ESIP Federation at the GEO Plenary, 11-12 November 2015, Mexico City, Mexico

Abstract: 

The ESIP Federation will be represented by Peter Fox, ESIP President, Erin Robinson, Executive Director and Rebecca Fowler, Director of Communications at the GEO Plenary, November 11-12, 2015. 

 

Technical Reports: 

Statement by Peter Fox, President of the Federation of Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP Federation)

Thank you, and good morning.

The Federation of Earth Science Information Partners, known as the ESIP Federation, seeds innovation, develops best practices and advances technologies across broad-based, distributed communities of science, data and information technology practitioners. The ESIP Federation’s status as a leading United States-based collaboration network and neutral convener has made it the go-to place to forge consensus on emerging data-related topics.

The ESIP Federation was created by NASA in 1998 in response to a recommendation from the National Research Council, and it has a history of leadership and service to the international Earth observations and geospatial communities. I would like to highlight some of the recent ways in which the ESIP Federation community has contributed to the success of GEO, with a focus on climate change, disaster response and resilience, and Earth science data stewardship.

A strength of the ESIP Federation is building collaborations among those who wish to contribute their expertise to resolving common problems in Earth science data. The strongest of these collaborations is the ESIP Energy and Climate Working Group, which fosters connections, both technical and interpersonal, among policy and decision makers, climate change experts, energy data providers, decision support tool providers and end users. Their current discussions include ways to make NASA and NOAA satellite and model data and tools available to communities for planning sustainability and emergency preparedness.

The ESIP Federation is also engaged in improving response to natural disasters through the ESIP Disaster Lifecycle Cluster, which formed in 2014. This group facilitates the identification and testing of ESIP member data sets, such as those from the NOAA, NASA and U.S. Geological Survey Earth observing data centers, that may be certified as trusted data sources for agencies and organizations responding to disasters. In order to accomplish this goal, a Collaborative Common Operating Picture was established, which provides a platform for sharing vital geospatial data in a collaborative environment. This allows for connections and collaborative sessions among ESIP Federation member data providers and potential users who support disaster lifecycle and end user communities.

The ESIP Federation’s Data Stewardship Committee has worked to improve data practices on a number of fronts for many years. For example, the committee developed Data Citation Guidelines, which are now referenced in the author instructions of the journals of the American Geophysical Union; their use provides credit for data producers and repositories. Most recently, through work initiated by NOAA’s Data Maturity Matrix, the ESIP Data Stewardship committee is developing a uniform metric for assessing the state of curation—access, preservation, utility for purpose, etc—that will work across all types of Earth science data repositories, providing users an easier time determining what data is suitable for their needs and repositories understand the current state of any given data set.

These are just a few examples of the valuable contributions the ESIP community has made to GEO’s objectives. I look forward to continuing ESIP Federation support for GEO and congratulate GEO on its progress and the collaborative environment that GEO promotes.
Thank you.