5 research outputs found
Enabling long-term oceanographic research : changing data practices, information management strategies and informatics
Author Posting. © Elsevier B.V., 2008. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography 55 (2008): 2132-2142, doi:10.1016/j.dsr2.2008.05.009.Interdisciplinary global ocean science requires new ways of thinking about data and data
management. With new data policies and growing technological capabilities, datasets of
increasing variety and complexity are being made available digitally and data management is
coming to be recognized as an integral part of scientific research. To meet the changing
expectations of scientists collecting data and of data reuse by others, collaborative strategies
involving diverse teams of information professionals are developing. These changes are
stimulating the growth of information infrastructures that support multi-scale sampling, data
repositories, and data integration. Two examples of oceanographic projects incorporating data
management in partnership with science programs are discussed: the Palmer Station Long-Term
Ecological Research program (Palmer LTER) and the United States Joint Global Ocean Flux
Study (US JGOFS). Lessons learned from a decade of data management within these
communities provide an experience base from which to develop information management
strategies – short-term and long-term. Ocean Informatics provides one example of a conceptual
framework for managing the complexities inherent to sharing oceanographic data. Elements are
introduced that address the economies-of-scale and the complexities-of-scale pertinent to a
broader vision of information management and scientific research.Support is provided by NSF OPP-0217282, OCE-0405069, HSD-0433369 and Scripps
Institution of Oceanography (K.S.Baker) and by NSF OCE-8814310, OCE-0097291, OCE-
0510046 and OCE-0646353 (C.Chandler)