The Registry of Polar Observing Networks (RoPON) is now available online at https://polarobservingregistry.org.
RoPON is a catalogue of systems and related organisations that coordinate or track observing activities & infrastructure at high latitudes. It includes discovery-level details such as network description, observational scope, spatial extent, and data or metadata access, along with links for more information.
This registry was designed to facilitate discovery and integration across a multitude of local to international efforts. RoPON will help to:
- Co-locate and optimise limited resources
- Better inform local communities of activities nearby
- Guide network planning and assessment
- Make observing-related information more Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (the FAIR Principles)
RoPON was created as a collaborative effort by the Sustaining Arctic Observing Networks initiative (SAON, www.arcticobserving.org), the Arctic Portal (arcticportal.org), and the SAON Polar Observing Assets Working Group (POAwg, polarobservingassets.org). It has been released as a Phase 1 version for demonstration purposes. Plans are underway as funding allows for improvements in functionality, interoperability, and scope (e.g., more networks). A metadata model for describing observing networks has also been released (see polarobservingassets.org/resources).
Feedback is appreciated at halldor@arcticportal.org and info@polarobservingregistry.org.
