Physical Sciences & Engineering
Earth & Environmental Science Research: Data, Funders, Journals
Earth and environmental science research covers the solid Earth, water, atmosphere, ice, soils, sediments and surface processes, and it depends on shared observing networks and public archives more than on any single laboratory. In the United States, the NSF Directorate for Geosciences funds core research through Earth Sciences (EAR), Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences (AGS) and Ocean Sciences. EAR names three areas: the structure, physics and chemical evolution of Earth's interior; water, landscape and critical zone processes; and life and environments through time. In the United Kingdom, NERC is the UKRI research council for environmental science.
The data layer is largely national and open. NASA Earthdata lists 11 Distributed Active Archive Centers, NOAA NCEI says it takes in over 229 terabytes a month from more than 130 observing platforms, and USGS publishes data releases. EarthScope operates the NSF National Geophysical Facility, PANGAEA gives georeferenced datasets DOIs, and the Copernicus Climate Data Store serves the ERA5 reanalysis from 1940 to the present. Two standards recur in data management plans: the CF Conventions for NetCDF metadata, currently version 1.13, and IGSN identifiers for physical samples, managed with DataCite.
The community is organised around a few large bodies. EGU has 23 scientific divisions and supports 20 open access journals, and AGU publishes more than twenty journals. EarthArXiv and EGUsphere host preprints. A researcher or administrator should settle early which repository fits the data type and the funder, how data and samples will be identified and cited, and which preprint policy applies. Sub-fields such as seismology, hydrology, atmospheric science and geodesy have their own hubs.
Reviewed 5 November 2026 by CASRAI Editorial Board
- EGU scientific divisions(read 5 November 2026)
- EGU open access journals(read 5 November 2026)
- NSF Earth Sciences (EAR)(read 5 November 2026)
- NSF Geosciences (GEO)(read 5 November 2026)
- NSF Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences (AGS)(read 5 November 2026)
- PANGAEA about(read 5 November 2026)
- EarthArXiv(read 5 November 2026)
- NASA Earthdata(read 5 November 2026)
- CF Conventions(read 5 November 2026)
- Wikipedia: American Geophysical Union(read 5 November 2026)
- Geological Society of America(read 5 November 2026)
- USGS data(read 5 November 2026)
- EarthScope Consortium(read 5 November 2026)
- UKRI NERC(read 5 November 2026)
- IGSN e.V.(read 5 November 2026)
- Copernicus programme(read 5 November 2026)
- NOAA NCEI(read 5 November 2026)
- Wikipedia: ERA5(read 5 November 2026)
- Geological Society of London(read 5 November 2026)
- ESIP(read 5 November 2026)
Field at a glance
Journals
- EGU open access journals
- EGU supports 20 interactive, peer-reviewed open access journals, including Solid Earth, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics and The Cryosphere.Website ↗
- AGU journals (Eos, GRL, JGR, Reviews of Geophysics, Water Resources Research)
- Wikipedia lists the magazine Eos and more than twenty peer-reviewed AGU journals, five fully open access; the AGU site itself returned 403.Website ↗
- Lyell Collection (Geological Society of London)
- The Geological Society's online collection of its journal, Special Publications and key book series.Website ↗
Societies
- European Geosciences Union divisions
- EGU has 23 scientific divisions, from Atmospheric Sciences to Tectonics and Structural Geology, and holds Europe's largest annual geoscience General Assembly.Website ↗
- American Geophysical Union (AGU)
- Founded 1919; Wikipedia reports about 62,000 members in 137 countries in 2018 and an AGU Fall Meeting held every December.Website ↗
- Geological Society of America (GSA)
- Society founded 1888 that runs GSA Connects and Section Meetings and publishes the open access monthly GSA Today.Website ↗
- Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP)
- Nonprofit of about 170 partner organisations, sponsored by NASA, NOAA and USGS, with about 30 collaboration areas on shared Earth science data problems.Website ↗
