WHAT IS THE ROLE OF THE NATIONAL GEOPHYSICAL DATA CENTER IN GEOINFORMATICS?

NOAA’s National Geophysical Data Center distributes data and information about solid earth geophysics, glaciology, marine geology, solar and terrestrial physics, and paleoclimatology. NGDC’s goal is to serve the nation by providing access to geophysical data and information. In 25 years the center has seen data distribution evolve from printed data catalogs and mailing of tapes, through online catalogs and FTP distribution, to the present state where new tools and technologies provide superb means to search for and obtain data via the Internet. Throughout this evolution, the Center has relied on vigorous partnerships with the academic community to identify the needs and priorities of a diverse user community. In the coming decade, new data streams ranging from satellite observations to seafloor swath mapping to hyperspectral imaging from aircraft offer valuable new data for scientific research. One of the challenges of the new decade is to ensure long term access to these data (understanding that many research-driven projects are of finite duration). Another challenge is to determine appropriate ways to describe and document the data with sufficient information so that the data can be discovered by users searching across distributed computer networks, and successfully used by both specialists and scientists from other fields. A final challenge is to develop new data products and information that make full use of the data, some of which will no doubt involve the integration of heterogeneous data sets. In solving each of these problems, NGDC seeks to work with scientists to identify user needs and priorities, promote the free and open exchange of scientific data, and take advantage of new technologies where appropriate.