Research Data Repositories
Data repositories serve as centralised platforms for storing, organising, and sharing research data in a structured and accessible way. They accommodate a wide range of data types—from field observations and sample descriptions to satellite products and simulation outputs—offering Earth scientists an effective means of managing their research data. Many repositories are maintained by professional data curators, who ensure that datasets are properly organised, preserved for the long term, and remain accessible for reuse.
A variety of repositories specialise in Earth System Science data and prominet examples are listed at the 'Example Implementation' section of this article (see below). In addition, the NFDI4Earth KnowledgeHub aggregates datasets in Earth system science (ESS) from multiple data repositories. To support discovery, users can take advantage of the OneStop4All, which provides a unified entry point for finding relevant repositories and data. Another article from the Living Handbook on the topic of ‘What are repositories?’ deals with this topic in greater depth and is available here.
Example Implementation:
- OneStop4All
- PANGAEA
- DKRZ-ESGF
- NWIS - National Water Information System
- EROS - Earth Resources Observation and Science Center
- re3data