The Commerce Department is teaming up with private sector leaders to research ways to provide the agency's vast amounts of data to the public and ignite new economic opportunities in the process.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration creates enough data each day to equal twice the Library of Congress and it wants to get that data out to the public. Doing so at scale and in a timely manner — i.e., while weather data is still relevant — is a daunting challenge, both from a technical perspective and cost.

Trading off the potential economic benefits — just look at the industry that evolved around National Weather Service data — NOAA is looking to private industry to create the platform to disseminate this data. This week, the administration announced partnerships with AWS, Google Cloud Platform, IBM, Microsoft and the University of Chicago's Open Cloud Consortium to find ways to do just that.

More: NOAA Big Data Project

The partners will lead teams researching the best methods for bringing NOAA's data to the public in timely and cost effective ways that also ensure the security and integrity of the information remains intact.

"The Commerce Department's data collection literally reaches from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun and this announcement is another example of our ongoing commitment to providing a broad foundation for economic growth and opportunity," said Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, announcing the partnerships during a keynote at the American Meteorological Society Washington Forum. "These collaborations will create open platforms where private industry, academia and individual innovators can access our data through the cloud on a completely new scale."

Once established, the cloud platforms will provide immediate access to NOAA data with minimal charges, intended to recoup costs rather than make a profit. In theory, unleashing the public on all that data will lead to the creation of new enterprises that will ultimately drive economic benefit.

More: NOAA asks industry to fund open data program

"Ease of access to the wealth of climate, weather and environmental data NOAA is making available will have an enormous impact on researchers across many disciplines," said Robert Grossman, director of the Open Cloud Consortium, noting his organization will be focused on making "finding and accessing this data easier for the academic, non-profit and research communities, to enable scientific analysis and to drive discovery."

"We cannot even begin to conceive of all the different uses and applications that could come out of opening up this data," Pritzker said. "Our hope is that the NOAA Big Data Project will enable innovation, drive discovery and make it easier for entrepreneurs to produce valuable products."

About Aaron Boyd

Aaron Boyd is an awarding-winning journalist currently serving as editor of Federal Times — a Washington, D.C. institution covering federal workforce and contracting for more than 50 years — and Fifth Domain — a news and information hub focused on cybersecurity and cyberwar from a civilian, military and international perspective.

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