A Journey to Understanding FAIR Principles and Assessing FAIRness

A Journey to Understanding FAIR Principles and Assessing FAIRness Ge Peng, PhD Chief Research Scientist Science Systems and Applications, Inc. (SSAI) Contractor, Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS) Project at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) ORCID: 0000-0002-1986-9115 ClimateMatch FAIR Workshop, November 18, 2025 Smokey Mountain Fall Colors (Source: istockphoto) Agenda §About Me, SSAI, and NASA ESDIS §Pre-presentation survey/Q&As: slido.com (#3370 308) §Deep-dive of the FAIR Principles oORCID survey (slido) §Examples of climate data portals and tools §Examples of FAIRness assessment tools §Key takeaways §Closing remarks ClimateMatch FAIR Workshop, November 18, 2025 Audience Q&A The Slido app must be installed on every computer you’re presenting from Do not edit How to change the design About Me – Dr. Peng’s Career Phases Work on What’s Fun for me Phase 3 SME–Stewardship (Information Overload) Promote/Establish Community Practices I am here Phase 1 Numerical Modeler (Data/info hard to come by) Develop/Validate/Apply Numerical Models Phase 2 Data Steward (More to choose from) Phase 4 Consultant (Trustworthy Information) R2O Transit/ Archive/Produce Climate Data Products Source: IStock About SSAI §Established in 1977 by one scientist (Dr. Om), SSAI is a leading provider of scientific, engineering, and IT support for nearly 50 years. §Top 2025 Workplaces – 6 years running (named by the Washington Post) About NASA ESDIS Manages and provides free and open access to NASA’s Earth science data holding §more than 100PB of data §300TB of data distributed daily §more than 5 million users annually ClimateMatch FAIR Workshop, November 18, 2025 ClimateMatch FAIR Workshop, November 18, 2025 Pre-Presentation Survey How much do you know about the FAIR Principles? 1) Not familiar at all – Never heard of 2) Slightly familiar – Read the paper 3) Moderately familiar – Have basic understanding 4) Very familiar – Have applied them 5) Extremely familiar – Consider myself a FAIR expert slido.com Code: 3370 308 How much do you know about the FAIR Principles? The Slido app must be installed on every computer you’re presenting from Do not edit How to change the design Delving Into The FAIR Principles ClimateMatch FAIR Workshop, November 18, 2025 FAIR Data Guiding Principles ●FAIR stands for Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable ●Formulated by Wilkinson et al. (2016) ●A set of high-level guidelines odata management and stewardship behaviors for prompting data sharing in computerfriendly environment ●Simple, catchy, and positive à Increasingly adopted world-wide by policymakers, funders, and organizations ClimateMatch FAIR Workshop, November 18, 2025 Unique Core Concepts = Harmonized Quality Measurements ClimateMatch FAIR Workshop, November 18, 2025 Based on: Peng (2023) 1) Identifier 2) Rich-Metadata 3) (Searchable) Resource 4) (Communication) Protocol 5) (Authentication and authorization) Procedure 6) (Knowledge representation) Language 7) Vocabulary 8) (Qualified) Reference 9) (Relevant) Attribute 10) (Data usage) License 11) Provenance 12) (Domain-relevant community) Standard à Ensure Holistic FAIRness Assessment Aligning NASA Stewardship & Enterprise Capability With FAIR Principles Based on: Peng et al. (2024b) Want Something More Challenging? Source: https://github.com/Harbor-Light-Technologies/FAIRness-quality-measuresontology/blob/main/diagrams/FQM_proposed.png (Dr. Adam Shepherd, work in progress) Ontology of FAIR Quality Measurements FAIRness Dashboard • Dimensions •Sub-principles •Categories Levels of FAIR Compliance (FAIRness) ClimateMatch FAIR Workshop, November 18, 2025 Based on: Peng et al. (2025) •Identifier • Rich Metadata • Resource • Protocol •Language • Vocabulary • Reference •Attribute • License • Provenance •Standard à Individual FAIR-REQ based, tiered FAIRness Assessment Identifier Type DOI UUID Local ID What it is A globally unique and persistent identifier used to cite and access digital resources A 128 -bit number used to uniquely identify information in distributed systems A unique identifier used within a specific repository, or system Example 10.5067/GHGMR - 4FJ04 8012fda7 -3ea4-4ef2bb4e -0f66d4d9e850 C1996881146 Globally Unique Yes Yes No Eternally Persistent Yes No No F1 Compliance Level High Intermediate Low Examples of Common Persistent Identifiers ClimateMatch FAIR Workshop, November 18, 2025 Entity Identifier Organizations ROR (Research Organization Registry) Datasets DOI (Digital Object Identifier) People ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) Instruments PIDINST (Persistent Identification of Instruments); RRID (Research Resource Identifier) Physical Samples IGSN (International Generic Sample Number) ClimateMatch FAIR Workshop, November 18, 2025 ORCID Poll Do you have an ORCID? 1) Yes 2) No 3) Not Sure slido.com Code: 3370 308 Do you have an ORCID? The Slido app must be installed on every computer you’re presenting from Do not edit How to change the design How do I register for an ORCID? ClimateMatch FAIR Workshop, November 18, 2025 Simple & Free https://orcid.org/register Need help? https://support.orcid.org/hc/en-us/articles/360006897454How-do-I-register-for-an-ORCID-ID Examples of Climate Data and Search Portals ClimateMatch FAIR Workshop, November 18, 2025 •Meteorological Station Data oWorld Meteorological Organization Information System 2.0 (WIS 2.0) oStandard-based framework for open sharing of core Earth system data oMember-Operated Global Discovery Catalogues §Canada: https://wis2-gdc.weather.gc.ca §China: https://gdc.wis.cma.cn §Germany: https://wis2.dwd.de/gdc Source: https://community.wmo.int/en/activityareas/wis/WIS2-overview •WMO Climate Data Catalogue ohttps://climatedata-catalogue-wmo.org Examples of Climate Datasets and Search Portals ClimateMatch FAIR Workshop, November 18, 2025 •Earth System Datasets oUS §NASA: https://search.earthdata.nasa.gov/ § GHRSST §NOAA: https://data.noaa.gov/onestop/ §Climate Data Records §Google Earth Engine: https://earthengine.google.com/ §AWS Open Data Registry: https://registry.opendata.aws FAIR Implementation Profile – GO FAIR •Manual, mini-questionnaire (FAIR Convergence Matrix questionnaire) • Identifying FAIR-enabling resources FAIR principle F1 Question What globally unique and eternally persistent identifiers do you use for datasets? FAIR enabling resource type Identifier Type Your answers e.g. DOI FAIR Implementation Profile – GO FAIR •Manual, mini-questionnaire (FAIR Convergence Matrix questionnaire) •FIP Wizard oFIP community vWorldFAIR FIP community FAIRsFAIR F-JUI Tool • FAIRsFAIR “Fostering FAIR Data Practices In Europe” project (EU’s Horizon 2020) •Automatic assessment based on 17 metrics – subset of 41 RDA FAIR DMIs oPID or dataset landing page URL oHuman and machine-readable assessment reports • Web interfaces with FAIR-enabling services, including: ore3data, DataCite, SPDX license registry, RDA metadata catalog; OAI-PMH, SPARQL metadata services Machine readable assessment outcome Info on assessment tool and dataset Info on assessment indicators and assessment results Output summary Detailed online report with a summary diagram Works better than other online tools; room for improvement: oDoes not recognize netCDF as a machine-readable data format; oMost of established repositories and catalogues do not register with re3data; oNew project to improve the tool for geoscience data. DOI_10.5067_GHGMR-4FJ04_F-UJI.json ClimateMatch FAIR Workshop, November 18, 2025 Other FAIR Assessment Tools DataONE Metadata Evaluation Tool – MetaDig USGS FAIR Rubric oManual assessment (62 questions) oTiered approach oGuidance tailored to