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Dataerai can pull datasets from the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) archive into one of your projects as metadata-first assets. The dataset’s metadata — title, DOI, type, authors, and coverage start date — is copied into Dataerai so it’s searchable and shareable alongside your own data. The files are not copied: clicking Download on an imported asset links out to NCEI’s data-access location for that dataset.
Imported assets are metadata-first: they describe and link to data that lives on NCEI. Nothing is stored in your Dataerai allocation, so importing doesn’t consume your quota.
Each NCEI dataset imports as a single asset. NCEI’s holdings are large, format-heterogeneous archives (served as directories of NetCDF, GRIB, or CSV files), so rather than enumerate every file, each dataset becomes one asset whose Download points at the dataset’s data-access directory on NCEI.

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Search NOAA NCEI

Open the Import from NOAA NCEI page and enter a query, then click Search.
  • The search is free text over NCEI’s archive — for example sea surface temperature, precipitation, or bathymetry.
  • Results show Title, Type, and Files, with the dataset ID and coverage start date under each title.
  • Use Per page (25, 100, 500, or 1000) to trade clicks for latency.
Datasets whose only data access is FTP — or which expose no direct download link — are omitted from results, because the Download button can only follow an http(s) location. A page can show fewer datasets than the result count for this reason; use Next to see more, or refine your search.

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Select and import

1

Select datasets

Tick the datasets you want. The header checkbox selects or clears everything on the current page; your selection is kept as you page through results. You can also click a row (or press Space or Enter on it) to toggle it.
2

Choose the destination project

Paste the UUID of the project that should own the new assets into the Import into project field.
3

Import

Click Import. Large selections are sent in batches automatically, with progress shown on the button. A single Import result panel then summarizes how many datasets were imported (and how many new assets were created), plus any that failed and why.
Because imported assets point at NOAA NCEI rather than your own storage, their files are only available while the NCEI dataset is. If you need a durable copy under your control, download the files and upload them as a regular asset instead.

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Next steps

Metadata-first assets

How assets that describe data elsewhere work in Dataerai.

Import from Zenodo

Pull public records from Zenodo into a project the same way.

Organize into collections

Group imported datasets alongside your own data.

Search & discover

Find imported datasets by title, type, creator, and metadata.