International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange

Outline  What is IOC  What is IODE  Roles and functions of IODE  Data sharing policy  Data standards  OceanDataPortal  ODIN  Capacity building, OceanTeacher  Project Office

IOC  Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission: body within UNESCO  Headquarters in Paris, France  Field Offices  Colombia, Brazil, Thailand, Kenya, Denmark, Belgium, Australia  141 Member States

IOC Programmes  Science: Addressing scientific uncertainties for the management of the marine environment and climate change  Observation: Developing operational capabilities for the management and sustainable development of the open and coastal  Tsunami Unit: Works with Member States and other UN agencies and NGOs, to build sustainable tsunami early warning systems.  Capacity Development: Empowering developing countries to sustainably use their coastal and marine resources

IOC Structure

IODE IODE: International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange  Established in 1961 ‘to enhance marine research, exploitation and development by facilitating the exchange of oceanographic data and information between participating Member States and by meeting the needs of users for data and information products’

IODE Structure

IODE Committee  The IODE Programme is managed by the IODE Committee  Meets every 2 years  The IODE Committee reports to the IOC Governing Bodies (IOC Assembly and Executive Council)  Membership of the IODE Committee includes:  IODE Co-Chairs  IODE National Coordinators for Ocean Data Management  IODE National Coordinators for Marine Information Management  Directors of the WDCs-Oceanography and WDCs-Marine Geology and Geophysics

Groups of Experts  The IODE Committee has established a number of small groups that provide expert advice to the IODE Committee  The following Groups of Experts are currently active:  IODE Group of Experts on Biological and Chemical Data Management and Exchange Practises (GEBICH)  IODE Group of Experts on Marine Information Management (GEMIM)  IODE Group of Experts on the Biogeographic Information System (OBIS)  Joint JCOMM/IODE Expert Team on Data Management Practises (ETDMP)

JCOMM  JCOMM is the Joint WMO-IOC Technical Commission for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology  JCOMM provides the mechanism for international coordination, regulation and management of oceanographic and marine meteorological observing, data management and services systems  IODE collaborates with JCOMM through the JCOMM Data Management Programme Area (DMPA) and its JCOMM/IODE Expert Team on Data Management Practices (ETDMP)

IODE: global network  National Oceanographic Data Centres & Marine Information Centres  80 NODCs

Role of an IODE NODC  National Oceanographic Data Centre (NODC) is a facility for providing ocean data and information in a usable form to a wide user community  National: acquire, process, quality control, inventory, archive and disseminate data  International: international data exchange

NODC functions  Receive data from national, regional and international programmes collecting oceanographic data  Verify the quality of the data (using agreed standards)  Ensure long term preservation of data and associated metadata  Make data available, nationally and internationally (see: IOC Manuals and Guides No. 5)

IOC Data Policy The timely, free and unrestricted international exchange of oceanographic data is essential for the efficient acquisition, integration and use of ocean observations gathered by the countries of the world for a wide variety of purposes including the prediction of weather and climate, the operational forecasting of the marine environment, the preservation of life, the mitigation of human-induced changes in the marine and coastal environment, as well as for the advancement of scientific understanding that makes this possible “IOC OCEANOGRAPHIC DATA EXCHANGE POLICY, 2003”

IOC Strategic Plan July 2007: IOC Assembly adopted the IOC Strategic Plan for Oceanographic Data and Information Management  “A comprehensive and integrated ocean data and information system, serving the broad and diverse needs of IOC Member States, for both routine and scientific use.”

The Strategy includes …  process and archive data on a diverse range of variables according to scientifically sound and well-documented standards and formats  distribute data on a diverse range of variables (observations and model outputs) in both real time and in “delayed” modes depending on the needs of user groups and their technical capabilities (automatic dissemination as well as “on demand”)  enable efficient access to data on core variables and derived products (including forecasts, alerts and warnings) by users who have a broad range of capabilities.

IODE Projects  IODE is responsible for a number of Global and Regional Activities  Global activities are implemented by Steering Teams or through the NODCS or marine library  Regional activities focus on capacity development related to oceanographic data and information management through the ODIN network

Ocean Data Standards  The objective of the Project is to achieve broad agreement and commitment to adopt standards related to ocean data management and exchange  Standards Forum (2008) recommended a formal process to submit and publish standards  Aim is to reach agreement and commitment to adopt standards that will meet the interoperability requirements of the Ocean Data Portal including: Recommended Standard  Date and time – Recommended Standard Recommended Standard  Country codes – Recommended Standard Submitted Standard  Quality control flags – Submitted Standard use ICES Platform Codes  Platform names – use ICES Platform Codes ISO candidate  Metadata – ISO candidate work underway  Keywords (parameters, instruments) – work underway

