Research Guides: Sustainability and Environmental Studies: Data & More

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Datasets

This selection of datasets is freely available online. You can use them for your own research (as long as you cite it!).

Kentucky Climate Center Data
Environmental Dataset Gateway - EPA
Free Resource! Find data products on a variety of environmental sciences disciplines.
DataONE
DataONE is a community driven program providing access to data across multiple member repositories, supporting enhanced search and discovery of Earth and environmental data. DataONE promotes best practices in data management through responsive educational resources and materials. We envision researchers, educators, and the public using DataONE to better understand and conserve life on earth and the environment that sustains it.
National Geophysical Data Center - NOAA
Data on various topics in geology, earth science, ocean science, and space science.
National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI)
NOAA's NCEI hosts and provides public access to one of the most significant archives for environmental and geophysical data on Earth. We provide over 37 petabytes of comprehensive atmospheric, coastal, oceanic, and geophysical data.
USGS Science Data Catalog
Provides a search and discovery tool that allows for metadata retrieval, visualization, download, and linking back to original data providers. Offers a single source for USGS to serve its metadata to data.doi.gov, Data.gov, Office of Management and Budget (OMB), etc.
National Water Dashboard - USGS
Water / hydrology data. Historic and real-time information from across the US.
CUAHSI - Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc.
CUAHSI is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that serves the interdisciplinary water science community. We foster a diverse and dynamic water science community, enabled by shared scientific infrastructure, that supports the development and communication of an integrated understanding of the interactions between water, earth, ecosystems, and society.
GES DISC - Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center
One of 12 NASA Science Mission Directorate Data Centers that provide Earth science data, information, and services to research scientists, applications scientists, applications users, and students. We archive and support data sets applicable to several NASA Earth Science Focus Areas including: Atmospheric Composition, Water & Energy Cycles, and Climate Variability. Note that we also archive data sets applicable to Carbon Cycle & Ecosystem, but we describe this science focus area in the context of the three previously mentioned.
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Data archive and information services for Atmospheric Composition, Water & Energy Cycles, and Climate Variability.

Data Repositories

Data repositories are online storage areas for published research's data. You can use them to check out the data behind a research project yourself or utilize for your own research projects. Usually they are freely available. The selection listed here is freely available content.

DataCite Repository Finder
Repository Finder, a pilot project of the Enabling FAIR Data Project led by the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in partnership with DataCite and the Earth, space and environment sciences community, can help you find an appropriate repository to deposit your research data. The tool is hosted by DataCite and queries the re3data registry of research data repositories.
re3data - Registry of Research Data Repositories
Re3data is a global registry of research data repositories that covers research data repositories from different academic disciplines. It includes repositories that enable permanent storage of and access to data sets to researchers, funding bodies, publishers, and scholarly institutions. re3data promotes a culture of sharing, increased access and better visibility of research data.
Pangaea
Data Publisher for Earth & Environmental Science. The information system PANGAEA is operated as an Open Access library aimed at archiving, publishing and distributing georeferenced data from earth system research. The system guarantees long-term availability of its content through a commitment of the hosting institutions.
Earthchem Portal
Contains data on topics like geochemical. Contains sample information on things like rocks.

Other Data Sources

All of these sources are freely available!

SCIENCE.gov
Science.gov is a gateway to U.S. government science information. The portal offers free access to research and development (R&D) results and scientific and technical information from scientific organizations across 13 federal agencies.
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Science.gov makes it possible for users to search over 60 databases, over 2,200 websites, and over 200 million pages of authoritative federal science information in many formats, including full-text documents, citations, scientific data supporting federally funded research, and multimedia.

Science.gov is becoming a federal public access portal consistent with its original purpose and current vision and goals. It is making available free journal articles, peer-reviewed accepted manuscripts, and reports of research funded by federal science agencies, as well as the agencies’ public access policies and requirements.

In addition, Science.gov now offers information from across the federal government on education and training opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields for undergraduate and graduate students.

Since its inception, Science.gov has been a model of voluntary interagency collaboration. Launched in 2002, the gateway is a pioneering initiative by U.S. science agencies to improve the public infrastructure for and access to the nation’s scientific research information. Users do not need to know ahead of time which agency has funded or produced the information that they are looking for.

Science.gov works to raise technical and scientific literacy, serve as a foundation for future discoveries, and foster greater understanding of, access to, and use of the results of public investment in the U.S. government’s science and technology efforts.

Science.gov is designed to serve scientists and engineers, the library and business communities, students, teachers, entrepreneurs, and anyone with an interest in science. The information is free. No registration is required.

Science.gov is governed by the interagency Science.gov Alliance, which includes the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, and Transportation; the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Government Publishing Office. These agencies represent approximately 97 percent of the federal R&D budget.

Science.gov is supported by CENDI, an interagency working group of senior scientific and technical information managers. The website was developed and is maintained by the DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information, a unit of the Office of Science.

Science.gov is the U.S. contribution to WorldWideScience.org, which provides access to science information from more than 70 nations.
ScienceBase.gov
ScienceBase provides access to aggregated information derived from many data and information domains, including feeds from existing data systems, metadata catalogs, and scientists contributing new and original content. ScienceBase architecture is designed to help science teams and data practitioners centralize their data and information resources to create a foundation needed for their work. ScienceBase, both original software and engineered components, is released as an open source project to promote involvement from the larger scientific programming community both inside and outside the USGS.
Geospatial Applications - EPA
Explore and interact with geospatial data on water quality, air quality, waste management, the environment in your neighborhood, and other places.
Data.gov
The federal government's open data source. Find data, tools, and resources to conduct research, develop web and mobile applications, design data visualizations, and more.
System of Registries - EPA
A resource for environmental system developers and enterprise architects. It also provides environmental program managers and users of environmental information with automated services to enable better understanding of environmental terminology and data used by the Agency.
Registry of EPA Applications, Models, and Data Warehouses (READ)
The authoritative source of information about EPA information resources.
FDLP Research Guide - EPA
Webpage with links and resources for various components of the EPA.