A blog post recounts that the Climate.gov website was destroyed, but community-driven open data efforts successfully preserved the climate data that was previously publicly available. This incident highlights the fragility of government-hosted data and the critical role of open data advocacy in ensuring public access to taxpayer-funded research, especially for climate science that informs policy and adaptation. The preservation was carried out by volunteers using existing open data archives; the future relevance of the site depends on continued collection and funding, which remains uncertain without government support.
Background
Climate.gov is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) primary online portal for climate data, tools, and information. Open data preservation refers to the long-term archiving of datasets in accessible formats, often by independent groups, to guard against loss due to policy changes, technical failures, or censorship.
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Discussion
Commenters praised the rescue of publicly funded data but debated the sustainability of relying on donations versus government funding. Some suggested using IPFS for default static publication of government content to decentralize preservation, while others noted that dynamic government services complicate such an approach.