Daily Bulletin

NSF NCAR Data Commons Final Stretch!

August 22, 2025
Updated: August 27, 2025

The NSF NCAR Data Commons efforts have all entered their final phases. This cross-lab effort is transforming how we manage, integrate, and share data: enabling AI/ML readiness, interdisciplinary collaboration, and long-term scientific discovery.

What’s happening? 

The Climate Data Gateway (CDG) and legacy Geoscience Data Exchange (GDEX) have been consolidated into a modernized, infrastructure-reinforced Research Data Archive (RDA).

  • On Aug 25th, the DASH and RDA help desks will merge into the NSF NCAR Research Data Help Desk (datahelp@ucar.edu| datahelp.ucar.edu), which will be monitored by Data Engineering and Curation Services staff. Legacy tickets and emails have been migrated to retain history.
  • On Aug 27, legacy CDG and GDEX will be retired as all data is now available in the unified RDA.
  • On Sep 9, 2025, the RDA will officially relaunch as NSF NCAR’s Geoscience Data Exchange – Integrated Research Data Commons (GDEX), complete with rebranding, updated websites, new data access paths (e.g., /gdex/data/<dataset>), and updated file naming conventions.

Why is it important? 

The Data Commons makes scientific data more accessible, integrated, and analysis-ready:

  • Consistent access for all researchers
  • Seamless support for AI/ML and advanced workflows
  • FAIR, resilient, and certified infrastructure
  • Data-proximate compute on NCAR systems (Derecho, Casper, CIRRUS)
  • Streaming and remote delivery options for broader community access
  • AI-ready, accessible data management that opens the door for many other NSF NCAR wide initiatives
  • This shift improves discoverability: both NSF NCAR compute users and external researchers will gain easier, more consistent access through direct read or streaming options.

What’s Next? 

Following the September relaunch, the team will continue to expand GDEX capabilities, including:

  • Improved user experience and data curation tools (guided by Lab Data Curator feedback)
  • Enhanced programmatic search and integration with LLM-powered UIs
  • Development of AI-optimized datasets and published example workflows (e.g., Pythia cookbooks)
  • New Science Gateway(s) to streamline data exploration and analysis
  • Integration of additional NSF NCAR curated datasets, starting with prioritized EOL and HAO collections

For more information, please see our project page. For inquiries, please contact Doug Schuster.

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This material is based upon work supported by the National Center for Atmospheric Research, a major facility sponsored by National Science Foundation and managed by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.