Long Term Data and Knowledge preservation to guarantee access and use of the Earth Science archive

Earth Observation (EO) Space Missions provide global coverage of the Earth by generating on a continuous basis huge amounts of data from a variety of sensors. Locating and accessing these historical data is a difficult process and their interpretation can be even more complicated given the fact that scientists may not have (or may not have access to) the right knowledge to interpret these data. Preserving such information together with the data and ensuring all remain accessible over time would allow not only for a better interpretation but would also support the process of data discovery, now and in the future. The EU-funded CASPAR (Cultural, Artistic, and Scientific knowledge for Preservation, Access and Retrieval) project is just building a framework to support the end-to-end preservation lifecycle for digital information, based on the OAIS reference model, with a strong direction on the preservation of the knowledge associated to data. In the context of the current ESA overall strategies carried out in collaboration with European EO data owners/providers, entities and institutions, this paper will focus on the ESA participation and contribution to the CASPAR project with the main objective of guaranteeing long term preservation not only of EO data but also of the right knowledge needed to scientists to process and use them. Long Term Data Knowledge Preservation, Earth Science, CASPAR, ESA