The Case for Data Stewardship: Agency Requirements: NASA Data Management Policies Modules should be 3-7 minutes long Ronald Weaver National Snow and Ice Data Center Version 1.0 June 28, 2012

Overview In addition to Federal-level requirements, NASA and other agencies have their own requirements and directives, which augment higher level mandates and provide specific guidance in meeting them NASA Centers, grantees and contractors receiving NASA funding must manage environmental data in compliance with these requirements and directives NASA Earth Science data management practices are generally spelled out in grant and contract documents

NASA policy on dissemination and sharing NASA policy is very clear: “NASA commits to the full and open sharing of Earth science data obtained from NASA Earth observing satellites, sub-orbital platforms and field campaigns with all users as soon as such data become available”* “There will be no period of exclusive access to NASA Earth science data. Following a post-launch checkout period, all data will be made available to the user community”* *http://nasascience.nasa.gov/earth-science/earth-science-data/data-information-policy/

NASA Data Management Plans (DMP) NASA typically requires a data management plan for satellite, airborne, and field projects. In the Earth sciences specific requirements for data management plans are described in funding documents such as the annual Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) multifaceted research proposal call. Proposers to NASA ROSES should pay particular attention to language in the specific funding announcement of interest

Where to find Guidance on NASA DMPs? NASA Earth Science website offers specific guidance on content for a Data Management Plan http://science.nasa.gov/earth-science/earth-science-data/data- management-plan-guidance/

Where to find Guidance on NASA DMPs? NASA Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS) has established a process for managing flight (space, airborne) projects. The specific document that describes data management plan requirements in the above process is called the Archiving, Distribution and User Services Requirements in EOSDIS (ADURD) http://earthdata.nasa.gov/about-eosdis/interfaces

References NASA references: Official websites for information on data management in the Earth Sciences http://science.nasa.gov/earth-science/earth-science-data/data- management-plan-guidance/ http://earthdata.nasa.gov/about-eosdis/interfaces http://science.nasa.gov/earth-science/earth-science-data/ http://nasascience.nasa.gov/earth-science/earth-science-data/data- information-policy/ The following link is an example of the ADURD document http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/additional/scienceTeam/documents/Evoluti onRequirements.doc

Resources Several websites offer links to information about developing data management plans. We suggest starting with the following: http://esip.esipfed.org/resources Digital Curation Centre Plans (Useful checklist for developing a data management plan) http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/data- management-plans University of California Curation Center (Data Planning Checklist) http://www.cdlib.org/services/uc3/datamanagement/index.html Data Management and Publishing (MIT) http://libraries.mit.edu/guides/subjects/data-management/ Data Management and Publishing (Univ of Minnesota) http://www.lib.umn.edu/datamanagement/funding#What1

Other Relevant Modules For more information about other agency requirements see The Case for Data Stewardship: Agency Requirements For information about developing a data management plan see Data Management Plans