USGS oAutomated checks oMetadata fields Let’s evaluate dataset FAIRness together using the F-UJI Tool ClimateMatch FAIR Workshop, November 18, 2025 •Select a dataset (PID=DOI or URL): oDOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5067/GHGMR-4FJ04 oURL: https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/dataset/MUR-JPL-L4-GLOB-v4.1 §Review the DOI landing page: Information [DOI, Format]; Data Access •Go to the website: f-uji.net oEnter the dataset PID (DOI/URL) and run the tool separately oExamine the assessment summary & compare results from DOI/URL oReview the description of F2-01M-3, F3-01M, & R1.3-02D §Review NASA UMM-C Schema (rich metadata & linked DOI): https://wiki.earthdata.nasa.gov/spaces/CMR/pages/91358888/UMMC+Schema+Representation Key Takeaways ClimateMatch FAIR Workshop, November 18, 2025 • Fully implementing the FAIR Principles and comprehensively evaluating FAIRness is a complex, multi-dimensional, and multifaceted challenge. • Open and free access to core climate data is essential for advancing our understanding and monitoring of the dynamic Earth system. • Significant progress has been made in sharing climate data, but further efforts are needed, particularly to support applications of emerging technologies that require enhanced machine-actionability. Closing Remark §It has been fun! §I truly thank the ClimateMatch Academy for the opportunity and Viviana Greco for coordinating. §Follow me on LinkedIn: ge-peng-37543230 ClimateMatch FAIR Workshop, November 18, 2025 §Slides are available at Zenodo: 10.5281/zenodo.17465433 §Wish you all a rewarding journey exploring climate data and FAIR! References ClimateMatch FAIR Workshop, November 18, 2025 Bahim, C, Dekkers, M and Wyns, B. 2019. Results of an Analysis of Existing FAIR Assessment Tools. Research Data Alliance. https://doi.org/10.15497/RDA00035 Candela, L., D. Mangione, and G. Pavone. 2024. “The FAIR Assessment Conundrum: Reflections on Tools and Metrics.” Data Science Journal 23. https://doi.org/10.5334/dsj2024-033 Peng, G., 2023. “Dissecting the FAIR Guiding Principles - Key Categories, Core Concepts, Focus Elements, and Harmonized Indicators (v01r00-20230225) [Data set].” Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7896948 Peng, G., G. Berg-Cross, M. Wu, R.R. Downs, S.R. Shrestha, L. Wyborn, N. Ritchey, H.K. Ramapriyan, S.J. Clark, J. Wood, Z. Liu, and A. Marouane, 2024a. “Harmonizing Quality Measures of FAIRness Assessment Towards Machine-Actionable Quality Information.” Inter. J. Digital Earth. 17(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/17538947.2024.2390431 Peng, G., R.R. Downs, H.K. Ramapriyan, and O'FAIR WG, 2024b. “Open, Free & FAIR Data Guide Cheat Sheet for NASAfunded Earth Science Data Products (v01r00-20240926).” Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11520035 Peng, G., R.R. Downs, H.K. Ramapriyan, others, and O’FAIR WG, 2025. “A Practical Guide for Open, Free & FAIR NASA Earth Science Data Products.” Version 1. NASA ESDIS Standards Coordination Office. https://doi.org/10.5067/DOC/ESCO/ESDS-RFC-057V1 Peters-von Gehlen, K., H. Höck, A. Fast, D. Heydebreck, A. Lammert, and H. Thiemann. 2022. “Recommendations for Discipline-Specific FAIRness Evaluation Derived from Applying an Ensemble of Evaluation Tools.” Data Science Journal 21. https://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2022-007 Wilkinson, M. D., M. Dumontier, I. J. Aalbersberg, G. Appleton, M. Axton, A. Baak, and others, 2016. “The FAIR Guiding Principles for scientific data management and stewardship.” Sci. Data, 3, https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2016.18 ClimateMatch FAIR Workshop, November 18, 2025 Q&As and Discussion Image Source: @Ameliamerica76 ClimateMatch FAIR Workshop, November 18, 2025 To finish on a fun note, here’s a country song I made with Suno —it’s called "Let’s Be FAIR!”