With the support of RDSI, NCI is establishing the National Environmental Research Data Collection (NERDC), the first of its kind in Australia. The collection comprises more than 8 PB of data spanning national datasets in five areas:
- Earth System Science, Climate & Weather Models
- Earth & Marine Observations
- Geoscience Observations
- Terrestrial Ecosystems Observations
- Water & Hydrology Observations
By bringing these nationally important datasets together within the highly integrated data and computational environment of NCI, researchers will be able to use the data in ways that wouldn't otherwise be possible.
The confluence of the datasets will be a powerful agent in supporting advances in economic forecasting, public safety, and public policy for sustainable development.
In addition, by connecting these multidisciplinary collections together within a shared infrastructure, the NERDC will enable new, collaborative approaches to research.
The significance of the NERDC is that it is:
- Making accessible for the first time substantial collections held by national science agencies
- Complementing these with other nationally and internationally significant collections in cognate fields
- Embedding these in a rich environment of high-end computational services for analysis and knowledge discovery.
