sesar

System for Earth & Extra-terrestrial Sample Registration

Contribute Sample Metadata Content

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MySESAR is a place to manage information about your research samples: store and edit sample metadata, link related datasets and publications, create sample labels, register samples with IGSN ID’s, and more.

Resource Content

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SESAR provides resources for Researchers, Institutions, and Developers for describing, registering and uniquely identifying samples following community Best Practices.

IMLGS Content

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The Index to Marine and Lacustrine Geological Samples (IMLGS) was maintained by NOAA’s NCEI until May 5, 2025. SESAR is now stewarding this data product and is working with the community to ensure continued access.

Find Samples Content

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Explore the SESAR Catalog to find samples in curated and uncurated collections across the world.

SESAR is part of The IEDA2 Data Facility, funded through a Cooperative Agreement with NSF-EAR.

Welcome to SESAR, the System for Earth and Extraterrestrial Sample Registration

SESAR is a community platform that helps make samples more discoverable, accessible, and reusable, and connects samples with the knowledge ecosystem derived from them. 

SESAR provides access to a global digital index of samples, specimens, and related sampling features from our natural environment that are registered in SESAR by its users. SESAR develops and operates digital tools and infrastructure for researchers, institutions, and sample facilities to store and openly share information about their samples.

SESAR is an IGSN Allocating Agent. Every sample submitted to the SESAR index is assigned an IGSN that consists of the SESAR ‘shared prefix’ 10.58052 and suffix, which gives the sample a globally unique identifier. This allows the sample to be unambiguously cited and linked to data and publications, and tracked on its path through labs and repositories.  Registration with IGSN makes samples Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR).

SESAR works with scientific communities to help create standards for sample metadata registration. This work helps create a streamlined way for community members to register their samples in SESAR in a way that aligns with their community’s standards

Contribute your samples today! If you have any questions or feedback, do not hesitate to contact us.

Our community: repositories and institutions making samples discoverable through SESAR
State of Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys Logo
Alaska Volcano Observatory Logo
University of Arizona Environmental Science Department Logo
Arizona Geological Survey Logo
Arizona State University Biodiversity Knowledge Initiative Logo
British Geological Survey Logo
Blue Marble Space Institute of Science Logo
Bureau of Economic Geology University of Texas at Austin Logo
Geological Survey of Alabama Logo
GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel Logo
German Archaeological Institute Romano-Germanic Commission Logo
Gulf Coast Repository Logo
GeoZentrum Nordbayern Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg Logo
Harvard University Mineralogical and Geological Museum Logo
Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra Spain Logo
International Continental Scientific Drilling Program Logo
Idaho State University Logo
Indiana Geological & Water Survey Logo
Illinois Natural History Survey Prairie Research Institute logo
Illinois Natural History Survey Logo
Integrated Ocean Drilling Program
Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris Logo
Institute of Marine Research Norway Logo
Jackson School of Geosciences University of Texas at Austin Logo
Kentucky Geological Survey Logo
Kochi Core Center Japan Logo
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Columbia University Logo
MARUM Center for Marine Environmental Sciences University of Bremen Logo
MARUM University of Bremen logo
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute Logo
NSF NEON National Ecological Observatory Network Logo
Northwestern University Logo
Oak Ridge National Laboratory Logo
Penn State College of Earth and Mineral Sciences Logo
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Polar Rock Repository Oregon State University Logo
Rice University Logo
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Logo
University of California Riverside Logo
UC San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography Logo
University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography Logo
United States Antarctic Program Logo
USGS Astrogeology Science Center Logo
Utah Geological Survey Logo
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Logo
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