Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP) is a community of data and

information technology Information technology (IT) is a set of related fields within information and communications technology (ICT), that encompass computer systems, software, programming languages, data processing, data and information processing, and storage. Inf ...

practitioners that come together to coordinate Earth science

interoperability Interoperability is a characteristic of a product or system to work with other products or systems. While the term was initially defined for information technology or systems engineering services to allow for information exchange, a broader de ...

efforts. Participation in ESIP allows members to enhance their

data management Data management comprises all disciplines related to handling data as a valuable resource, it is the practice of managing an organization's data so it can be analyzed for decision making. Concept The concept of data management emerged alongsi ...

capabilities. ESIP arranges collaboration through in-person meetings and virtually through

collaboration Collaboration (from Latin ''com-'' "with" + ''laborare'' "to labor", "to work") is the process of two or more people, entities or organizations working together to complete a task or achieve a goal. Collaboration is similar to cooperation. The ...

space on the Web. Partners use these forums for knowledge exchange and collaboration. Created by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

in 1998, ESIP was formed in response to a National Research Council recommendation calling for the involvement of community stakeholders in the development of NASA’s EOSDIS as a critical element of the

U.S. Global Change Research Program The United States Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) coordinates and integrates federal research on changes in the global environment and their implications for society. The program began as a presidential initiative in 1989 and was codified b ...

(http://www.gcrio.org/USGCRP/LaJolla/cover.html). ESIP is currently sponsored by

NOAA The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA ) is an American scientific and regulatory agency charged with forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, charting the seas, conducting deep-sea exploratio ...

and the

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an government agency, agency of the United States Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geograp ...

, and includes more than 120 member organizations. ESIP membership includes federal data centers, government research laboratories, research universities, education resource providers, technology developers, and nonprofit and commercial enterprises.

History

ESIP is a community drawn from agencies and individuals who provide handling for Earth and environmental science data and information. ESIP was founded in 1998 by NASA in response to a National Research Council (NRC) review of the Earth Observation System Data and Information System (EOSDIS). The NRC called on NASA to develop a new, distributed structure that would be operated and managed by the Earth science community that would include those responsible for all elements of

Earth observation Earth observation (EO) is the gathering of information about the physical, chemical, and biosphere, biological systems of the planet Earth. It can be performed via remote sensing, remote-sensing technologies (Earth observation satellites) or throu ...

, including observation, research, and ultimately, application and education. Beginning with 24 NASA-funded partners, ESIP's purpose was to evolve methods to make Earth science data easy to preserve, locate, access and use by

research Research is creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge. It involves the collection, organization, and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness to ...

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

, and commercial interests. NASA developed the ESIP Federation by starting with a set of working

prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototype ...

projects called ESIPs, representing both the research and applications development communities. These prototype projects were joined by nine NASA data archive centers to form the core of the early ESIP Federation and were responsible for creating its governing structures and the collaborative community it is today. By 2001, the ESIP Federation created a

non-profit corporation A nonprofit corporation is any legal entity which has been incorporated under the law of its jurisdiction for purposes other than making profits for its owners or shareholders. Depending on the laws of the jurisdiction, a nonprofit corporation ma ...

called the Foundation for Earth Science (Foundation). Through a Memorandum of Understanding with the ESIP Federation, the foundation provided management support to the ESIP Federation as it moved from an operational prototype to an independent organization. In 2002, Foundation staff were hired to support the work of the ESIP Federation. The foundation helped create operating policies for the ESIP Federation and facilitated the development of its first strategic plan, adopted by the ESIP Federation’s Assembly in 2004. NOAA’s

data center A data center is a building, a dedicated space within a building, or a group of buildings used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunications and storage systems. Since IT operations are crucial for busines ...

s joined the ESIP Federation. Beginning in July 2007 in

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the List of municipalities in Wisconsin by population, second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 269,840 at the 2020 Uni ...

, a Strategic Planning Working Group was formed to develop a new vision of the ESIP Federation in its second decade. The ESIP Federation’s partner organizations include all

, NASA and

Earth observing data centers, government research laboratories, research universities, modelers, education resource providers, technology developers, nonprofits and commercial enterprises. In 2009 and 2010 new ESIP Federation communities formed around data preservation and

stewardship Stewardship is a practice committed to ethical value that embodies the responsible planning and management of resources. The concepts of stewardship can be applied to the environment and nature, economics, health, places, property, information ...

information quality Information quality (IQ) is the quality of the content of information systems. It is often pragmatically defined as: "The fitness for use of the information provided". IQ frameworks also provides a tangible approach to assess and measure DQ/IQ in a ...

, and

data visualization Data and information visualization (data viz/vis or info viz/vis) is the practice of designing and creating Graphics, graphic or visual Representation (arts), representations of a large amount of complex quantitative and qualitative data and i ...

Partners

ESIP is made up of more than 170 partner organizations that span NASA, NOAA, EPA, USGS and DOE research-funded groups. ESIP's partners represent earth science data and technology interests. There are four types of partners; Type I includes Data Centers, Type II are data and information product providers, Type III are commercial and non-commercial organizations that develop tools for Earth Science and Type IV are the funding providers, NASA, NOAA and USGS. A full listing of ESIP Partners is at the organization'
website

Interests

Technology :*Semantic technologies :*Cloud Computing :*Web Services :*Metadata :*Standards :*Emerging technologies :*Modeling Science :*Atmospheric :*Climate :*Terrestrial :*Oceanography :*Hydrology :*Environmental :*Geology :*Ecology Applied science :*Air quality :*Water resources :*Natural disasters :*Carbon management

Activities

* Visualization programs * Standardized QA/QC processes * Standardized metadata initiatives * Educational outreach to provide public school teachers with quality science units * Semantic web and ontology development * Energy and climate initiatives

References

*National Academy Press (1995). A Review of the U.S. Global Change Research Program and NASA’s Mission to Planet Earth/Earth Observing System. http://www.gcrio.org/USGCRP/LaJolla/cover.html *http://wiki.esipfed.org/images/9/95/StrategicPlan_2009-2013_FINAL.pdf {{DEFAULTSORT:Federation Of Earth Science Information Partners (Esip Federation) Earth sciences organizations Earth sciences software infrastructure organizations International scientific organizations Climate change organizations based in the United States Meteorological organizations Scientific organizations based in the United States Scientific organizations established in 1998 1998 establishments in the United States