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The National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), an agency of the
United States government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fede ...
, manages one of the world's largest archives of atmospheric, coastal,
geophysical Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and physical properties of the Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. The term ''geophysics'' som ...
, and oceanic data, containing information that ranges from the surface of the sun to
Earth's core The internal structure of Earth is the solid portion of the Earth, excluding its atmosphere and hydrosphere. The structure consists of an outer silicate solid crust, a highly viscous asthenosphere and solid mantle, a liquid outer core whose ...
, and from ancient
tree ring Dendrochronology (or tree-ring dating) is the scientific method of dating tree rings (also called growth rings) to the exact year they were formed. As well as dating them, this can give data for dendroclimatology, the study of climate and atmos ...
and
ice core An ice core is a core sample that is typically removed from an ice sheet or a high mountain glacier. Since the ice forms from the incremental buildup of annual layers of snow, lower layers are older than upper ones, and an ice core contains ic ...
records to near-real-time satellite images. NCEI is operated by the
National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service The National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) was created by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to operate and manage the United States environmental satellite programs, and manage the data g ...
(NESDIS), an office of the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...
(NOAA), which operates under the
U.S. Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government concerned with creating the conditions for economic growth ...
. In addition to archiving data, NCEI develops products and services that make the data readily available for use by scientists, government officials, the business community, academia, non-governmental organizations, and the general public.


History

NCEI was created in 2015 from the merger of three NOAA data centers: #
National Climatic Data Center The United States National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), previously known as the National Weather Records Center (NWRC), in Asheville, North Carolina, was the world's largest active archive of weather data. Starting as a tabulation unit in New Orl ...
(NCDC) #
National Geophysical Data Center The United States National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) provided scientific stewardship, products and services for geophysical data describing the solid earth, marine, and solar-terrestrial environment, as well as earth observations from spac ...
(NGDC) #
National Oceanographic Data Center The National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) was one of the national environmental data centers operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The main NODC facility was located in Silv ...
(NODC), which includes the National Coastal Data Development Center (NCDDC) The merger, which came in response to increasing demand for environmental information, was intended to make NOAA's data more useful through the application of consistent
data steward A data steward is an oversight or data governance role within an organization, and is responsible for ensuring the quality and fitness for purpose of the organization's data assets, including the metadata for those data assets. A data steward may s ...
ship practices across all science disciplines. NCEI works with the
ISC World Data System #REDIRECT ISC #REDIRECT ISC {{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from ambiguous page ...
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to make data free and accessible.


Data and services

The NCEI archive contains more than 37
petabyte The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable unit ...
s of data, equivalent to more than 400 million filing cabinets filled with documents. NCEI offers users access to tens of thousands of datasets and hundreds of products. Data are collected by NOAA, by other agencies and departments of the U.S. government, as well as by other institutions, organizations, and governments in the U.S. and around the world. Environmental data are collected from many sources, including satellites, land-based stations, ocean
buoy A buoy () is a floating device that can have many purposes. It can be anchored (stationary) or allowed to drift with ocean currents. Types Navigational buoys * Race course marker buoys are used for buoy racing, the most prevalent form of yac ...
s, ships, remotely operated underwater vehicles,
weather balloon A weather balloon, also known as sounding balloon, is a balloon (specifically a type of high-altitude balloon) that carries instruments aloft to send back information on atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity and wind speed by means of a ...
s,
radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...
, forecasting and climate models, and
paleoclimatological Paleoclimatology (British spelling, palaeoclimatology) is the study of climates for which direct measurements were not taken. As instrumental records only span a tiny part of Earth's history, the reconstruction of ancient climate is important to ...
research. Once transmitted to NCEI, data are archived and made available for use by researchers and others in the public and private sectors. The data and products offer information about climate and weather, coasts, oceans, and
geophysics Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and physical properties of the Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. The term ''geophysics'' som ...
.


