IN51D-01 INVITED
New Science for Global Problems: The Role of Cyberinfrastructure
Our sun and planet interact to form a complex system. In such systems prediction based on knowledge of the components alone is difficult: the history of the system is important; emergent features appear that are not necessarily observed in the individual pieces; and feedback makes simple cause and effect rare. Understanding the interconnected system is essential if we, as scientists, are going to attack major societal problems such as climate change impacts, availability of fresh water and food, the life cycle of resources, the timely response to hazards, the development of carbon-free energy, the sustainability of ecosystems and of biodiversity, and national security. Answering the science questions posed by this sun-planet system requires a new scientific infrastructure: one that engages the tools and capabilities of cyberinfrastructure with an interdisciplinary scientific inquiry process. The infrastructure must include geoinformatics - using virtual observatories and global assimilative models - as well as new mechanisms for doing the interconnected science. I will illustrate these concepts by describing one example from the international program on Climate and Weather in the Sun Earth System (CAWSES).
IN51D-02
Aligning Socio-Technical Work in Collaborative Scientific Networks: Lessons from the Social Sciences
This paper draws on scholarship in the social and information sciences and a series of comparative field studies from across the earth sciences to explore common strategies, tensions, and challenges confronting the builders and users of integrated data collections. The deep heterogeneity of data sets, information systems, project teams, and institutional configurations pose particular challenges of integration or alignment across distributed scientific teams and networks, frequently centered on socio-technical issues of access, trust, and governance. This paper will explore such challenges, review relevant contributions from the social sciences, and suggest some principles and rough heuristics intended to support more robust and sustainable efforts at interoperability in the marine sciences and related fields.
IN51D-03
New Incentives to Stimulate Data Publication
Data from ocean observations and experiments often are not submitted to appropriate data centers, or if they are submitted, may not be easily retrievable. These problems arise for a variety of reasons. Data are not always submitted, even when required by the agency funding the research, because the rewards for submitting data are not strong enough. Once data are submitted, the typical data center disaggregates the data into its component parameters, so it is difficult to get all the data related to a particular experiment back out of the system. With the advent of persistent identifiers, like digital object identifiers , the rapid evolution of the high-speed Internet, and the availability of large digital storage capacities that enable the transfer and storage of comprehensive data sets, it is now possible to restructure data management in a way that will create new incentives for ocean scientists to submit their data, for others to use it, and for the originating scientists to get credit for their effort and creativity in collecting the data. This presentation will report on a new activity of the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research and the International Ocean Data and Information Exchange of UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission that is mapping out new ways to (1) submit the data underlying the figures and tables in traditionally published papers to a recognized repository and link it to the publication, and (2) stimulate the submission of data publications that can be cited on originating scientists' CVs.
IN51D-04
Evolving Interoperable Data Systems Through Regional Collaborations
The Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System (GCOOS) is a federation of independent sub-regional observing systems. Most of these systems were in operation long before the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) Data Management and Communications (DMAC) guidelines were established. Hence, each local data management system evolved independently and interoperability was never a consideration. Achieving the goal of building an automated and largely unattended machine-to-machine interoperable data system for the region has proven to be more than a resource and technological challenge. Challenges also fall within the organizational and cultural realms. In 2008 NOAA funds were used to build the first instance of a GCOOS regional data portal and to harmonize the local data management systems of ten principal sub-regional data providers. Early efforts were focused on regional data catalogs, adoption of a common vocabulary for parameters, and deploying data service access points using common interfaces. This was done in full partnership between the data providers and the portal builders with the intent that local data providers remain independent nodes capable of participating in the vision of IOOS on their own. The data portal serves the region primarily as a central point for fusions of data and products.