Funders and programmes
- NSF Directorate for Geosciences (GEO)
- GEO Core supports foundational research on the atmosphere and near-Earth space, Earth's interior and surface processes, and ocean science; special initiatives follow agency priorities.Website ↗
- NSF Earth Sciences (EAR)
- Funds work on Earth's interior; water, landscape and critical zone processes; and life and environments through time.Website ↗
- UKRI Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
- The UKRI research council for environmental science; its page lists opportunities and a section on research centres, facilities and resources.Website ↗ · Our guide →
Archives, facilities and data
- PANGAEA
- Open access data publisher for earth and environmental science run by AWI and MARUM; its page cites 448,200 datasets, each with a DOI; also the German Polar Data Centre.Website ↗ · Our guide →
- NASA Earthdata
- Open access gateway to NASA Earth science data from the ESDS Program, with 11 DAACs and tools such as Earthdata Search, Worldview and Giovanni.Website ↗
- NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI)
- Archive of ocean, atmospheric and geophysical records; the site says it takes in over 229 terabytes a month and is migrating to the cloud.Website ↗ · Our guide →
- USGS data releases and real-time data
- The USGS data catalogue lists 17,745 items across topics including geology, water and climate, from data releases to real-time feeds.Website ↗ · Our guide →
- EarthScope Consortium
- Operator of the NSF National Geophysical Facility, providing seismic and geodetic data, cloud data systems and instrument support.Website ↗ · Our guide →
- ERA5 reanalysis
- ECMWF reanalysis from the Copernicus Climate Change Service, 31 km resolution, 1940 to present, available through the Copernicus Climate Data Store.Website ↗ · Our guide →
Standards and formats
- CF Metadata Conventions
- Metadata standard for NetCDF files with a standard name table; latest release is 1.13, now used beyond model output for observations.Website ↗
- IGSN (International Generic Sample Number)
- Persistent identifier for physical samples, managed by the nonprofit IGSN e.V. (founded 2011) together with DataCite.Website ↗ · Our guide →
Preprints and indexes
- EarthArXiv
- Preprint repository for Earth science, powered by the California Digital Library and Janeway; browsable by subject.Website ↗ · Our guide →
- EGUsphere
- EGU's free open access interactive preprint repository, which also hosts conference abstracts and presentations.Website ↗
45 pages across 8 topic areas
Research Data Management
- Arctic Data Center vs. NSIDC DAAC: Choosing a Polar Data RepositoryComparison
The NSF Arctic Data Center and NASA's NSIDC DAAC are both trusted, DOI-issuing polar repositories, but they serve different funders and disciplines. T…
- Copernicus Climate Data Store (C3S): Accessing Europe's Climate Reanalysis and Projection Data
How to access the Copernicus Climate Data Store (CDS): what the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), operated by ECMWF, provides — ERA5 reanalysis…
- CUAHSI HydroShare: The Collaborative Repository for Hydrology Data
HydroShare is CUAHSI's NSF-funded domain repository for hydrology and water-resources data, models, and time series. Learn what it supports, how DOIs…
- DesignSafe-CI: The NHERI Data Repository for Natural Hazards Engineering
DesignSafe-CI is the NSF-funded data repository and cyberinfrastructure for NHERI, hosting experimental, simulation, and field-reconnaissance data for…
- Digital Elevation Model (DEM): Definition, Types and Open Datasets
DEM vs DSM vs DTM, with SRTM, USGS 3DEP and Copernicus compared on resolution, datum and date, and a checklist for citing a DEM.…
- Earth System Grid Federation (ESGF): Federated Access to CMIP Climate Model Data
What the Earth System Grid Federation (ESGF) is, how it distributes CMIP climate model data underlying IPCC assessment reports, and how researchers se…
- ECMWF: Guide to Weather Datasets and Open Data
A practical guide to ECMWF datasets, open-data APIs, MARS archives, and Copernicus services for environmental, atmospheric, and climate researchers.…
- IRIS/EarthScope: The SAGE Seismological Data Archive
How the EarthScope Consortium-operated SAGE Facility (formerly IRIS) archives global seismological and geophysical data, the standards it uses, and wh…
- OpenTopography: Lidar and Topography Data Archive for Researchers
What OpenTopography holds, its access tiers and API quotas, and how researchers cite its lidar and elevation datasets.…
- Paleobiology Database (PBDB): Fossil Occurrence & Taxonomic Data Repository
The Paleobiology Database (PBDB) is a free, community-curated repository of fossil occurrence and taxonomic data, covering the Phanerozoic under a CC…
- PANGAEA: Data Publisher for Earth and Environmental Science Datasets
PANGAEA is an open-access data publisher for earth, environmental, polar, and marine science data, offering DOI-based citation, editorial curation, an…
- USGS ScienceBase: Trusted Digital Repository Status, Deposit Eligibility, and DMP Fit
Who can actually deposit in USGS ScienceBase, how its Trusted Digital Repository status is certified against CoreTrustSeal criteria, and when it belon…
Scholarly Publishing
- CF Conventions: NetCDF Climate Metadata Guide
A guide to CF (Climate and Forecast) metadata conventions: version 1.13 specification, NetCDF coordinate attributes, standard names, and validation to…
- EGU: European Geosciences Union Research Guide
Guide to the European Geosciences Union (EGU): open-access journals, Copernicus interactive peer review, EGUsphere, and General Assembly conference fo…
- ESIP: Earth Science Information Partners
A research guide to Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP): organizational partner types, working clusters, data stewardship, and collaborative fun…
- Google Earth Engine: Cloud Geospatial Guide
An operational researcher guide to Google Earth Engine, covering Google Cloud project setup, Earth Engine Data Catalog coverage, Code Editor vs Python…
- NASA Earthdata: Earth Science Data Guide
Guide to NASA Earthdata: access open earth observation data across 12 DAACs, use Earthdata Search, create an Earthdata Login, and query EOSDIS reposit…
- NASA Giovanni: Earth Science Data Analysis Guide
Guide to NASA Giovanni: analyze Earth science data online via GES DISC, generate maps and time series without file downloads, and export GeoTIFF or Ne…
- NASA MODIS Satellite Data: Complete Research Guide
MODIS is NASA's Earth-observing sensor on Terra and Aqua, capturing 36 spectral bands with 1 to 2 day global revisit across land, ocean, and atmospher…
- NASA Worldview: Satellite Imagery Research Guide
NASA Worldview is an interactive web portal for exploring full-resolution daily satellite imagery across over 1,200 Earth science visualization layers…
- NetCDF: Multidimensional Data Format & CF Guide
An operational researcher guide to NetCDF (Network Common Data Form), detailing Classic vs NetCDF-4 data models, CF metadata conventions, file extensi…
- Sentinel-2 Satellite: Mission & Data Guide
An operational guide to the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite mission, detailing MSI spectral bands, 10-meter spatial resolution, Level-1C vs Level-2A p…
- What Is EarthArXiv? The Earth Science Preprint Server Explained
EarthArXiv is a free, community-run preprint repository for the earth sciences. Founded in 2017, it moved off OSF in 2020 and now runs on the Janeway…
Research Methods & Statistics
- Atmospheric Science vs. Meteorology: What Is the Difference?Comparison
Atmospheric science is the broad study of the atmosphere across all time scales and processes; meteorology is its weather-focused core. This compariso…
- What Is Atmospheric Science? Research Areas, Funding, and Career Paths
Atmospheric science is the study of Earth’s atmosphere: its composition, dynamics, chemistry and interaction with oceans, land and the Sun. A guide to…
- What Is Geology? Research Areas, Funding, and Career Paths
What geology studies, its major subfields, who funds the research (NSF, DOE, NASA, USGS), core field and lab methods, and career and licensure paths.…
