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Welcome to SESAR, the System for Earth 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.

SESAR’s services are developed and operated with and for a diverse community that includes

  • Researchers, who collect, curate, and use samples in their research projects, and publish sample-based observations and measurements
  • Institutions that house and manage research sample collections, including sample or core repositories, museums, research departments, laboratories, and others
  • Developers and data management specialists, who build and maintain data infrastructure for sample data and metadata
  • Publishers of Earth, environmental, and planetary science journals, who support open, transparent, and reproducible science
  • Funders, who support the collection, analysis, and curation of physical samples