ocean Floor (PetDB)
PetDB, a
Ridge2000-sponsored program, provides access to geochemical and petrological data of igneous
and metamorphic rocks from the ocean floor generated at
spreading centers. Funding is provided by NSF. The portal is operated by LDEO
and the database is hosted by
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SedCore 2000
http://www.whoi.edu/corelab/explore/index.html
This
portal provides access to an inventory of, and data related to, the sample
collection of the Seafloor Samples Laboratory of Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution (WHOI). The SC2000 portal is funded by NSF
Ocean Sciences funding for WHOI core lab operations.
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SIO Explorer
This
portal provides access to data, documents and images from “822 expeditions of
the Scripps Institute of Oceanography (SIO) since 1903.” Funding is provided through
the NSF National Science Digital Library program (http://www.nsdl.org/)
and the NSF Information Technology Research program (http://www.nsf.gov/home/crssprgm/itr/).
The portal is a collaborative effort among SIO researchers,
computer scientists from SDSC, and archivists and librarians from the
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The GCDIS web site provides access to data, news releases,
publications and educational resources from the U.S. Global Change Research
Program.
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The
A growing number of the data deposited in the National and World
Data Centers are accessed by portals such as the NOAAServer,
NOAA/PMEL Live Access Server, GCDIS and PetDB. Other
data may be accessible for now only through the individual data center web sites.
National Data Centers
Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN): http://ciesin.org
Earth Resources Observation Systems (EROS)
National Climatic Data Center (NCDC): http://lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov
National
Earthquake Information Center: http://neic.usgs.gov
National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC): http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov
National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC): http://www.nodc.noaa.gov
National Snow & Ice Data Center (NSIDC): http://nsidc.org
National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC): http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov
World Data Centers
There are
more than 50 centers in the World Data Center System, each funded and
maintained by the host country. The World Data Center
System web site is maintained by NOAA's
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