To encourage people to add new data, the pipeline used to standardize the data is publicly available as part of the data set. This allows other researchers with access to similar data to grid and standardize it themselves before submitting it to the open database.

"Projects like this advance science through collaboration, accessibility and preservation of data," said Dee, who is also an author on the paper.

"This database will allow researchers across the world to ask questions about cloud formation, moisture transport processes, El Niño and La Niña, deforestation, soil moisture and more. It's so important to highlight that it's not just the collection of data that matters; it's also the effort it takes to make the data truly usable for the broader research community, students and even the public."

link to open access paper https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-026-08218-8