Climate and weather

NCEI offers access to climate information through a variety of reports and datasets. Climate at a Glance, an interactive tool, covers the history and trends of
precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...
and temperature for cities, states, and regions, as well as for the United States as a whole. The Regional Snowfall Index improves understanding of the regional impacts associated with
snowstorms A winter storm is an event in which wind coincides with varieties of precipitation that only occur at freezing temperatures, such as snow, mixed snow and rain, or freezing rain. In temperate continental climates, these storms are not necessar ...
in the United States. Data from
NEXRAD NEXRAD or Nexrad (Next-Generation Radar) is a network of 160 high-resolution S-band Doppler weather radars operated by the National Weather Service (NWS), an agency of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) within the United ...
, a network of 160 Doppler weather radar sites operated by the
National Weather Service The National Weather Service (NWS) is an Government agency, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weathe ...
(NWS), is archived at NCEI. NCEI issues reports analyzing weather and climate conditions and events. The Monthly Global Climate Report analyzes information from around the world to improve understanding of Earth's large-scale climate conditions. The Monthly U.S. Climate Report analyzes recent U.S. climate conditions in the context of long-term trends. For the annual Bulletin of the
American Meteorological Society The American Meteorological Society (AMS) is the premier scientific and professional organization in the United States promoting and disseminating information about the Atmospheric sciences, atmospheric, Oceanography, oceanic, and Hydrology, hydr ...
State of the Climate Report, NCEI leads an international,
peer-reviewed Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...
effort to characterize the climate of the preceding calendar year. The National Climate Assessment summarizes the science of
climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
and the impacts of climate change on the U.S. The Climate Normals, 30-year averages of temperature and precipitation that are produced once every 10 years, offer the latest standardized method of analyzing climate based on
World Meteorological Organization The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for promoting international cooperation on atmospheric science, climatology, hydrology and geophysics. The WMO originated from the Internati ...
recommendations. Paleo Perspectives, created by NCEI's Paleoclimatology team, is a series highlighting the importance of paleoclimate research. NCEI provides a variety of information about extreme events. The U.S. Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters report provides information on direct economic losses from
tropical cyclone A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...
s,
tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...
es, wildfires, floods,
drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D.  Jiang, A.  Khan, W.  Pokam Mba, D.  Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...
s, winter storms, and other events since 1980. The U.S. Drought Portal, from the National Integrated Drought Information System, offers a centralized source of drought information. NCEI’s U.S. Tornado Climatology page examines tornado activity across the United States, which is the most active tornado region in the world, with an average of 1,253 tornadoes annually. The International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship assembles the most accurate global data on tropical cyclones. The U.S. Climate Extremes tool provides information about the location and magnitudes of the highest and lowest values for temperature, precipitation, and other parameters.


Coasts

NCEI provides access to a range of data on the coastal environment. The Gulf of Mexico Data Atlas provides access to long-term physical, biological, environmental, and economic data that define the baseline conditions of
Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...
ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...
s. NCEI is the long-term archive for all NOAA coastal
tide gauge A tide gauge is a device for measuring the change in sea level relative to a vertical datum. It its also known as mareograph, marigraph, sea-level recorder and limnimeter. When applied to freshwater continental water bodies, the instrument may ...
data. Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia Watch collects and shares data on levels of
dissolved oxygen Oxygen saturation (symbol SO2) is a relative measure of the concentration of oxygen that is dissolved or carried in a given medium as a proportion of the maximal concentration that can be dissolved in that medium at the given temperature. It ca ...
in the north-central Gulf of Mexico in order to study the effects on marine life of
nutrient pollution Nutrient pollution, a form of water pollution, refers to contamination by excessive inputs of nutrients. It is a primary cause of eutrophication of surface waters (lakes, rivers and coastal waters), in which excess nutrients, usually nitrogen or ...
from
Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...
runoff. The
Harmful algal bloom A harmful algal bloom (HAB) (or excessive algae growth) is an algal bloom that causes negative impacts to other organisms by production of natural phycotoxin, algae-produced toxins, mechanical damage to other organisms, or by other means. HABs are ...
s Observing System (HABSOS) is a tool that allows environmental managers, scientists, and the public to track both current and past Gulf of Mexico blooms, sometimes known as
red tide A harmful algal bloom (HAB) (or excessive algae growth) is an algal bloom that causes negative impacts to other organisms by production of natural phycotoxin, algae-produced toxins, mechanical damage to other organisms, or by other means. HABs are ...
s, which can kill marine life, make humans sick, and damage the fishing and tourism industries.


