A Data Management System and Portal for Access to Ecological and Biogeochemical Ocean Data

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole MA

Investigators

Abstract

The primary objective of this project is to address the requirement for a data management system that can easily disseminate, protect, and provide short and intermediate term storage of marine biogeochemical and ecological data. The goal is to provide research scientists and others with the tools and systems necessary to work with marine biogeochemical and ecological data from heterogeneous sources with increased efficacy. The accomplishment of this goal will start from the basis of the two former data management offices (from U.S. JGOFS and U.S. GLOBEC) and will better provide for funded investigators in the NSF Ocean Science Chemical and Biological Oceanography sections to submit their electronic data/metadata and other information for open distribution via the World Wide Web both during the course of their research and once they have completed it. The extant JGOFS/GLOBEC Client/Server distributed data management system software will be used to enable the serving of data and information to every investigator, regardless of computing platform. In addition, the data office will establish web services for data discovery, and development of a machine-to-machine application programming interface (API) to allow interoperability between data systems on the web. During the project, the office will manage existing and new data sets from individual scientific investigators and collaborative groups of investigators, and will continue to make these available via any standard web browser. The office will work with principal investigators on data quality control; maintain an inventory and program thesaurus of strictly defined field names; generate metadata Directory Interchange Format (DIF) records required by Federal agencies; ensure submission of data to national data centers as possible; support and encourage data synthesis by providing new, online, web-based display tools; facilitate interoperability among different data portals; and facilitate regional, national, and international data and information exchange. Data management fundamentally involves interactions between people regardless of progress made in automated data handling. As an effective way to establish and foster collaborative relationships with participating scientists, the office will participate in regularly scheduled national and international meetings (e.g. AGU, AGU/ASLO/TOS Ocean Science, OCEANS, etc.). It will also use science conferences as opportunities to communicate results of ongoing activities, especially the dissemination of knowledge gained concerning data management best practices. All of these communications will also be available via the web presence for those scientists unable to travel to the meeting venue. An important part of this project will be the publication of tutorial and best practice guidelines developed in collaboration with participating researchers to help them streamline and improve the data reporting process, particularly with respect to metadata. Outreach will also take the form of active participation in collaborations to address quality assurance and quality control issues of the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) and the broader international community, and in working with the Marine Metadata Interoperability (MMI) project. This project will enhance the infrastructure for research and education by providing high-quality well-documented scientific data and web-based tools to teachers and students at all levels.