Ocean Data Portal  The Ocean Data Portal (ODP) facilitates and promotes the exchange and dissemination marine data and services.  This is achieved through the IODE network of NODCs which provide seamless access to collections and inventories of marine data  The ODP provides the full range of processes including data discovery, access, and visualization Discover -> Deliver -> View -> Download

ODP: Interoperability  The IODE is working with World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to ensure ODP is interoperable with the WMO Information System (WIS)  WIS will be the core component of the GEOSS for weather, water, climate and disaster societal benefit areas and ODP will contribute oceanographic data to GEOSS, through the WIS NODC ODP WIS NODC GEO PORTAL

GODAR Project  The Global Oceanographic Data Archaeology and Rescue (GODAR) Project  Established in 1993 by the IODE  Project lead is WDC for Oceanography, Silver Spring, USA  "Data Archaeology"  the process of seeking out, restoring, evaluating, correcting, and interpreting historical data sets;  "Data Rescue"  the work required to save data at risk of being lost to the science community by digitizing manuscript data and copying data from old electronic media, then archiving these data to an online database.  The GODAR project has resulted in the acquisition of:  9 million temperature stations  158,200 chlorophyll stations  218,695 plankton stations

Metadata  A key part of any marine dataset is the accompanying metadata.  Metadata includes characteristics about the data such as the content, accuracy, reliability and the source.  IODE has established a metadata directory to locate marine and coastal datasets from IOC member states.

Other IODE Projects  GTSPP. Global Temperature-Salinity Profile Program is an international project to develop and maintain a global ocean Temperature-Salinity resource.  GOSUD. Global Ocean Surface Underway Data Pilot Project is a global project to collect, process, archive and disseminate sea surface salinity and other variables collected underway by research and opportunity ships.  OBIS. Ocean Biogeographic Information System is a web-based access point to information about the distribution and abundance of living species in the ocean.  OceanDocs. A repository network for oceanography and marine science

IODE and Capacity Development  Capacity development has been a cornerstone of the IODE since the programme’s inception in 1961  The objective is to assist Member States to acquire the necessary capacity to manage marine data and information and become partners in the IODE network.  Capacity development teaches the principles of data and information management and also promotes the use of "standards" amongst all IODE centres and thus achieve interoperability between centres.

IODE Capacity Development Strategy ODIN – Ocean Data and Information Network strategy  ODIN is based upon four elements:  providing equipment  providing training  providing seed funding for operational activities for newly created data centres and marine libraries  work in a regional context, addressing common as well as national goals  ODIN regional networks  ODINAFRICA. 25 African countries  ODINCARSA. Latin America and Caribbean  ODINCINDIO. Central Indian Ocean  ODINWESTPAC. Western Pacific region  ODINBlackSea. Black Sea region  ODINECET. European Countries in Economic Transition  ODIN-PIMRIS. Small Island Pacific States

ODINs  IODE regional capacity building projects:  ODINAFRICA. 25 African countries  ODINCARSA. Latin America and Caribbean  ODINCINDIO. Central Indian Ocean  ODINWESTPAC. IOC WESTPAC region  ODINECET. European Countries in Economic Transition  ODINBlackSea. Black Sea region

Benefit of ODINs Participating countries identify national priorities and develop work plans that aim to address them Added value -Sharing of expertise -Sharing of data -Sharing of information Added value -Sharing of expertise -Sharing of data -Sharing of information Benefits of ODINs

ODIN: Regional products African Marine Atlas  For resource managers, planners and decision-makers from various administrative institutions and specialized agencies in Africa  800 layers Atlas Themes GEOSPHERE HYDROSPHERE ATMOSPHERE BIOSPHERE HUMAN ENVIRONMENT

ODIN: Regional products Caribbean Marine Atlas  A joint initiative of 9 countries including Barbados, Cayman Is, Cuba, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Turks and Caicos Islands  Atlas will identify, collect and organize available geo-spatial datasets for the Caribbean region as a support service to the sustainable development and integrated management of marine and coastal areas in the region  Prototype released 2010

Training Tool: OceanTeacher  Training resource for marine data and information management  Audience:  data/information managers  ocean researchers  University students  Continuous development  Increasing focus on continuous professional development

OceanTeacher model Classroom: Courses on data and information management based upon Moodle Digital Library: online encyclopaedia about marine data management and marine information management

IOC Project Office for IODE  Based in Oostende, Belgium  International Training Centre  International Conference Centre  : > 800 students from 120 countries  Host for IOC/IODE data and information services  Support from Flanders Government  Close cooperation with Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ)