National Tibetan Plateau Data Center Promoting Earth System Science on the Third Pole

The Tibetan Plateau, known as the world's Third Pole due to its high altitude, is experiencing rapid, intense climate change, similar to and even far more than that occurring in the Arctic and Antarctic. Scientific data sharing is very important to address the challenges of better understanding the unprecedented changes in the Third Pole and their impacts on the global environment and humans. The National Tibetan Plateau Data Center (TPDC, http://data.tpdc.ac.cn) is one of the first 20 national data centers endorsed by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China in 2019 and features the most complete scientific data for the Tibetan Plateau and surrounding regions, hosting more than 3,500 datasets in diverse disciplines. Fifty datasets featuring high-mountain observations, land surface parameters, near-surface atmospheric forcing, cryospheric variables, and high-profile article-associated data over the Tibetan Plateau, frequently being used to quantify the hydrological cycle and water security, early warning assessments of glacier avalanche disasters, and other geoscience studies on the Tibetan Plateau, are highlighted in this manuscript. The TPDC provides a cloud-based platform with integrated online data acquisition, quality control, analysis, and visualization capability to maximize the efficiency of data sharing. The TPDC shifts from the traditional centralized architecture to a decentralized deployment to effectively connect Third Pole-related data from other domestic and international data sources. As an embryo of data sharing and management over extreme environment in the upcoming big data era, the TPDC is dedicated to filling the gaps in data collection, discovery, and consumption in the Third Pole, facilitating scientific activities, particularly those featuring extensive interdisciplinary data use.

Automated summary

The Tibetan Plateau, known as the world's Third Pole, is undergoing rapid, intense climate change similar to or even more severe than that seen in the Arctic and Antarctic. Data sharing is crucial for understanding these unprecedented changes and their impacts on the environment and humans. The National Tibetan Plateau Data Center (TPDC) is a cloud-based platform with a wide range of scientific data sets, providing tools for online data acquisition, quality control, analysis, and visualization to enhance efficiency in data sharing. The TPDC has evolved from a centralized to a decentralized system, effectively linking Third Pole-related data from various domestic and international sources.