Towards a pan-european infrastructure for marine data & information

Backgrounds Marine data & information management is very important: to assist science to safeguard data & information for future use to support policy making, management, research, design, engineering and operations by government, science and industry MDM has become a professional discipline and service: a large diversity in types of data a large number of organisations, engaged in data acquisition a large range of computer technologies an increasing output and data volumes of new instruments the costs of marine data acquisition are high

National Oceanographic Data Centres Europe has National Oceanographic Data Centres and Focal Points, that are skilled and experienced in Marine Data Management More than 8 years ago a closer cooperation was initiated: to achieve a more cost effective approach to ocean and marine data & information management to fulfil the growing demand for these services and support from scientists and other communities to stimulate more use of data & information resources and more interaction and transfer between users and providers

: EC MAST Data Committee EC-MAST Programme: MAST Data Committee of NODC’s Code on Data Management in MAST projects Results: more awareness of marine data management integration in plans and projects initiating a range of projects: compiling large international environmental data sets creating data thematic networks. Lifting overall status and quality of mdm in Europe

European Network for Oceanographic Data & Information Management September 1998: MAST Data Committee converted into EURONODIM network Concerted action of 16 National Oceanographic Data Centres from 14 countries + EC To provide users with a central overview and better access to ocean and marine data & information in Europe. To exchange experience and to cooperate in development, promotion and implementation of data & information management practices and methods. To disseminate these practices to other institutes and networks

EURONODIM Partners Marine Information Service (MARIS) - Netherlands British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) - United Kingdom Deutsches Ozeanographisches Datenzentrum (BSH - DOD) - Germany Systemes D'Informations Scientifiques pour la Mer (IFREMER-SISMER) - France CEC-Joint Research Centre-Space Applications Institute (CEC-JRC-SAI) Hellenic National Oceanographic Data Centre (HNODC-NCMR) - Greece Instituto Espanol de Oceanografia (IEO) - Spain Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) - Sweden Irish Marine Data Centre - Marine Institute (ISMARE-MI) - Ireland Norwegian Marine Data Center - Institute of Marine Research (IMR) - Norway Finnish Institute of Marine Research (FIMR) - Finland Management Unit of the Mathematical Models of the North Sea (MUMM)-Belgium Marine Research Institute (MRI) - Iceland Instituto Hidrografico (IHPT) - Portugal ENEA La Spezia (ENEA) - Italy Netherlands Oceanographic Data Committee (NODC) - Netherlands

EURONODIM results Joint infrastructure network of partner websites and a central portal website ( with an array of catalogues, overviews and links. E.g. European Directory of Marine Environmental Datasets, covering more than 2814 Datasets from more than 574 Data holding centres in Europewww.sea-search.net) More awareness in user community and more partnerships with EURONODIM partners to handle data management Partners successful in initiating, joining and supporting various data and network initiatives with their data management and dissemination skills, like MEDATLAS, MEDAR, EUROCORE, EDIOS, EUROPHLUKES, EUMARSIN, OMEX, EUROSEISMICS, CANIGO and others.

New Sea-Search project ( ) Adopting a pan-european dimension (from 14 to 30 countries) Network expanded with NODC’s and MDC’s from Denmark, Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Russia, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Georgia, Turkey, Israel, Malta, Cyprus, Croatia, and Morocco. adopting the mechanisms and populate the meta-data directories of Sea-Search exchange of experiences between present and new partners concerning dm practices and methods. new partners will contribute to dissemination of Sea-Search and its products in their countries

