On September 8th, we released a new version of SESAR. As part of this release, SESAR underwent a server migration to AWS cloud infrastructure. This release also includes enhancements and improvements.

Enhancements to SESAR include supporting TIFF images as thumbnails on sample landing pages and  improved function and use of dropdown menu to sort countries in alphabetical order. Improvements include the addition of 10 countries and 3 sample types in vocabularies and terminologies for better metadata accuracy.

Bugs related to ORCID logins, duplicate accounts, and new user account registrations have been resolved.

You can review the full list on the SESAR Release Notes page.

If you have questions about SESAR, please contact info@geosamples.org.

SESAR² v8.1.0 Released

SESAR is scheduled for a server migration to AWS cloud infrastructure which will impact services on Thursday, September 8th, 2022, between 10:00am and 11:00am EDT.

During the scheduled service, the MySESAR dashboard, sample registrations, and SESAR² web services will be unavailable. Please refrain from registering or updating samples during this time.

If you have questions please email info@geosamples.org.

SESAR Service Scheduled for September 8th

A new name, a new role for the IGSN Organization and Identifier

SESAR is an ‘Allocating Agent’ for the IGSN e.V., the implementation organization of the IGSN. We provide IGSNs during the sample registration process, and we maintain the metadata profile pages that an IGSN ‘resolves’ to. In addition to the registration metadata required by the IGSN e.V., SESAR collects and maintains descriptive metadata unique to the SESAR community.

SESAR is excited to share news about some changes to the IGSN e.V.:

The IGSN e.V. Executive Committee announces the new name of the IGSN e.V.: International Generic Sample Number Organization e.V. The new name was approved by the IGSN e.V. General Assembly. The IGSN ID will now be called the International Generic Sample Number to reflect its expanding scope and utilization. Through the partnership between the IGSN e.V. and DataCite, IGSN IDs can now be used in any discipline to identify physical objects.

The mission of the International Generic Sample Number Organization e.V. is to provide guidance on best practices and standards for FAIR samples across disciplines. FAIR samples follow the principles of findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable research resources.

SESAR will continue to provide IGSN registration services as part of our broader suite of services.  As the partnership between the IGSN e.V. and DataCite evolves, we will share any news or impacts with our members.

For additional information see the following resource:

Blog post about the IGSN-DataCite partnership

New name for IGSN

The Index to Marine and Lacustrine Geological Samples (IMLGS) that has been developed and maintained by NOAA’s NCEI, has been decommissioned and will no longer be accessible on the NCEI web site starting May 5, 2025. In order to ensure continued access and updates to the IMLGS, SESAR and NCEI have agreed that SESAR will take over stewardship of this resource. SESAR staff is working with NCEI and the marine and lacustrine repository community to ensure persistence of this valuable resource. 

SESAR is planning a phased approach to continuing the services of the IMLGS: 

Phase Ia (completed December 1, 2025): Provide access to the current content of the IMLGS. SESAR will create a user interface for searching the current IMLGS and displaying search results. The priority is to make the contents of the IMLGS accessible again as quickly as possible and minimize downtime after the May 5 shutdown of NCEI-based Interactive Map Tool.

Phase Ib (completed February 10, 2026): SESAR has assumed management of the IMLGS Curators Listserv, previously hosted by NCEI. This listserv is an unmoderated forum for discussion and announcements related to the Curators group and Index to Marine and Lacustrine Geological Samples (IMLGS) database. To join the listserv, request to join here (log in to a Google email account first, or email info@geosamples.org to be manually added to the list): https://groups.google.com/a/geosamples.org/g/imlgs

Phase II (in progress, requires additional funding): Fully integrate the IMLGS services with SESAR. SESAR is starting to work with NCEI and contributing sample repositories to understand their needs and desires for a streamlined data ingest process and user needs for search. Based on these needs and desires, we will generate an implementation plan and try to identify sources of funding to perform the necessary technical developments.

Please note that much of the IMLGS data remains accessible also via GeoMapApp here.

We are grateful for the many notes of support we have received from the community reiterating the importance of the IMLGS resource and expressing gratitude to SESAR for helping to steward this resource in the future. We thank the community for your continued support and patience with this transition. 

If you have questions or comments, please reach out to us at info@geosamples.org.

Notice to the Community Regarding the IMLGS

We are excited to announce the release of our new “Teams” feature, live now in MySESAR. Teams allows multiple users to work on a shared platform within MySESAR, each utilizing their own individual account. This feature was designed to support groups that require multiple members to access and maintain shared sample metadata within their institution. We will be hosting two informational webinars on March 24th and April 3rd to introduce the Teams feature. To sign up, please see the links below:

March 24, 2025 at 11am ET: Register here

April 3, 2025 at 2pm ET: Register here

With the release of the Teams feature, the legacy GeoPass login system will now officially shut down on June 1, 2025. After June 1, 2025, SESAR will solely utilize ORCID validation for login and access to MySESAR. If you have not yet added your ORCID to your account, you can do this by following the steps outlined in our previous newsletter describing the GeoPass Phase out.

Our team is ready to support you during this transition, if you have any concerns or questions please email us at info@geosamples.org.

New Feature Release: Teams Functionality

The following message was sent to SESAR users who are not yet using ORCID to log in to their MySESAR accounts, in anticipation of the shutdown of the legacy IEDA2 GeoPass authentication system in 2025.

Dear SESAR2 GeoPass User,

This message is to inform you that SESAR2 is shutting down its GeoPass login system on January 1st, 2025. You are receiving this message because you have a GeoPass account currently registered with SESAR2. 

After January 1st, 2025, SESAR2 will solely utilize ORCID validation for login and access to MySESAR. ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) is a free, unique, persistent identifier for individuals. Usage of this internationally-recognized identifier and validation service makes our system safer and easier to access.

ACTION REQUIRED FROM YOU: To ensure undisrupted access and functionality to your SESAR2 account, please login to MySESAR via GeoPass and add your ORCID by December 31st, 2024. You can do this now by:

Registering for an ORCID if you do not have one: https://orcid.org/register

Logging into your SESAR account using GeoPass: https://geopass.iedadata.org/josso/

Under “MyAccount,” add your ORCID. This will allow you to “Login with your ORCID” once GeoPass is no longer available.


For our institutional and web services users, we understand this transition may bring changes that impact your workflow:


For institutional accounts using GeoPass, the primary SESAR2 user from the institution should link their ORCID to the institutional GeoPass. In the coming months we will make changes on the backend that will make it possible to create “Organizations” within SESAR2 and assign and/or transfer sample management permissions to multiple people.

Web Services registrations will begin incorporating ORCID authentication in the coming months. Access through GeoPass will no longer be available after January 1st, 2025.


We are dedicated to helping make this transition as smooth as possible for you. Please email us at info@geosamples.org with any questions or concerns.

Thank you!
The SESAR2 Team

sesar

SESAR Service Scheduled for September 8th

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