EARTH SCIENCE INFORMATION PARTNERS (ESIP) IS A BROAD-BASED DISTRIBUTED COMMUNITY OF SCIENCE DATA AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PRACTITIONERS. CREATED BY NASA IN 1998 ESIP WAS FORMED IN RESPONSE TO A NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL RECOMMENDATION CALLING FOR THE INVOLVEMENT OF COMMUNITY STAKEHOLDERS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF NASA S EOSDIS AS A CRITICAL ELEMENT OF THE U.S. GLOBAL CHANGE RESEARCH PROGRAM. THE ESSENCE OF THIS CHARGE IS THE HEART OF ESIP S MISSION: TO SUPPORT THE NETWORKING AND DATA DISSEMINATION NEEDS OF OUR MEMBERS AND THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY BY LINKING THE FUNCTIONAL SECTORS OF OBSERVATION RESEARCH APPLICATION EDUCATION AND ULTIMATE USE OF EARTH SCIENCE. THROUGHOUT NASA S STRATEGIC PLAN IT IS CLEAR THAT NASA NEEDS ACADEMIC INDUSTRY NON-PROFIT AND OTHER AGENCY PARTNERS IN ORDER TO SOLVE THE COMPLEX TECHNICAL ISSUES FACING OUR PLANET. CURRENTLY ESIP IS SUPPORTED BY NASA NOAA AND USGS. ESIP HAS CONTINUALLY GROWN AND ATTRACTED A DIVERSE GROUP OF PARTNERS NOW INCLUDING MORE THAN 100 MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS. ESIP MEMBERSHIP IS DIVERSE ON A NUMBER OF DIMENSIONS: * MEMBERS SPAN THE DATA VALUE CHAIN FROM DATA CENTERS AND DATA PROVIDERS TO RESEARCHERS TO APPLICATION DEVELOPERS. * MEMBERS CROSS ECONOMIC SECTORS AND INCLUDE ACADEMIC COMMERCIAL PUBLIC AND NON-PROFIT REPRESENTATIVES. * MEMBERS REPRESENT A VARIETY OF DOMAINS AND INCLUDE LAND ATMOSPHERE OCEANS SOLID EARTH ECOLOGY COMPUTER INFORMATION AND SOCIAL SCIENCES. THE ESIP COMMUNITY ADVANCES THE EARTH SCIENCE DATA AND INFORMATICS FIELDS BY CREATING NEW DIRECTIONS IN RESEARCH AND EDUCATION BY COMING TOGETHER AROUND COMMON TECHNICAL FOCUS AREAS. THESE GROUPS CREATE AND IMPLEMENT INNOVATIVE IDEAS FOR NETWORKING STRATEGIES COLLABORATIVE TECHNOLOGIES AND DEVELOPMENT OF COMMUNITY STANDARDS FOR DATA AND METADATA. BY HAVING STRONG CONNECTIONS BETWEEN ESIP AND NASA NASA CAN RECOGNIZE AND APPLY SIGNIFICANT NEW UNDERSTANDING TO SCIENCE QUESTIONS DEVELOP RESEARCH PRODUCTS AND METHODS AND APPLY EMERGING SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY TO USER NEEDS. ADDITIONALLY ESIP IS DRAWING INTEREST FROM OUTSIDE ITS TRADITIONAL BASE. MORE RECENTLY NSF- AND USGS-FUNDED ACTIVITIES ARE JOINING ESIP AND BY EXTENSION THE AGENCIES THEMSELVES ARE SHOWING GREATER INTEREST THROUGH AGENCY-SPECIFIC INITIATIVES LIKE NOAA S ENVIRONMENTAL DATA MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE NASA S EARTH SCIENCE DATA SYSTEMS WORKING GROUPS AND USGS COMMUNITY FOR DATA INTEGRATION. ESIP HAS BECOME A PREFERRED VENUE FOR AGENCY PRACTITIONERS WHO ARE SEEKING INFORMAL COORDINATION AND INFORMATION SHARING ACROSS AGENCIES AND WITH THE BROADER COMMUNITY.. ESIP INITIATIVES WILL NOT BE FINISHED IN A YEAR. A MULTI-YEAR FUNDING PERIOD IS ESSENTIAL TO PROVIDING A STABLE BASE FOR ESIP TO SUPPORT ITS LONGER-TERM VISION AND CONTINUOUSLY SUPPORT THE ESIP NETWORK AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES THAT NEED PERSISTENT STABLE SUPPORT TO FULLY EVOLVE. THE LONGER-TERM FUNDING WOULD BE COUPLED WITH A SHORTER CYCLE OF EVALUATION WITH NASA TO ENSURE THAT CURRENT ACTIVITIES ARE IN LINE WITH NASA S LONG-TERM VISION.