This page contains links to datasources that are relevant for environmental investigations. Some of these datasets are already viewable on the maps on this site; visit https://publiclab.org/people where you can view and turn on layers by using the layer panel in the upper righthand corner:
To learn more about the Leaflet Environmental Layers project that powers the map shown above, and request additional layers to be added, visit https://publiclab.org/notes/sagarpreet/06-06-2018/leaflet-environmental-layer-library
Large Governmental Data Banks
| Type of Data |
Description |
Link |
| EPA's Environmental Dataset Gateway |
EPA's official open data catalog, hosts all EPA data |
https://edg.epa.gov/metadata/catalog/main/home.page |
| NOAA's National Climate Data Center- Climate Data Online |
Provides free access to NCDC's archive of global historical weather and climate data in addition to station history information. These data include quality controlled daily, monthly, seasonal, and yearly measurements of temperature, precipitation, wind, and degree days as well as radar data and 30-year Climate Normals. |
https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cdo-web/ |
| NASA's Data Portal |
catalog of publicly available NASA datasets, APIs, visualizations, and more |
https://data.nasa.gov/ |
Water-Related Data
Land-Related Data
Air-Related Data
| Type of Data |
Description |
Link |
| Global Radar Data |
NCEI's Radar Archive includes the Next Generation Weather Radar System (NEXRAD) and Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (TDWR) networks. The NOAA Radar Operations Center provides centralized meteorological, software, maintenance, and engineering support and documentation. |
https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/radar-data |
| NASA Atmospheric Data |
Carbon monoxide, cloud water density, and other global data |
https://neo.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/dataset_index.php#atmosphere |
| NOAA Land-Based Data |
Land-based, or surface, observations include temperature, dew point, relative humidity, precipitation, wind speed and direction, visibility, atmospheric pressure, and types of weather occurrences such as hail, fog, and thunder collected for locations on every continent. |
https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/land-based-station-data |
| NOAA Weather Balloon data |
Weather data from the atmosphere, beginning at three meters above the Earth's surface, are considered weather balloon or upper air data |
https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/weather-balloon-data |
| Air Now |
EPA's go-to site for air quality data, with a focus on criteria pollutants (including PM, Ozone, NOx, and SOx). Find current AQI here. |
www.AirNow.gov |
| Environmental Sensor Data Repository (ESDR) |
Collects air quality data from government sensors, Purple Air Monitors, and other sources. Time-series data are available for download. |
http://esdr.cmucreatelab.org/browse |
| Purple Air |
Particulate matter readings from all over the world. |
https://www.purpleair.com/map |
| Air Watch Bay Area |
Curated air toxics and PM data from sensors in and around oil refineries in the San Francisco Bay Area. |
www.airwatchbayarea.org |
Satellite Imagery & Data
Miscellaneous Data
| Type of Data |
Description |
Link |
| Alternative energy |
Source of data sets, maps, models, and tools for the analysis of energy and energy-efficiency technologies. |
https://www.nrel.gov/research/data-tools.html |
| CDC Oral Health Data |
Information on Oral Health in the United States |
https://www.cdc.gov/oralhealthdata/ |
| Disney wait times |
Wait times for rides at disney parks |
https://touringplans.com/walt-disney-world/crowd-calendar#DataSets |
| Educational Statistics |
Annual reports of US Educational Statistics |
https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/ |
| EPA Environmental Data Gateway |
Collection of US Government Environmental Data Sets |
https://edg.epa.gov/metadata/catalog/main/home.page |
| Environmental Exposome |
Public Health Exposome provides a systems approach designed to capture the totality of one’s exposures across the lifespan from conception to death. |
http://communitymappingforhealthequity.org/environmental-data/ |
| Environmental Data & Governance Initiative |
Working with partners we preserve vulnerable scientific data and web pages from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy, and other agencies. |
https://envirodatagov.org |
| FishNet |
Global Database of Fish Collection Specimens |
http://www.fishnet2.net/ |
| HerpNet |
Global Database of Herpetological Collections |
http://www.herpnet.org |
| National Bullying Statistics |
Bullying Statistics in the US |
https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d14/tables/dt14_230.45.asp |
| NOHSS Adult Indicators |
Adults who have visited a dentist in the United States |
https://chronicdata.cdc.gov/Oral-Health/NOHSS-Adult-Indicators-Adults-who-have-visited-a-d/c2kg-wtx6 |
| OECD Environmental Data Collection |
Collection of data on climate, forest, air quality, etc curated by OECD |
https://data.oecd.org/environment.htm |
| Paleoclimatology Data |
Paleoclimatology data are derived from natural sources such as tree rings, ice cores, corals, and ocean and lake sediments. |
https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/paleoclimatology-data |
| Planetary Fact Sheet |
Information on planets in our solar system |
https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/ |
| PV cell output data |
Information on solar panel power output globally |
https://pvoutput.org/outputs.jsp |
| US County-level Data |
County-by county information on prisons, energy, etc |
https://ce.naco.org/ |
Questions
To view other people's questions about datasources, scroll through the table below. To ask whether anyone knows of the availability of a particular type of datasource, click the button and type in your own question: