NSF seeks to transform the conduct of research in geosciences by supporting innovative approaches to community created cyberinfrastructure that integrates knowledge management across the Geosciences. The Geosciences Directorate (GEO) and the Office of Cyberinfrastructure (OCI) are partnering to address the multifaceted challenges of modern, data-intensive science and education and encourage the community to envision and create an environment where low adoption thresholds and new capabilities act together to greatly increase the productivity and capability of researchers and educators working at the frontiers of Earth system science.

NSF believes the geosciences community is prepared to plan for and prototype transformative approaches that use innovative technologies to allow heterogeneous data to be integrated, made interoperable, explored and re-purposed by researchers in disparate fields and for myriad uses across institutional, disciplinary, spatial and temporal boundaries. It is time to integrate these data and technologies in an open, adaptable and sustainable framework (an "Earth-Cube") to enable transformative research and education in Earth System Science; foster common data models and data-focused methodologies; develop next generation search and data tools; and advance application software to integrate data from various sources and advance knowledge.

NSF will report on process and outcomes of community efforts to develop approaches to Earth Cube and follow on activities leading towards prototype development.