NFDI4Earth - One community for Open and FAIR Research Data Management in Earth System Sciences

NFDI4Earth is the German National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) consortium dedicated to Earth System Sciences. The consortium unites the breadth of Earth System Sciences in Germany, bringing together research institutions, academia, public administration, and key infrastructures to advance FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) research data management. The consortium actively engages its community through diverse pilot applications spanning multiple Earth science domains, including for example freshwater ecosystems, isotope geochemistry, marine seismic reflection data, remote sensing and time series analysis, geospatial vector maps, and Earth observation data integration for social sciences. Central to NFDI4Earth's strategy for the future are Light House Use Cases (LUCs) and Key Information Products (KIPs), which structure research data for interdisciplinary use. These include end-to-end research data management for crowd-sourced Earth science hubs, first-class data services for FAIR land-atmosphere interaction research, and HPC-enabled earthquake and tsunami simulation data mining. The consortium's service portfolio comprises essential services: OneStop4All (https://onestop4all.nfdi4earth.de/) for exploring RDM resources, a User Support Network (https://onestop4all.nfdi4earth.de/?support) providing expert guidance, a Knowledge Hub (https://knowledgehub.nfdi4earth.de/) with semantic discovery APIs, the EduTrain Portal (https://edutrain.nfdi4earth.de/) offering open educational resources, an Academy and School training network, and an AI ChatBot for pilot AI-based support. Additionally, NFDI4Earth builds on the NFDI4Earth FAIRness and Openness Commitment (https://nfdi4earth.de/commitment) the NFDI4Earth Label (https://onestop4all.nfdi4earth.de/label) for data repository services as mechanisms to increase update of good practices for better research data management. Looking ahead to 2026-2031, NFDI4Earth commits to international engagement through EOSC (European Open Science Cloud) collaboration, international standardization efforts, and the initiation of a thematic EOSC node jointly with related initiatives including ERICs. The consortium maintains active partnerships across the German research data landscape and international organizations.