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| IPCC Task Group on Data | |
|---|---|
| Name | IPCC Task Group on Data |
| Formation | 2018 |
| Type | Intergovernmental scientific task group |
| Headquarters | Geneva |
| Parent organization | Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change |
IPCC Task Group on Data The IPCC Task Group on Data is a technical body created to support the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change by coordinating data stewardship, access, and reuse for climate assessment activities. It interfaces with scientific bodies, technical projects, and international institutions to improve reproducibility for authors drawing on observational records, reanalyses, model outputs, and socioeconomic datasets. The Task Group works across disciplines to align data practices with major research infrastructures and standards bodies.
The Task Group emerged after debates at the 2013 IPCC Fifth Assessment Report review process and discussions at the Paris Agreement follow-ups, responding to recommendations from panels convened during the WMO and UNESCO forums. Formal establishment occurred after a mandate from the IPCC Secretariat and approval by the IPCC Plenary, informed by consultations with the World Data System, Group on Earth Observations, Global Climate Observing System, and delegations from United States, China, India, and European Union. Key informing events included workshops hosted at University of Oxford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Imperial College London, with advisory input referencing outcomes from the IPBES meetings and the UNFCCC technical panels.
The Task Group's remit was defined during an IPCC scoping meeting drawing on guidance from the Scientific Advisory Board and modelling consortia. Principal objectives include enabling FAIR-aligned data practices consistent with recommendations from CODATA, the Research Data Alliance, and the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites, promoting transparency for data cited in chapters derived from Coupled Model Intercomparison Project outputs, and ensuring traceability for datasets used in vulnerability assessments relevant to the Sustainable Development Goals deliberated at the United Nations General Assembly. The mandate also emphasizes interoperability with infrastructures such as Earth System Grid Federation, Copernicus, and national data centers including NOAA, NASA, ECMWF, and JMA.
Governance was organized through terms approved by the IPCC Bureau with co-chairs selected via nomination from member governments and scientific institutions including University of Cambridge, Harvard University, Peking University, and Australian National University. Membership spans representatives from research agencies like National Center for Atmospheric Research, Max Planck Society, CSIRO, French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, and international organizations such as UNESCO and UNEP. The Task Group maintains liaisons with editorial leadership from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services and technical experts drawn from European Space Agency, Canadian Space Agency, and regional bodies like the African Union science directorates.
The Task Group developed guidance harmonizing IPCC practices with standards from ISO, OGC, Dublin Core, and community protocols used by PANGEA (data publisher), Zenodo, and the UK Data Service. It advocated metadata schemas interoperable with DataCite, persistent identifiers such as Digital Object Identifier and ORCID, and licensing frameworks drawing on Creative Commons to address reuse constraints noted in submissions from the International Energy Agency and the World Bank. Policies recommend provenance capture aligned with W3C PROV models and data citation practices consistent with statements from the International Council for Science.
Deliverables include a handbook for dataset citation endorsed by the IPCC Secretariat, templates for data management plans informed by Horizon 2020 practices, and technical notebooks interoperable with the Jupyter Project and RStudio workflows. The Group produced catalogues of vetted datasets drawing on archives at NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, the British Atmospheric Data Centre, and the PANGAEA repository, and developed tooling that interfaces with GitHub, Bitbucket, and continuous integration services used by modelling groups such as those in the CMIP6 community. It also published standard operating procedures for handling embargoed data common in contributions from institutions like Argonne National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Partnerships extend to major research initiatives and standard bodies: International Science Council, Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data, World Meteorological Organization, and regional nodes including Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research and Latin American and Caribbean Earth System Science Community. The Task Group coordinated pilot projects with infrastructure providers such as Amazon Web Services Public Datasets, Google Cloud Public Datasets Program, and partnerships with academic publishers including Nature Research and Elsevier on data availability statements. It liaised with capacity-building programs from UNDP and training initiatives at CERN and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
The Task Group influenced authorship practices in the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report cycles by standardizing dataset citation, improving reproducibility for analyses that underpin key findings cited in summaries for policymakers debated in sessions of the IPCC Plenary. Its guidance increased traceability for figures and tables derived from CMIP6, satellite syntheses from Copernicus Climate Change Service, and socioeconomic scenarios linked to Shared Socioeconomic Pathways. The effect manifested in enhanced review transparency during the plenary approval process and in greater alignment between IPCC chapters and data repositories maintained by partners such as NOAA, ECMWF, and international university consortia.