FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What is PANGAEA ?
Pangaea is a public library for data from earth system research. The system is open to any individual scientist or project for archiving e.g. data collections, time series, or supplements to publications. Data can be georeferenced in time and/or space.

Who are the hosts of PANGAEA

 * Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (http://www.awi.de)
 * Center for Marine Environemental Sciences, University Bremen (http://www.marum.de)

Are there any restrictions or costs
All data are in Open Access and thus are freely available via download on the Internet. Very few data sets might be password protected because under moratorium. In this case, please contact PI for access.

What is the data format?
Data are available as text/ASCII files with a header for the metadata, followed by the data in a tab-delimited table. Large files might be available as binary objects (e.g. seismic data in SEGY), other formats my follow ISO standards (e.g. images are available in tif or jpg format).

What is the resolution of the data?
Data stored in Pangaea are from a wide range of parameters and are from all parts of the Geosphere (Atmosphere, Hydrosphere, Kryosphere, Biosphere, Lithosphere). The spacial and temporal resolution can differ between sets and is discribed in the metadata.

Which parameter (variables) are available?
The systems has archived data from 80 000 parameter from all fields of earth system research and increasing at any time. (See the Parameter Dictionary for details and example lists).

Where are the data stored?
Most of the data are archived in a relational database. Large binary files, images or proprietary formats are stored in a tape drive silo, requiring an access time of about 30 seconds. All data are secured by a daily backup on tapes in two different buildings. Data from the relational table are also available through a data warehouse.

Contact
info(at)pangaea.de