Advancing Arctic research and education through data preservation and reuse at the Arctic Data Center

Data and scholarly products from Arctic research spanning natural and social sciences are fundamental to addressing coupled socio-environmental challenges in the Arctic. The Arctic Data Center advances research and education by preserving, documenting, and disseminating the results of Arctic research from National Science Foundation awards. This repository is the primary archive for data, software, and scholarly products from researchers complying with the open data directives from the Office of Polar Programs.

The Arctic Data Center will broadly engage the Arctic research community with extensive data curation support services, effective communications and engagement, and new services that increase research productivity and capacity. By preserving, documenting, and disseminating NSF-funded data, the Arctic Data Center will amplify the Foundation’s investments in Arctic research.

During the next five years, the Arctic Data Center will operate a reliable, secure, and feature-rich data management platform that is certified by CoreTrustSeal and preserves datasets that follow the FAIR principles: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable. The previous phase of the Arctic Data Center preserved over 5,988 datasets totaling 37 terabytes from thousands of researchers; in the second phase (2021-2026) the Arctic Data Center team expects that archive to grow to 2.5 petabytes due to field-based remote sensing, high-resolution model output, high-frequency sensor networks, and programs like MOSAiC and Navigating the New Arctic.

Activities will focus on four areas: 1) securely operating a reliable data management platform to preserve and disseminate Arctic data, while extending it with a scalable microservices-based architecture; 2) building storage capacity and data ingestion and data dissemination systems to handle up to 2.5 petabytes of new data; 3) providing first-class support for lab-based and project-based data management with a robust data curation services; and, 4) enriching systems supporting data integration and reuse across disciplines.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.