Twenty-five years of the IPCC Data Distribution Centre at the DKRZ and the Reference Data Archive for CMIP data

Abstract. The Data Distribution Centre (DDC) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2022. The DKRZ (German Climate Computing Center; German: Deutsches Klimarechenzentrum) is the only remaining DDC Partner from the original group jointly managing the DDC. In spite of changes in prioritization, it has been supporting the IPCC Assessments and preserving the quality-assured, citable climate model data underpinning the Assessment Reports over these years over the long term. An active and engaged collaborative community achieved advances in data standardization, data management best practices, and infrastructure developments. These evolving standards are reflected in the activities of the DDC. The introduction of the IPCC FAIR Guidelines into the current Sixth IPCC Assessment Report (AR6) has significantly changed the role of the DDC Partner DKRZ from an independent partner for long-term data preservation into an active partner involved in the IPCC's Sixth Assessment cycle. As a result, the DDC has gained exposure and visibility, posing a challenge and an opportunity to operationalize the IPCC's FAIR Guidelines and long-term preservation approaches. While the value of DDC services has been recognized, DDC sustainability remains unresolved and is currently being discussed within the IPCC as part of a general AR6 review process to formulate recommendations for the AR7 data management.

[1]  José Manuel Gutiérrez Llorente,et al.  Memorandum of Understanding for Operation of the IPCC Data Distribution Centre , 2021 .

[2]  Nuno Carvalhais,et al.  Earth System Model Evaluation Tool (ESMValTool) v2.0 – an extended set of large-scale diagnostics for quasi-operational and comprehensive evaluation of Earth system models in CMIP , 2020, Geoscientific Model Development.

[3]  Michel Rixen,et al.  Coordinating an operational data distribution network for CMIP6 data , 2020, Geoscientific Model Development.

[4]  Martina Stockhause,et al.  The TRUST Principles for digital repositories , 2020, Scientific Data.

[5]  Bryan N. Lawrence,et al.  Documenting numerical experiments in support of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) , 2020, Geoscientific Model Development.

[6]  P. Wittenburg,et al.  FAIR Digital Objects for Science: From Data Pieces to Actionable Knowledge Units , 2020, Publ..

[7]  Robert S. Chen,et al.  Data Distribution Centre Support for the IPCC Sixth Assessment , 2019, Data Sci. J..

[8]  Martina Stockhause,et al.  CMIP6 Data Citation of Evolving Data , 2017 .

[9]  Dean N. Williams,et al.  A Global Repository for Planet-Sized Experiments and Observations , 2016 .

[10]  Erik Schultes,et al.  The FAIR Guiding Principles for scientific data management and stewardship , 2016, Scientific Data.

[11]  Veronika Eyring,et al.  Overview of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) experimental design and organization , 2015 .

[12]  Martina Stockhause,et al.  CMIP6 Data Citation and Long-Term Archival , 2015 .

[13]  Cecelia DeLuca,et al.  Describing Earth system simulations with the Metafor CIM , 2012 .

[14]  Dean N. Williams,et al.  The Earth System Grid Federation: An open infrastructure for access to distributed geospatial data , 2012, 2012 IEEE 8th International Conference on E-Science.

[15]  Martina Stockhause,et al.  Quality assessment concept of the World Data Center for Climate and its application to CMIP5 data , 2012 .

[16]  Karl E. Taylor,et al.  An overview of CMIP5 and the experiment design , 2012 .

[17]  S. Solomon.  The Physical Science Basis : Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , 2007 .