Oceans

NCEI offers many resources related to ocean data. The
World Ocean Database Project The World Ocean Database Project, or WOD, is a project established by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC). The project leader is Sydney Levitus who is director of the International Council for Science (ICSU) World Data Center (WDC ...
(WOD), the world's largest publicly available collection of subsurface ocean profile data, contains over 25 variables including temperature, salinity, oxygen, and nutrients. The World Ocean Atlas (WOA) is an ocean climatology of objectively analyzed, quality-controlled temperature, salinity, and nutrient means, with depth, based on profile data from the World Ocean Database. The Global Ocean Heat and Salt Content product is essential for understanding and modeling global climate because more than 90% of excess heat in Earth's system is absorbed by the ocean. Extended Reconstructed Sea Surface Temperature (ERSST) is a global monthly sea surface temperature dataset, with data extending from 1854 to the present. The Ocean Carbon Data System provides access to ocean carbon data collected from around the world. The Global Temperature and Salinity Profile Programme (GTSPP), an international effort hosted at NCEI, offers up-to-date temperature and salinity data. The Blended Sea Winds dataset contains globally gridded, high-resolution ocean surface vector winds, available at intervals as frequent as every six hours. Pathfinder SST is a high-resolution, long-term climate data record of global satellite sea surface temperature, generated using Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer instruments aboard NOAA polar-orbiting satellites. NCEI works with the NOAA
Office of Ocean Exploration and Research The Office of Ocean Exploration Research (OER) is a division of the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It is run under the auspices of the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR). The Office facilitat ...
to archive and provide access to information collected by NOAAS Okeanos Explorer, NOAA’s only vessel solely dedicated to ocean exploration. Tools include the OER Video Portal, which allows users to search and access video from Okeanos Explorer and other OER-sponsored missions, and the OER Digital Atlas, a map-based portal that provides access to all data from OER-supported expeditions. The Benthic Deepwater Animal Identification Guide is a collection of high-resolution images of marine animals created from video frame grabs taken from Deep Discoverer, the Okeanos Explorer’s remotely operated vehicle. The Coral Reef Temperature Anomaly Database is a collection of data on sea surface temperature and related metrics designed to monitor the health of coral reefs, while the NOAA Deep Sea Coral Data Portal provides access to images, technical reports, and data on deep-sea coral and sponges. The Coastal Water Temperature Guide offers near-real-time water temperatures for the Great Lakes and ocean waters off the coasts of the U.S. and its territories. OceanNOMADS provides access to many years of output from ocean modeling and prediction systems.


