During iAOOS a wide variety of data will be collected. Proper management of data flow and data access is an essential part of a successful project. The data management system will hold and provide access to data and information submitted by project members and will ensure that all data are well documented and available in a standard format.
The iAOOS data management will build upon the data management system and tools developed by EU 6th framework project DAMOCLES, and will be developed in close cooperation with the international and national IPY Subcommittees on Data Management. Details on the IPY Data Management recommendations are yet not known, but the proposal herein fulfils the basic requirements of IPY (as provided by draft documents) concerning free access and distributed network. Any additional requirements on data management are expected to be viewed in a national framework.
The basic principles of the DAMOCLES data management system are:
• to build on Open Source standards and recent community developed modules
• to use existing technology and standards wherever possible (OpeNDAP, netCDF, CF, GCMD)
• to let the users provide data in specified formats while providing users with proper tools to generate the requested file formats
• to focus on data availability while maintaining a data restriction opportunity to specific needs
The benefit of this approach is that the standards chosen opens for a flexible and adaptable data management system that can function well in standalone mode, but that also can contribute to a community driven data management system which is composed of distributed data bases. The use of OpeNDAP ensures that standard tools can access data from the database if properly configured. The potential use of OpenGIS technology (WMS, WCS, WFS, etc) opens for easier user access to data, but is not a mandatory component of the data management as of writing this proposal. Such services would increase costs.
Standardizing file formats early in the project period, and delegating the responsibility of delivering standardized input to the data management and distribution system to the WPs producing data, is of vital importance to keep the Data management slim and efficient, effectively ensuring that as much as possible of the IPY funding is being used for science.
Furthermore it is essential to identify how the data management system is maintained after the project ends. The possibility to continue operation of the Data management and distribution system has to be evaluated along with the possibility of transferring data to other entities.
The Norwegian Meteorological Institute will utilize existing infrastructure (Internet connections, metadatabases, backup facilities, operational supervision etc) to facilitate and host the project Data management system.
The work is divided in 4 tasks:
Task 4.1: System evaluation
Identification of any shortcomings in the DAMOCLES Data management system when concerned with iAOOS requirements.
Task 4.2: System adaption
Adapt the DAMOCLES Data management system where needed to suit iAOOS requirements.
Task 4.3: System maintenance
Maintain and operate the DAMOCLES Data management system throughout the project period. The addition of new projects and new data into the project pose requirements on communication interfaces, storage capacity, backup capacity, data integrity and database consistency (e.g. between metadata and actual data) etc.
Task 4.4: Future perspectives
It is needed to evaluate the future perspectives of data stored within the Data management system when IPY ends. How and where is data maintained for future generations. "Preservation without access is mindless, access without preservation is impossible" (Mark Parsons, WDC, NSIDC)
