NATIONAL PETROLEUM RESERVE, ALASKA, LEGACY DATA ARCHIVE

The National Petroleum Reserve, Alaska (NPRA), has been explored for oil and gas resources since the early 1900’s, and a variety of geological and geophysical information has been generated. The last major exploration program ran from 1974 to 1982, and resulted in more than 12,000 line miles of seismic data and data from 28 exploratory wells, at a cost of almost $1 b dollars in public funds. The physical volume of data and information generated by this exploration program presented significant problems of storage, distribution, and use. Furthermore, data were in danger of loss because of the deterioration of the recording media from age or damage to single copies. The NPRA Legacy Data Archive, part of the National Energy Research Seismic Library (NERSL), was formed to address the problems of storage and preservation of these data, as well as improving public access. Using Compact Disc—Recordable (CD-R) and DVD—Recordable (DVD-R) technologies, robotic CD-R / DVD-R jukeboxes, and the Internet, these data and associated information, virtually non-existent because of storage and distribution problems, are now available 24 hours per day, seven days a week, to anyone having Internet access.