- What Is Hydrology? Research Areas, Funding, and Career Paths
What hydrology studies, its major subfields, who funds the research (NSF, USGS, NASA, NOAA), core field and modeling methods, and career paths.…
- What Is Meteorology? Research Areas, Funding, and Career Paths
A thorough answer to "what is meteorology" — what it studies, its major subfields, who funds the research (NOAA, NSF, NASA, DOE), typical methods and…
- What Is Mineralogy? Research Areas, Funding, and Career Paths
What mineralogy studies, its major sub-disciplines, the federal funding landscape (NSF, NASA, DOE, USGS), core research methods and tools, and typical…
- What Is Paleontology? Research Areas, Funding, and Career Paths
What paleontology studies, its major subfields, who funds the research (NSF, NASA, Smithsonian), core field and lab methods, and graduate training and…
- What Is Remote Sensing? Research Areas, Funding, and Career Paths
Remote sensing measures the Earth from satellites, aircraft and drones. Optical, radar and lidar sensors, Landsat and Sentinel, image analysis, applic…
- What Is Seismology? Research Areas, Funding, and Career Paths
Seismology studies earthquakes and the seismic waves that reveal Earth's interior. A guide to its subfields, funding landscape (NSF, USGS, NEHRP, NASA…
- What Is Soil Science? Pedology, Methods and Funding
Soil science studies how soils form, function and are managed. This guide covers pedology, soil physics, chemistry and biology, classification, method…
Research Tools & Software
- Climate Data Operators (CDO) Research Guide
Climate Data Operators (CDO) is an open-source CLI suite developed by MPI-M to manipulate, re-grid, and analyze NetCDF and GRIB climate model datasets…
- How to Open NetCDF Files: Research Tools Guide
A researcher's guide on how to open NetCDF files: GUI viewers (NASA Panoply, Ncview) and Python programmatic access (xarray, netCDF4) with troubleshoo…
- USGS StreamStats: Watershed Delineation and Flow Statistics
How USGS StreamStats delineates watersheds, reports basin characteristics and estimates flow statistics, with limits and a methods-section checklist.…
- WRF Model (Weather Research and Forecasting): What It Is, Inputs, Versions and How to Cite
What the WRF model is, how a real-data run works, where to download it, and the NCAR technical note and DOI to cite.…
- Xarray: Labeled N-D Arrays in Python for netCDF, GRIB and Zarr
Xarray explained for researchers: labeled N-D arrays, opening netCDF and GRIB, label selection, writing netCDF/Zarr, xarray vs pandas, and Pangeo.…
Grants Management & Research Funding
- Critical Zone Observatory (CZO) and CZNet Guide
Guide to the NSF Critical Zone Observatory (CZO) and CZNet: program structure, data compliance, funding evolution, and current NSF Earth Sciences mech…
- DOE BER: Biological and Environmental Research Program Explained
DOE BER explained: scope, the FY2026 Open Call, eligibility, pre-applications, user facilities and related Office of Science programs.…
- NASA ROSES Earth Science Guide
Complete guide to NASA ROSES Earth Science grants: Appendix A solicitations, NSPIRES submission, DAPR compliance, and Open Science data sharing rules.…
- NERC Funding: How the Natural Environment Research Council Funds UK Environmental Science
How NERC funds UK environmental science within UKRI: Pushing the Frontiers Grants, Large Grants, Urgency Funding, Highlight Topics, the 80% full-econo…
Laboratory Operations & Safety
- NISAR: NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar Mission
NISAR is the joint NASA-ISRO radar satellite tracking Earth surface deformation, cryosphere dynamics, and ecosystems. Learn how L- and S-band SAR oper…
Research Information & Identifiers
- GeoRef Database: Coverage, Producer and Access
GeoRef is the American Geosciences Institute’s geoscience bibliography: what it covers from 1666 and 1933, who distributes it, and how to search it.…
Scholarly Writing
- AGU Abstract Submission Guide
Step-by-step guide to AGU abstract submission: 2,000-character limit, author rules, session selection, and poster versus oral presentation guidelines.…
