De Cauwer, K.

Devolder, M.

Jans, S.

Meerhaeghe, A.

Scory, S.

Open Marine Archive

106 Session 1 - Marine environmental data bases: infrastructures, metadata and data systems
 International Marine Data and Information Systems, IMDIS - 2008
Managing oceanographic data in the frame of large multidisciplinary 
programmes, a Belgian experience
Scory Serge , Belgian Marine Data Centre- BMDC, S.Scory@mumm.ac.be, (Belgium)
Karien De Cauwer , BMDC, K.DeCauwer@mumm.ac.be
Mia Devolder , BMDC, M.Devolder@mumm.ac.be
Siegrid Jans , BMDC, S.Jans@mumm.ac.be
Angelino Meerhaeghe , BMDC, A.Meerhaeghe@mumm.ac.be
Since 1970, the Belgian Science Policy administration foster the marine research through large multidisciplinary scien-tifi c programmes. In this frame, data management has always be a concern but, most of the time, for the duration of 
the project only. In the nineties, the need to have a permanent structure for managing the data collected by means of 
public fi nance for the benefi t of all and to ensure their perenniality has become an evidence.
The “IDOD” project was launched in 1997 as part of the phase I of the “Scientifi c Support Plan for a Sustainable Develop-
ment Policy” (SPSD). It soon transformed into the permanent “Belgian Marine Data Centre”.
Through all these years, many and very diverse research were undertaken, most of them by groups of a few academic 
units. Since a few years “clustering projects” manage to provide an aggregated synthesis of several research. The same 
effort is done for data management by the BMDC.
Since its creation, its challenge has been to incorporate the various data types in a meaningful and useful way into one 
sole structure. Bird counts, salinity profi les, DNA chains, sediment granulometry, relations of post-mortem examinations 
of stranded marine mammals, .., are no more to be considered as isolated data sets, but as interdependent views of the 
same ecosystem.
At the dawn of the third phase of the SPSD, the presentation will describe and illustrate the data fl ows from the fi eld or 
the labs to the data centre, the relationships with the data providers and the users, the data policy and the structure and 
mechanisms of the integrated information system.


Managing oceanographic data in the frame of large multidisciplinary programmes, a Belgian experience

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