Sea-Search partners 1 MARIS (NL) Marine Information Service 2 NERC-BODC (UK) Natural Environment Research Council, British Oceanographic Data Centre, 3 BSH-DOD (D) Bundesamt fur Schiffahrt und Hafens, Deutsches Ozeanographisches Datenzentrum, 4 IFREMER-SISMER (F) Institut Francais de Recherche pour l’Exploitation de la Mer, Service SISMER 5 NERI (DK) National Environmental Research Institute 6 NCMR-HNODC (EL) National Centre for Marine Research, Hellenic National Oceanographic Data Centre 7 IEO (E) Instituto Espanol de Oceanografia, Centro Oceanografico de Canarias 8 SMHI (S) Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, Oceanographic Services 9 MI-ISMARE (IRL) Marine Institute, Irish Marine Data Centre 10 IMR (NO) Institute of Marine Research, Department of Marine Environment 11 FIMR (FIN) Finnish Institute of Marine Research 12 IHE-MUMM (B) Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique 13 MRI (IS) Marine Research Institute, Division of Oceanography and Ecology 14 IHPT (P) Instituto Hidrografico, Centro de dados Technico-Cientificos 15 ENEA (I) Ente per le Nuove Technologie, l’Energia e l’Ambiente 16 NODC (NL) Netherlands Oceanographic Data Committee 17 CMR (LT) Centre of Marine Research, Ministry of the Environment 18 IMGW-OM (PL) Institute of Meteorology and Water management, Maritime Branch 19 RIHMI-WDC (RU) All Russian Research Institute of Hydro-Meteorological Information – WDC 20 IO-RAS (RU) P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology

Sea-Search partners 21 MHI (UA)Marine Hydrophysical Institute, Ukrainian National Academy of Science 22 IO-BAS (BG)Institute of Oceanology, Department of Marine Physics, Bulgarian Academy of Science 23 TSU-UORC (GE)Tbilisi State University, Faculty of Geography and Geo-Ecology, UNESCO Oceanological Research Centre 24 METU-IMC (TR)Middle East Technical University, Institute of Marine Sciences 25 NIMRD (RO)National Institute for Marine Research and Development 26 INRH (MA)Institute Nationale de Recherche Halieutique 27 IAE-UL (LV)Institute of Aquatic Ecology, University of Latvia, 28 IORS (HR)Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries 29 IOI-MOC (MT)University of Malta, Physical Oceanography Unit 30 IOLR (IL)Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research Institute 31 DFMR-OS (CY)Department of Fisheries and Marine Research, Laboratory of Physical Oceanography 32 MSI (EE)Tallinn Technical University, Marine Systems Institute

New Sea-Search project Fast growth of internet Change in attitude in communication and in giving access to data resources, especially in the public domain Users are demanding more transparant insight in existing data resources scattered over various locations and more efficient ways of accessing and manipulating the data or of requesting data in case of conditional access. Adoption of new technologies and standards required and development of new ways of serving customers by the Sea- Search partners.

New Sea-Search project  Anticipating new technologies and data policies  Common Data Interface (metadatabase) to individual datasets, held at partner databases:  online Data Access pilots  adoption of open standards ISO19115 and OpenGIS  adoption of XML  adoption of Geographical Search and Presentation  use of high-bandwidth electronic communication networks Anticipating cooperation with other domains in marine Data Management like the Remote Sensing community and the Operational Oceanography community

Next step: Network of Excellence - FP Planning underway for turning the Sea-Search network into a pan-european Network of Excellence in FP6 Objectives:  creating a pan-european and harmonised infrastructure for archival and provision of marine environmental data  giving detailed overview of existing data and aiming for full data access by internet  providing a vital basis for European Research Area  providing a basis for added-value products and services  supporting research projects, thereby implementing standards and harmonisation  wide dissemination of expertise, standards

Data pyramid model Common masterplan for infrastructure, following data pyramid model: high level meta-data awareness (EDMED) meta-index CDI + thematic indexessearch / focus data access / use productsadded value

Conclusions Sea-Search partners are leading data managers in the European marine & oceanographic community These data centres are divisions of the major national marine and oceanographic institutes and governmental departments The Sea-Search infrastructure is operational, has a strong foundation and longevity and is developing steady into a direction of full detailed overview and access of data & information by internet Sea-Search can be a building block for EURO-WATERNET for the marine and oceanographic domains