Working together, the university and AWI have used their data platform PANGAEA to begin creating backups of U.S. scientific datasets. The impetus for this are threats of budget cuts under the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, which could result in the loss of valuable climate and environmental data.
“We are reacting to an urgent cry for help from the U.S. scientific community and NOAA employees,” explains Professor Frank Oliver Glöckner, who heads the PANGAEA Research Group of AWI and MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, and is a professor for Earth system data science at the University of Bremen. Our goal is not just to preserve this data, but to integrate it in PANGAEA and thereby make it publicly accessible in the long term. “This will take a while – but it will certainly provide a great benefit,” says Dr. Janine Felden, PANGAEA group leader
First Priority: Historical Data Sets on Earthquakes and Hot Springs
For now, the collaboration with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is concentrating on historical data sets pertaining to earthquakes and hot springs. Among these are the Seismicity Catalog Collection (2150 B.C. to 1996 A.D.) and the United States Earthquake Intensity Database (1638 to 1985).
“We achieved the short-term goal of safeguarding the data,” Glöckner says. However, a bigger challenge will be to prevent the impending loss of services such as data processing. “We are unable to replace these complex services right away.”
“Freely Accessible Scientific Data Provide an Essential Foundation for Research”
University of Bremen President Jutta Günther emphasizes, “Without data, there can be no research – freely accessible scientific data are essential for research and innovation worldwide. We are assuming the responsibility of preserving this knowledge for the future, and strive to increase collaborations with colleagues in the USA while uniting in opposition to anti-scientific movements.”
Professor Michal Kucera, Vice President for Research and Transfer at the University of Bremen, adds, “Science thrives on exchange and requires openness. It is therefore very concerning when political decisions threaten the long-term accessibility of foundational scientific data.”
Prof. Dr. Maarten Boersma, interim director of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), adds, “The Helmholtz community has begun discussions with political leaders to create a plan to preserve data on a larger scale.”
About PANGAEA
The Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) and the University of Bremen’s MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences host PANGAEA. Archived as an open access library, PANGAEA publishes and distributes georeferenced observational and experimental data from Earth science research. The platform guarantees long-term accessibility of data (ten years minimum) and is available for projects, institutions, and individual scientists to use.
Further Information:
Backups for the following databases have already been made.
• National Geophysical Data Center / World Data Service (NGDC/WDS): Strong motion earthquake data values of digitized strong-motion accelerograms, 1933-1994
• NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information: Seismicity Catalog Collection, 2150 BC to 1996 AD
• NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information: United States Earthquake Intensity Database, 1638-1985
• National Geophysical Data Center / World Data Service (NGDC/WDS); Berry, G; Grim, PJ et al.: Thermal (geothermal) hot springs list for the United States
Original publication
Felden, Janine; Möller, Lars; Schindler, Uwe; Huber, Robert; Schumacher, Stefanie; Koppe, Roland; Diepenbroek, Michael; Glöckner, Frank Oliver (2023): PANGAEA – Data Publisher for Earth & Environmental Science. Scientific Data, 10(1), 347, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-023-02269-x