We are certainly not the first to make public zarrs of weather data. What’s new is a long-term commitment to maintaining the open-source code and open data repositories we produce and an organization purpose-built to do just that.
dynamical.org's mission is to advance humanity's ability to access, understand, and act on accurate weather and climate data.
The organization is designed for long-term operations and stewardship using what we call "Public Benefit Corporation, Hardcore Mode." In this model we explicitly:
- prohibit sale of the organization;
- require (hypothetical) profit be reinvested in the organization's purpose; and
- set organizational priorities led by active members and users.
Why? We want the data and code produced to be stewarded by an organization that will be here for the long-term. None of us want to build on a foundation that shifts or crumbles in a few years. The result is a stewardship organization designed to operate independently and perpetually.