Today, 4TU.ResearchData has published the completed version of its report on the use of the NetCDF format. NetCDF is a numeric format used within the climate and atmospheric sciences and oceanography, and comprises over 90% (in terms of both size and DOIs) of the data held in 4TU.RD's archive.
Main conclusions are:
· That the creators and users of the netCDF data stored in 4TU.ResearchData represent heterogeneous research communities within the Earth sciences.
· Creators have different views and attitudes to data archiving and data publishing, and store netCDF datasets with very different spatio-temporal characteristics in the archive.
· Any new and current netCDF services continue to be relevant to these communities will require taking this diversity into account.
· A need for training and guidance – particularly on data management aspects related to documentation, metadata standards and conventions – is the common thread uniting these communities. This will provide the way forward for 4TU.ResearchData to build a community of data depositors and users.
The report, written by Egbert Gramsbergen and Maria Cruz, is available on Zenodo at https://zenodo.org/record/1465950
4TU.ResearchData offers data archiving for researchers from the 4TU federation and beyond. To upload data, please visit https://researchdata.4tu.nl/en/publishing-research/uploading-data/