Continuing Operations Proposal: the Polar Rock Repository - a Sample and Data Resource for the Earth Sciences

极地地区的地质实地考察在后勤上很困难，财政上很昂贵，并且可能对原始地区产生重大的环境影响。南极洲98%被冰覆盖，裸露的岩石露头稀少，使得以前收集的岩石样本对长期气候变化、行星科学、古生物学、地质学、海洋科学等学科的科学界非常有价值。2003年在俄亥俄州州立大学建立了美国极地岩石储存库，以满足保存极地地区岩石、疏浚物和陆地岩心样本的需要。极地岩石储存库寻找，接受和管理主要从南极洲和南大洋收集的地质样品。极地岩石储存库的存在使以高昂的财政成本收集的样本能够充分发挥其科学潜力。目前，超过55,000个样品可作为研究，教育和博物馆展览的免费贷款。除了物理样本之外，存储库还将收集者提供的支持材料存档，例如样本的图像、现场地图、航空照片、薄切片以及任何相关的参考书目/数字对象标识符。科学家，研究生和本科生经常使用极地岩石储存库的样本进行研究项目。Polar Rock Repository还免费贷款一个教育“岩石盒”，其中包含代表性的岩石，化石和矿物样本，有关地质和南极洲的书籍和活动，以来自美国各地的大学预科教师。 Polar Rock Repository最近开发了一个“虚拟岩石盒”，允许在课堂之外进行类似的活动。美国Polar Rock Repository（PRR）提供极地岩石样本收集和元数据的管理。它是为数不多的允许对样本使用破坏性研究技术的出借岩石储存库之一。项目执行情况报告网站和内部数字元数据档案为全球传播数据提供了条件，并为试点研究、提案编制和外地后勤规划提供了独特的资源。PRR提供对元数据和集合的免费、完整和开放访问。在这个奖项的过程中，PRR将积极与研究界合作，以获得科学上有价值的岩石收藏和补充材料，这将提高PRR的收藏。样本将按照标准的策展实践进行编目，并通过伯德极地气候和研究中心开发的藏品管理系统的面向公众部分进行分类。这些物理样本的保存，沿着相关元数据的存档，以及在可检索的在线数据库中包括数字对象标识符，使得极地地球科学研究具有透明度和可再现性。将继续更新和改进收款管理系统。策展人将继续通过参加会议，创建网络研讨会和联系科学家了解该设施的新藏品来推进PRR的可重复性。PRR将继续履行样品贷款，并加强与其他储存库和数据管理实体的联系，以更好地实现跨学科研究。教育推广到大学预科学校将继续与“极地岩石盒”被免费提供给学校与在美国。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得的支持，通过评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

Geological field expeditions in polar regions are logistically difficult, financially expensive, and can have a significant environmental impact on pristine regions. The scarcity of exposed rock outcrop in Antarctica, which is 98% ice-covered, makes previously collected rock samples very valuable to the science community in disciplines like long term climate change, planetary science, paleontology, geology, marine science, and more. The U.S. Polar Rock Repository was established at the Ohio State University in 2003 to meet the need for preserving rock, dredge, and terrestrial core samples from polar areas. The Polar Rock Repository seeks out, accepts, and curates geological samples collected primarily from Antarctica and the southern oceans. The existence of the Polar Rock Repository allows samples collected at a high financial cost to be used to their full scientific potential. Currently more than 55,000 samples are available as no-cost loans for research, education, and museum exhibits. In addition to the physical samples, the repository archives supporting materials from the collector, such as images of the samples, field maps, air photos, thin sections, and any associated bibliography/Digital Object Identifiers. Scientists, graduate students, and undergraduate students routinely use samples from the Polar Rock Repository for their research projects. The Polar Rock Repository also freely loans an educational 'rock box' that contains representative rock, fossil and mineral samples, books and activities about geology and Antarctica to pre-college teachers from across the United States. The Polar Rock Repository recently developed a “virtual rock box” to allow similar activities to occur outside of the classroom.The U.S. Polar Rock Repository (PRR) provides stewardship of polar rock sample collections and metadata. It is one of the few lending rock repositories to allow destructive research techniques to be used on samples. The PRR website and in-house digital metadata archive provides for global dissemination of data and a unique resource for pilot studies, proposal preparation and field logistics planning. The PRR provides free, full and open access to metadata and collections. Over the course of this award, the PRR will work proactively with the research community to acquire scientifically valuable rock collections and supplementary materials that will enhance the PRR collection. Samples will be cataloged following standard curatorial practices and will be made discoverable through the public facing portion of the Collections Management system developed at the Byrd Polar Climate and Research Center. The preservation of these physical samples, along with archiving of associated metadata, and inclusion of Digital Object Identifiers in a discoverable online database, allows for transparency and reproducibility in polar earth science research. The Collections Management System will continue to be updated and improved. The Curator will continue to advance the discoverability of the PRR by attending meetings, creating a webinar and contacting scientists about new collections at the facility. The PRR will continue to fulfill loans of samples and enhance the links with other repositories and data management entities to better enable interdisciplinary research. Educational outreach to pre-college schools will continue with the 'polar rock box' being freely available to schools with in the United States.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.