The World Heat Flow Database project: a new research data infrastructure for a community-driven Global Heat Flow Database

The Global Heat Flow Database (GHFDB) is fostered and maintained by the International Heat Flow Commission (IHFC) for nearly 60 years. During these decades, the technological database concepts and storing capabilities evolved, allowing to add entries in the heat-flow database and underlying scientific methods according to the state of the art and database technology. In 2019, a collaborative database revision process started to provide a quality-assured and authenticated database. The community-driven approach, called the Global Heat Flow Data Assessment Project, started with a discussion of a new database structure to substitute the former database structure from 1976. It was designed to scrutinize and reassess the stored heat flow data according to the new structure. In parallel, the DFG-funded World Heat Flow Database project is developing a modern research data infrastructure for the new global compilation of heat flow data. It will offer comprehensive information on heat-flow related data, publications, projects, and researchers. It is designed to reflect the criteria of FAIR and OPEN data policy and to support the interoperability with other geoscientific data services