Important:
SESAR is unable to accept new IGSN registrations until an accounting issue is resolved with the IGSN registration agency. The SESAR services will be read-only except for edits to existing samples until this issue is resolved. We anticipate resumption of normal service early January 2023.

Background:
We previously announced upcoming changes to the IGSN infrastructure as a consequence of the IGSN e.V. and DataCite partnership. Technical challenges associated with the transfer have been resolved, however some issues related to the change of account administration have not yet been resolved, and we do not expect these to be addressed until after the Christmas / New Years period.

Please note that starting January 2023, new samples registered with SESAR will use DataCite’s DOI infrastructure and so IGSNs will have a different structure as described below. The change will not impact IGSNs registered before 2023, and existing IGSNs will be progressively re-registered with DataCite over the coming months to guarantee ongoing resolution.

The main difference is that new IGSNs include a prefix to the current IGSN structure. The prefix is determined by DataCite and is of the form 10.XXXXX where XXXXX is a numeric value that varies between IGSN allocators. The prefix is necessary to ensure ongoing global uniqueness of IGSN identifiers and to facilitate resolution with the DataCite DOI infrastructure.

Current IGSN identifiers follow a simple pattern such as:

New IGSN identifiers will follow the pattern:

The recommended form for expressing the IGSN as a URL is:

Although the URL forms: https://igsn.org/IEAMN007P and https://igsn.org/10.XXXXX/IEAMN007P will continue to provide the same functionality

You will receive the prefix with any new sample registrations. To help ensure ongoing global uniqueness, the prefix should be included when referencing any IGSNs.

The SESAR team is available to answer any questions you may have. For questions on SESAR² sample registration services, please contact us at info@geosamples.org.
For more information about the changes to the IGSN structure, please get in touch with DataCite at info@datacite.org  and support@datacite.org.

IGSN Changes and Disruption to Registration Services

The SESAR team will be hosting an information session at the AGU Fall Meeting on the upcoming changes to IGSN and its impacts on how to use the IGSN. This session will be part of the Open Science and Data Help Desk, Booth #1901 located in the Exhibit Hall. We will provide information about the new IGSN ID structure and changes to the registration process, sample and sample metadata, and general inquiries.


Please join us on Wednesday, December 14th, 2022 from 12 pm – 1 pm CT.

For resources on the upcoming transition, please see the IGSN e.V. and DataCite partnership agreement and DataCite’s IGSN registration guide and FAQs.

SESAR at AGU Open Science & Help Desk

In October 2021, IGSN e.V. and DataCite announced a partnership to bring IGSN onto the DataCite infrastructure for global implementation and long-term sustainability. 

As part of this partnership, new samples registered with SESAR will start to follow DataCite’s DOI infrastructure in January 2023, bringing changes to the current IGSN namespace structure and allocation procedure. Legacy (existing) IGSNs will remain as is and will continue to resolve to the current handle server. 

Our primary services will continue to remain the same. SESAR will continue providing IGSNs through the registration process and maintain the metadata profile pages that IGSNs resolve to. In addition, SESAR will continue collecting and maintaining the extended descriptive metadata that are unique to the SESAR community. 

The transition timeline and details will be available before the end of 2022. As we learn more, we will continue to update our users on the specific details impacting SESAR and our community. 

In the meantime, we will be hosting a SESAR information session at the Open Science & Data Help Desk at the AGU Fall Meeting this December organized by ESIP, AGU, and their respective partners. We welcome our user community and interested parties to join us with any questions and concerns. The exact date and time have not been finalized yet, we will communicate it together with the event location as soon as we receive it.

For more information about the changes to the IGSN structure, please get in touch with DataCite at info@datacite.org and support@datacite.org. For additional questions on SESAR sample registration services, please get in touch with us at info@geosamples.org.

IGSN Changes Coming Soon to SESAR

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

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SESAR at AGU Open Science & Help Desk

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