IN51D-05
SeaDataNet as a model to serve data from the SCAR Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS) to the community
The importance of the Southern Ocean to the global climate system and the uniqueness of its ecosystems are well known. The region is remote and logistically difficult to access and thus is one of the least sampled regions on the planet. Design and implementation of an observing system that encompasses physical, biogeochemical and ecological processes is therefore a formidable challenge. The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) has, jointly with the SCAR/SCOR Expert Group on the Southern Ocean, started the process to develop such a Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS). The goals are to address major scientific questions and to coordinate measurement campaigns to do so. The Joint SCAR/COMNAP Committee on Antarctic Data Management (JCADM) is responsible for the design of the SOOS data flow system or Virtual Observatory, which will be used to archive and exchange data. JCADM is working in close cooperation with National Oceanographic Data Centres (NODCs), the International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange Committee of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC-IODE) and the IOC-WMO Joint Committee on Oceanography and Marine Meteorology (JCOMM). This presentation will focus on the European SeaDataNet project (www.seadatanet.org), which provides a real-world, operational model for access to and exchange of data from big observing systems such as the proposed SOOS and the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODNet).
IN51D-06 INVITED
Oceanographic Informatics in a Collaborative Environment.
Research in oceanography - and other multidisciplinary sciences - proceeds along three major lines: field observation, field and laboratory experimentation, and modeling. Data management and informatics have been an after-thought - if considered at all. More recently, the need for comprehensive scientific understanding, which forms the foundation for ecosystem-based management, has required the integration of oceanographic, fisheries, and other marine environmental data, as well as the development of analysis and assessment tools. Exponential increase in data sources and the proliferation and distributed nature of databases have created a fourth new and important line of marine research. Data management and informatics is now on par with lines of oceanographic research. Research priorities in this new field include approaches to rapid and efficient data acquisition, enhanced data management, more effective data utilization and reuse, and improved data visualization. Also, barriers or structural impediments to the free and open dissemination of data and information must be eliminated wherever possible. A critical proximate goal is to foster data discovery through enhanced metadata and common vocabularies. An ultimate goal is to create a cyberinfrastructure for oceanography that enables open, transparent, interoperable access to data and information, regardless of their location.
IN51D-07
Making Data Available via the Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office - Overview
The Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO) was created from the U.S.
Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (U.S. JGOFS) and the U.S. GLOBal ocean ECosystems dynamics (U.S.
GLOBEC) Data Management Offices. The BCO-DMO is a NSF funded project that provides support for
scientists funded by either the NSF's Biological or Chemical Oceanography Program Office to facilitate
making their projects' data publically accessible. To extend the domains of the U.S. JGOFS and U.S.
GLOBEC programs and to enable new capacities, the BCO-DMO formalized our metadata collection efforts
and designed and created the BCO-DMO metadata database. This database, together with our new website
content (http://www.bco-dmo.org) and a geospatial interface based on the University of Minnesota's
MapServer software, currently provide access to information and data from nine science programs and their
associated 27 projects. This presentation provides an overview and summary of the data discovery, data
access, display, download options, interoperability features, and capabilities of the BCO-DMO data system.
http://www.bco-dmo.org
IN51D-08
Enabling Long-Term Oceanographic Research: Changing Data Practices, Information Management Strategies and Informatics
Data management and informatics research are in a state of change in terms of data practices, information strategies, and roles. New ways of thinking about data and data management can facilitate interdisciplinary global ocean science. To meet contemporary expectations for local data use and reuse by a variety of audiences, collaborative strategies involving diverse teams of information professionals are developing. Such changes are fostering the growth of information infrastructures that support multi-scale sampling, data integration, and nascent networks of data repositories. In this retrospective, two examples of oceanographic projects incorporating data management in partnership with long-term science programs are reviewed: the Palmer Station Long-Term Ecological Research program (Palmer LTER) and the United States Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (US JGOFS). Lessons learned - short-term and long-term - from a decade of data management within these two communities will be presented. A conceptual framework called Ocean Informatics provides one example for managing the complexities inherent to sharing oceanographic data. Elements are discussed that address the economies-of-scale as well as the complexities-of-scale pertinent to a broad vision of information management and scientific research.