Geophysics

NCEI also offers access to geophysical data. Bathymetric data are a particular focus. NCEI is the official distribution point for
National Ocean Service The National Ocean Service (NOS) is an office within the U.S. Department of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It is responsible for preserving and enhancing the nation's coastal resources and ecosystems along the of ...
bathymetric maps, which are topographic maps of the seafloor that assist scientific research, engineering, energy exploration, and more. Bathymetric fishing maps include data on bottom sediment types and other information that can help identify potential fishing grounds. The
GEBCO The General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO) is a publicly available bathymetric chart of the world's oceans. The project was conceived with the aim of preparing a global series of charts showing the general shape of the seafloor. Over the ...
Undersea Feature Names Gazetteer makes available the names and locations of features on the seafloor. NCEI builds and distributes high-resolution coastal digital elevation models (DEMs) that integrate ocean bathymetry and land topography and are used for coastal process modeling (which is related to the study of tsunami inundation, storm surge, sea-level rise, and more), ecosystems management and habitat research, coastal and marine spatial planning, and hazard mitigation and community preparedness. NCEI participated in a program to compile Great Lakes bathymetric data for use in research on pollution, coastal erosion, climate change, and the fishing industry. NCEI's Marine Trackline Geophysical database provides data on bathymetry, magnetics, gravity, and seismic reflection collected during marine cruises from 1939 to the present. The U.S. Extended Continental Shelf (ECS) Project is working to establish the full extent of that portion of the U.S. continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from shore. NCEI has established an archive of passive acoustic data collected from the world’s oceans, which can assist in the study of animal behavior, communication, and migration, as well as the influence of man-made noise on ocean life. Water column sonar data is used to map schools of fish and other mid-water marine organisms, as well as to monitor underwater gas seeps and oil spills. NCEI maintains archives of geomagnetic data and develops models of Earth’s geomagnetic field. The
World Magnetic Model The World Magnetic Model (WMM) is a large spatial-scale representation of the Earth's magnetic field. It was developed jointly by the US National Geophysical Data Center and the British Geological Survey. The data and updates are issued by the ...
(WMM) furthers scientific research and contributes to applications including navigation and mineral exploration, and the High Definition Geomagnetic Model (HDGM) provides magnetic field values at any point above or below the Earth's surface. NCEI archives and provides access to solar and
space environment Space environment is a branch of astronautics, aerospace engineering and space physics that seeks to understand and address conditions existing in space that affect the design and operation of spacecraft. A related subject, space weather, deals ...
al data collected from a wide range of sources, including
GOES-R GOES-16, formerly known as GOES-R before reaching geostationary orbit, is the first of the GOES-R series of Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) operated by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration&n ...
and other satellites, solar observatories, and ground ionospheric sounders, as well as from modeled space climatologies. NCEI archives data on natural hazards. The U.S. Earthquake Intensity Database contains reports for over 23,000 U.S. earthquakes dating from 1638 to 1985, while the Global Significant Earthquake Database coves 2150 B.C. to the present. NCEI maintains the data for the Deep-Ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART) program, which uses seafloor sensors to detect tsunamis and moored surface buoys to transmit the data in real-time so that warnings can be issued. The Global Historical Tsunami Database, which covers 2000 B.C. to the present, contains data on both the source of tsunamis and the locations where their effects were felt. The Significant Volcanic Eruption Database contains information on more than 500 significant eruptions, including type of volcano and last known eruption, while the Volcanic Ash Advisory Database helps ensure aviation safety and assists in the study of climatic impacts of volcanic eruptions. To address the growing threat of wildfires, the Hazard Mapping System integrates satellite images with data from automated fire-detection algorithms to display the locations of fires. NCEI also maintains a collection of photographs of natural disasters.


NCEI data users

NCEI resources are used for scientific research and commercial applications in many fields, including agriculture, forestry, marine and coastal ecosystems, tourism, transportation, civil infrastructure, energy, transportation, water resources, energy, health, insurance, litigation, and national security. For example, retail and manufacturing businesses use climate data to assess how weather has influenced past sales so they can better plan for the future. Corn farmers rely on NCEI data to decide how much fertilizer to apply. The reinsurance industry—which offers insurance to insurance companies—uses NCEI data to determine risks associated with natural disasters. Cattle ranchers use NCEI’s weekly U.S. Drought Monitor to make decisions about land management, herd size, and feed purchases. The freight railway industry uses a number of NCEI products—including Local Climatological Data, Integrated Surface Daily Database, and Global Historical Climatology Network—to predict where tracks might be blocked by landslides and to help trains avoid the path of severe storms. U.S. fishing boats use NCEI ocean and coastal data to determine where fishing conditions are most promising. The third-party weather service industry uses NCEI data to create customized forecasts and other tools to serve a wide range of clients, such as transportation companies seeking to build facilities where fog or snow is less likely to create problems.


