Federal Facility Preserves Global Environmental Data While Fueling Local Economic Growth
Dec 11, 2024 11:20AM ● By Randee Brown
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association is a large federal agency with a large mission for the United States, and its National Centers for Environmental Information division has held a strong presence in Western North Carolina for decades.
Headquartered in Asheville, NCEI provides access to environmental observations from around the world and from the surface of the sun, according to Chief of the Communications and Outreach Branch Jake Fortune. The office is also the official archive for all of NOAA’s observations, which are used for immediate decision-making and drawing conclusions of how the environment might be changing in order to be prepared for the future.
During World War II, the US government needed the ability to use weather data to make informed decisions about when to advance certain military operations around the world. With the passage of the Federal Records Act in 1950, all of the weather and climate records were stored at the Grove Arcade, which had been acquired by the military and the United States Postal Service, and remained there until the early 1990s when the floor began to cave under the weight of the extensive paper records.
One of the largest environmental archives in the world, NCEI’s Asheville office now archives more than 65 petabytes of data from NOAA and multiple international partners to ensure data remains secure and accessible. (One petabyte is equal to one million gigabytes.) The entire third floor of the facility contains computer servers to facilitate digital storage, and the building also has an underground archive where all of the paper and microfilm records that have yet to become digitized are stored at a temperature and humidity level that supports preservation.
“We safeguard data for whatever it might need to be used for, including government uses and the private sector,” Fortune said. “We have a lot of partnerships with the private sector to help them better utilize our information to make informed decisions. Our archive is growing so rapidly due to advancements in observations — satellites, drones, un-crewed ocean systems are all collecting more and more data. The pace at which we are collecting data is accelerating, and our archive is growing at an accelerated rate as well.”
In addition to data storage, NCEI also works within the Department of Commerce to provide products and services based on the collected data. These include combining socioeconomic data with climate data to measure human impacts and extreme weather events, mapping the seafloor of the extended economic zone of the United States to potentially expand the boundary use of the government, and partnering with Google to use AI to extrapolate how marine life is affected by ocean sounds emitted by the Navy.
“All of this different data is being used in unique ways,” Fortune said. “One of the things that is really important to us is considering how the data we’re archiving could help solve problems or inform challenges that have not even manifested yet. By safeguarding that information, it will continue to serve future generations.”
Though the work at Asheville’s NCEI facility has impacts spanning the globe, there are also economic benefits that occur locally. Local small business startups rely on NCEI information, and a collaboration between NOAA and UNC Asheville spurred FernLeaf Interactive, a company understanding and translating data to help communities increase resilience.
A new project, the Industry Proving Grounds initiative, will bring $75 million to Western North Carolina during the next few years. NCEI is increasing their staff to support that effort, bringing new employees and their families to the region. This will add 30 to 45 individuals to the prior staff of about 250 people.
The IPG program will involve discussions with major economic industries and their trade groups not previously represented by the US government, including reinsurance, retail, and architecture and engineering to create products and services which support those industries.
A new project, the Industry Proving Grounds initiative, will bring $75 million and 30 to 45 additional employees and their families to the Asheville area. IPG will involve discussions with industries and their associated trade groups that have not previously been represented by the US government, including reinsurance, retail, architecture and engineering, with a goal of creating products and services to support those industries.
“It’s an iterative process with those industries to improve how we're delivering environmental information to the private sector,” Fortune said. “Since the project kickoff in January, there has been lots of initial investigating regarding individuals in these industries we can engage with. As products are being developed and industries are able to use them, we’ll be promoting them to ensure users are aware of them and to demonstrate that the US taxpayer dollar is being spent wisely to improve services.”
Relationships fostered by the NCEI headquarters office extend beyond industry trade groups, the military, and intergovernmental personnel. Grant agreements with educational institutions like NC State University continue to facilitate projects locally, adding to statewide, national, and global impacts of the work done by this organization.
“We’ve been in the Asheville community for a long time, and we’re a group of mostly highly-educated people who are very focused and passionate about solving the challenge of our changing environment,” Fortune said. “Most of us are embedded into the community here. We all love living in Western North Carolina, and we want to see the region succeed, while also being lucky enough to be able to work at NOAA.”