THE EXPERIENCE OF U.S. GLOBAL CHANGE DATA AND INFORMATION SHARING AND ITS INDICATION TO CHINA

Abstract

Full and Open" sharing of the full suite of federal-funded global data sets for all global change researchers is a fundamental objectives of US Global Change Data Management Policy. This concept has been fostered by many international organizations for many years, but finally implemented in the United States in last ten years. US Government has played a leading role in achieving the full and open sharing of scientific data and information, because the data- or information-based products are associated with what economists call "public goods" and also with "externalities". US Government has enforced this policy by two steps. First, form a national level "Distributed Active Archive Centers-DAACs"; the selected centers represent a wide range of Earth scientific disciplines. The responsibility of DAACs are processing, archiving, and distributing EOS data and related data, and providing a full range of user support. Second, under the framework of US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), broaden the DAACs to Global Change Data and Information System (GCDIS). The GCDIS will provide the infrastructure of the global change data and information management program. This is a priority-driven system composed of individual agency systems made interoperable by the use of common standards and approaches, technology sharing, and data policy coordination. The GCDIS functions include setting priorities for individual data and information sets, identifying and/or developing those sets, and incorporating them and the necessary related services in GCDIS. The success of GCDIS may indicate that Central Government should play a more active and leading role in order to establish a cost-effective global change data and information system in China.