Registry of Polar Observing Networks (RoPON)
RoPON is a comprehensive catalog of observing systems and organizations coordinating monitoring activities and infrastructure across the Arctic, Antarctic, and Southern Oceans.
It brings together previously dispersed information to provide a clearer, more integrated view of polar observing efforts.
Each network in RoPON includes key details such as description, contacts, scope, geographic extent, partners, and data repositories.
The registry also shows whether networks maintain inventories of observing assets, and if these are publicly accessible.
RoPON provides a valuable tool for a wide range of users:
- science planners to assess status, overlap, and gaps
- network & facility managers to co-locate or optimize limited resources
- funding officers to avoid duplicated effort
- researchers to identify or collaborate with facilities or projects
- data managers to locate, access, and align datasets across networks
- educators to explore observing systems and use real-world polar data in learning
- and community members to discover, engage with, and leverage observational efforts and data collected nearby.
The overarching goal of RoPON is to showcase and integrate polar observing efforts, improve coordination, support collaboration, and help inform decision-making at local, regional, and global scales.
RoPON is a distributed platform where authorized networks can update information via a dashboard, continuously evolving through user feedback and real-world use.
RoPON was developed through a collaboration between the Sustaining Arctic Observing Networks (SAON) initiative, the Arctic Portal, and the University of Colorado Boulder, with funding from SAON and the NOAA Global Ocean Monitoring and Observing (GOMO) Arctic Research Program.
Feedback is appreciated
polarobservingregistry.org
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