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Finding ACCESS data

There are two data catalogues that can be used to find ACCESS model data:

Which catalogue to use depends on the type of data you are looking for.

Which data catalogue should I use?

  • If you are looking for a published, citable ACCESS-related dataset:
    → Use the NCI Data Catalogue
  • If you want to discover what ACCESS data exists (e.g. by variable, frequency, or resolution), or find data that may not yet be published:
    → Use the ACCESS-NRI Data Catalogue

Both catalogues are publicly available. However, access to the underlying data files usually requires an NCI account and membership to specific NCI projects, with a few exceptions noted below.

NCI Data Catalogue

The NCI Data Catalogue is a publicly accessible web-based catalogue. It is the authoritative source for published and curated ACCESS datasets hosted at the National Computational Infrastructure (NCI).

The catalogue allows you to search and browse for datasets and includes:

  • dataset titles and descriptions
  • model, experiment, and project information
  • publication status and citation details
  • links to documentation and data locations at NCI
  • links to download files from supported datasets over the web via THREDDS

Best for: finding published ACCESS datasets
Without an NCI account: browse the catalogue, view all dataset metadata, download some data
With an NCI account: access all underlying data files
More information: Refer to the NCI Data Catalogue User Guide for guidance on data access, project membership, and storage systems

Info

The NCI Data Catalogue is designed to search dataset-level metadata, rather than the internal contents of datasets (e.g., individual variable names).

ACCESS-NRI Data Catalogue

The ACCESS-NRI Data Catalogue supports discovery of ACCESS model and other related datasets across a wide range of model configurations and experiments, including datasets that are not yet formally published. Note that some datasets are present in both the ACCESS-NRI and NCI catalogues.

Unlike the NCI Data Catalogue, the ACCESS-NRI Catalogue allows searching based on metadata describing the contents of the data, including:

  • variable names
  • temporal frequency of output
  • realms
  • model components, configurations, and experiments

The ACCESS-NRI Catalogue is accessible in the following ways:

Best for: exploring what ACCESS data exists and discovering datasets based on their metadata attributes, loading and using data
Without an NCI account: view the catalogue (data will not be accessible)
With an NCI account: access the catalogue and datasets on Gadi
More information: Refer to the ACCESS-NRI Intake Catalogue and ACCESS-NRI Interactive Catalogue pages.