POLDER: Polar Data Discovery Enhancement Research
Polder (Dutch verb): to work collaboratively to achieve a common goal
Discovering scientific data in the polar regions is often fragmented and time-consuming, requiring researchers to navigate numerous independent metadata catalogues. Federated metadata search promises to streamline this process by offering a unified, centralized platform—dramatically improving data accessibility for polar scientists.
POLDER is actively advancing this vision. A joint initiative of the Arctic Data Committee (ADC), Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS), and the Standing Committee on Antarctic Data Management (SCADM), POLDER aims to identify and implement the most effective strategies to support the polar research community.
As a first step, POLDER invites you to explore the Polar Data Search, developed by the World Data System-International Technology Office. Technical support is currently being provided by the Arctic Insititue of North America (AINA) and the Canadian Polar Data Consortium (CPDC) Team. This tool currently enables federated searching across a growing number of polar data repositories using text-based and temporal filters. Additional data sources and functionality are being continuously integrated.
Your feedback is vital to shaping the future of polar data access. We welcome your insights, suggestions, and involvement as we move this initiative forward. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Check out the search at https://search.polder.info
Credit: Australian Antarctic Division (AAD)