Locations

NCEI is headquartered in
Asheville, North Carolina Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous cit ...
, with other primary locations in
Boulder, Colorado Boulder is a home rule city that is the county seat and most populous municipality of Boulder County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, making it the 12th most populous city in Color ...
;
Silver Spring, Maryland Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially unincorporated, in practice it is an edge city, with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 censu ...
; and the Stennis Space Center in
Hancock County, Mississippi Hancock County is the southernmost county of the U.S. state of Mississippi and is named for Founding Father John Hancock. As of the 2010 census, the population was 43,929. Its county seat is Bay St. Louis. Hancock County is part of the Gulfp ...
. NOAA's six Regional Climate Services Directors, which are part of NCEI, represent the Eastern, Central, Southern, Pacific, Western, and Alaska regions. They work with a broad range of partners to provide climate information specific to each region. NCEI manages the Regional Climate Center Program, which provides services through six regional offices: *
High Plains Regional Climate Center The High Plains Regional Climate Center (HPRCC) is one of the six regional climate centers in the United States. It is managed by the National Centers for Environmental Information, and operated by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln A univer ...
(Lincoln, Nebraska) * Midwestern Regional Climate Center (Champaign, Illinois) * Northeast Regional Climate Center (Ithaca, New York) * Southeast Regional Climate Center (Chapel Hill, North Carolina) * Southern Regional Climate Center (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) *
Western Regional Climate Center The Western Regional Climate Center (WRCC) is a climate research center serving the Western United States. The WRCC is one of six regional centers administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and National Centers for Environm ...
(Reno, Nevada) NCEI partners with academic and nonprofit institutions known as cooperative institutes to conduct research and perform tasks that support its mission and goals. The cooperative institutes affiliated with NCEI are as follows: * Cooperative Institute for Satellite Earth System Studies (CISESS) *
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences The Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) is a research institute that is sponsored jointly by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) and the Uni ...
(CIRES) *
Northern Gulf Institute The Northern Gulf Institute (NGI) is a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Cooperative Institute started in October 2006. It is one of 20 NOAA Cooperative Institutes (CIs). The NGI is a partnership of six academic institutions ...
(NGI)


See also

*
Earth System Research Laboratory The Earth System Research Laboratories (ESRL) is an alliance of four NOAA scientific labs, all located in the David Skaggs Research Center on the Department of Commerce campus in Boulder, Colorado. Organized under NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and ...
*
Environmental data rescue Environmental data rescue is a collection of processes, including photography and scanning, that stores historical and modern environmental data in a usable format. The data is then analyzed and used in scientific models. Historical weather inf ...
*
National Snow and Ice Data Center The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) is a United States information and referral center in support of polar and cryospheric research. NSIDC archives and distributes digital and analog snow and ice data and also maintains information abo ...
*
NOAA Central Library The NOAA Central Library is the flagship library of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) network of over 20 research libraries. It is also a selective federal depository library for United States federal government pub ...
*
Space Weather Prediction Center The Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), named the Space Environment Center (SEC) until 2007, is a laboratory and service center of the US National Weather Service (NWS), part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), loc ...


References


External links


National Centers for Environmental Information

The Value of the Data: How NCEI Supports Coral Reefs

The Value of NCEI Data: How NCEI Supports US Aviation

NOAA NCEI Data Bolster Nation’s Transportation and Logistics Sector

Weather Data: Beyond the Forecast, How NOAA NCEI Data Assist Businesses and Economy
{{Authority control Climate change organizations based in the United States Climate change assessment and attribution
Environmental Information Environmental data is that which is based on the measurement of environmental pressures, the state of the environment and the impacts on ecosystems. This is usually the "P", "S" and "I" of the DPSIR model where D = Drivers, P = Pressures, S = State ...
Geophysics organizations Oceanography Asheville, North Carolina 2015 establishments in North Carolina