Reflecting back on 2024, the Arctic Data Center (ADC) has experienced a lot of growth that is fostered by the research community. Much of our work has come with navigating large numbers of data uploaded to the repository, growing training and educational needs from the researcher community, and the cultivation of collaboration within our team and partners. We would like to acknowledge the work produced by our team and collaborators that have promoted a culture of innovation. As we dive into a new year, we are excited to continue growing the repository and the Arctic research community.

By the Numbers

Our project data coordinators processed over 300 datasets spanning a wide range of diverse research disciplines. From oceanography to economics, our data coordinators and interns help Arctic researchers restructure and better curate their metadata so it remains reusable and accessible by future generations. In addition, we had the opportunity to process large data packages for researchers and only anticipate for these occurrences to increase as more needs in geospatial data develop. One of our largest published datasets in 2024 was a contribution by Patrick Burns, Erik Husby, David Shean, and Scott Goetz, who utilized innovative remote sensing methods to provide coverage for NASA’s Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE). Learn more about this dataset here.

Additionally, our cyberinfrastructure team has released various enhanced improvements and features to our frontend and backend interface, strengthening our overall infrastructure. In 2024, we rolled out 6 MetacatUI releases which improved how datasets and our interactive search interface talk to each other on the repository and portals. Many of those releases can be broken down one by one through our developer notes. Check them out for more information! These enhancements reflect the innovative tools and improvements the ADC is continually rolling out for the benefit of the Arctic research community.

Moments That Mattered

Early winter through the beginning of spring is typically a busy time preparing and running our data science training workshops, and 2024 was no exception! We welcomed a total of 66 Arctic researchers to our data science training workshops this year. Usually, we host three different trainings that are both in-person and virtual, but this year we were fortunate to add a fourth to our list thanks to our collaborators on the Cyber2A project. This course was held in October and brought exciting energy with the focus on leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) as tools to further Arctic research projects. It was an exciting topic to delve into and we’ll continue to expand in 2025. Read more about the event on the Cyber2A blog.
Justin Kadi, a project data coordinator for the ADC, spends much of his time curating data for Arctic researchers submitting new datasets to the repository. In September, there was an opportunity for him to visit Utqiagvik (Alaska’s North Slope) for about a week to connect with community members and leaders. This was special as Kadi got to learn from the community and the land he often curates data from. He gave an overview to the local community and leaders in the GIS planning office of the ADC’s services and features for accessing Arctic and archiving data. This further led to a discussion about how the relevant data in the ADC could be helpful to the community in their planning efforts and how they might be able to store their data. Outreach efforts as such leave a profound mark on our team and further build connections with the Arctic researcher and local community.
Our Science Advisory Board (SAB) was re-awakened this year with new and returning faces after a break during the pandemic. In September, our team and SAB gathered to collaborate and discuss ways in which the ADC can improve our systems, services, and tools. Looking into the future we’d love to further improve the repository and leverage our SAB to do so. We’re excited to meet in person for the first time since before COVID-19 shook up in-person collaboration. We appreciate our board’s patience and understanding, but more importantly their commitment to serving our community. We plan to open a call for nominations for new SAB members later this year. Keep your eyes peeled!

Community and Collaboration

We’ve been lucky to collaborate with the Permafrost Discovery Gateway (PDG) on a number of initiatives, mainly the mapping permafrost across the Arctic on our portal making system. We helped the project publish more of their integral datasets which also serve as data layers on the portal. Through our work together, the portal has become a free integral tool in understanding how climate change is affecting permafrost thaw in the Arctic landscape. In May, former ADC data scientist Juliet Cohen joined the PDG team in Fairbanks, Alaska to engage more with the local community and learn more about the ongoing research on the ground. During the An Evening at the Museum with the Permafrost Discovery Gateway event at the Museum of the North in Fairbanks, Cohen connected with local community members and researchers, showing them how useful the interface can benefit both the public and the future of science. Read more about this event in this media coverage by Woodwell.

In addition, last spring we released our community survey, which collected 140 anonymized responses from Arctic researchers and/or ADC community. The feedback from the survey made us look inward and re-evaluate our prioritized initiatives for the future of the ADC. Learn more about the valuable insights from the community on our blog.

In the spirit of community, we are expanding our ADC media presence over to BlueSky and would love for more of our followers to join us. Check out our profile! Please note we will continue all other regular mediums we have been using over the years as well.

Looking Forward

At the ADC, we understand that the future of the repository is exponentially growing and the importance for co-production in the data management, sharing, and use of data is dire. Therefore, we are looking forward to new opportunities in 2025!

This March we will be at Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW) in Boulder, Colorado hosting a session focused on how open access data repositories can be convergence points for researchers, data scientists, policy makers, and Arctic communities. In collaboration with the International Science Council and the Arctic Institute of North America, we aim to identify ways in which Arctic data can be reimagined in the next decade of Arctic research. For more information about our session, visit the ASSW program. We look forward to seeing members of the community join us.

Additionally, we are excited for another round of data science trainings this winter and look forward to connecting with the Arctic researcher community. We hope to have a successful time and once the workshops have conceded, all of the learning materials will be made available, as we have done in the past. If you are interested in joining us for one of our future workshops, we will open registration for the 2026 workshops later this fall.

As we dive into 2025, we have a wide range of new ideas and working diligently behind the scenes to enhance the repository. We intend to continue support for all NSF-funded Arctic research products while implementing the valuable feedback shared by the Arctic research community.

Written by Angie Garcia
Community Engagement and Outreach Coordinator, Arctic Data Center