1. ORNL is Operated by UT-Battelle for DOE
Mercury
Distributed Metadata Management, Data Discovery
and Access System
Alex Kozyr and Tommy Nelson
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
ORNL is Operated by UT-Battelle for DOE
2/5/2019

2. Introduction to Mercury
Developed by ORNL for NASA to address recurring data access problems Mercury is a Web-based system to search for metadata and retrieve associated data. Mercury incorporates a number of important features:
DBA – Data Base Administrator
ORNL is Operated by UT-Battelle for DOE
2/5/2019

3. Key Features of Mercury
Provides a single portal to distributed data
Supports spatial searches
Supports temporal searches
Supports fielded searches
Based on international metadata and Internet standards
Z39.50, FGDC, GILS, Dublin Core, XML…
Has a very "light touch"
Business as usual for PI’s and other data contributors
Accessed via web browsers – no special software
Data providers and users can use any hardware/software platform
Standards - Z39.50, FGDC, GILS, Dublin Core, XML
PIs contact ORNL and provide the URL of the locator file on their machine – no additional interaction is necessary – EVER!
ORNL is Operated by UT-Battelle for DOE
2/5/2019

4. ORNL is Operated by UT-Battelle for DOE
….and More
Stale information is removed with each index update
Rapid implementation – weeks or months not years
Inexpensive to operate (automated)
Full support of XML – eXtensible Markup Language
Adaptable template metadata collection tools exist
ORNL Metadata Editor - OME
Harvests information from many different file formats
pdf, word, excel, access, gif, jpg, etc.
XML is THE evolving global standard for encoding metadata
Mercury can harvest information from many different file formats even without metadata
ORNL is Operated by UT-Battelle for DOE
2/5/2019

5. Mercury Projects CDIAC South Africa Brazil Project Office
DOE, NASA, EPA, USGS
Many mature applications of Mercury in scientific/environmental arena
Earth Science Information Partners
System Wide Interoperability Layer
LBA-Hydrometeorology
Project Office

6. Present Status of Underway pCO2 Data
Many different measurements (xCO2, fCO2, pCO2)
Many different data formats
Many different storage locations
PI sites
Data centers
Highly variable documentation
No metadata standard
ORNL is Operated by UT-Battelle for DOE
2/5/2019

7. ORNL is Operated by UT-Battelle for DOE
2/5/2019

8. CDIAC / WOCE Bottle Data Inventory
ORNL is Operated by UT-Battelle for DOE
2/5/2019

9. What Can Mercury Do for Us?
Allow PIs to distribute their data while maintaining complete control
Provide a single portal to all underway pCO2 data
Provide fielded, spatial, and temporal search capabilities
Provide tools to create proper metadata - OME
Encourage proper documentation
Mercury implementation would cost nothing to the participating PIs
While fielded search capabilities are not equal to what a RDBMS can provide, they are far superior to the capabilities a simple search engine like Google and are more than adequate for succinctly locating available data sets.
ORNL is Operated by UT-Battelle for DOE
2/5/2019

10. Distributed Data Discovery and Access System
A Virtual Internet Database via Mercury
1. PI’s create metadata and data files using local applications or OME
2. Mercury collects metadata and key data from the PI’s servers distributed around the world and builds a centralized index
P.I. Name
Dataset
Experiment
Cruise
Variable
Measurement Type
etc.
5. Remote users
select link(s) to data of interest
Index
6. The data files and highly detailed documentation are downloaded directly from the PI’s server or chosen data repository
3. Remote users query the index via a web-based browser
Underway Measurement Summary
Cruise: WOCE A10 R/V Meteor
Ocean: Atlantic
PI: D.W.R. Wallace
Begin:  - End:
Cruise: WOCE P10 R/V Thomas G Thompson
Ocean: Pacific
PI: C. L. Sabine
Begin:  - End:
Users
4. Metadata summaries are returned to the remote users, including links back to detailed information and data at the PIs’ server or chosen data repository

11. ORNL is Operated by UT-Battelle for DOE
Mercury
Providing a Portal to Distributed Data
Mercury was developed at ORNL to quickly gather research information from around the world
ORNL is Operated by UT-Battelle for DOE
2/5/2019

12. ORNL is Operated by UT-Battelle for DOE
Mercury Search Screen
ORNL is Operated by UT-Battelle for DOE
2/5/2019

13. ORNL is Operated by UT-Battelle for DOE
Mercury Oceans Search Screen
All Datasets
All Datasets
Dataset Name
Experiment Name
Cruise Name
PI Name
Discrete Measure
Underway Measure
Time Series
Select Ocean
ORNL is Operated by UT-Battelle for DOE
2/5/2019

14. ORNL is Operated by UT-Battelle for DOE
Mercury Oceans Search Screen
Underway Measure
pCO2
fCO2
xCO2
N2O
TCO2
TALK
Select Ocean
ORNL is Operated by UT-Battelle for DOE
2/5/2019

15. ORNL is Operated by UT-Battelle for DOE
Mercury Oceans Search Screen
Underway Measure
xCO2
“xCO2”
All Datasets
Dataset Name
Experiment Name
Cruise Name
Discrete Measure
Time Series
Underway Measure
PI Name
Select Ocean
ORNL is Operated by UT-Battelle for DOE
2/5/2019

16. ORNL is Operated by UT-Battelle for DOE
Mercury Oceans Search Screen
Underway Measure
xCO2
Dickson, A. L.
Feely, R. A.
Goyet, C.
Johnson, K. M.
Key, R. M.
Millero, F. J.
Nojiri, Y.
Takahashi, T.
Wallace, D. W. R.
Wanninkhof, R.
Weiss, R. F.
Winn, C. D.
Sabine, C. L.
“xCO2”
PI Name
Select Ocean
ORNL is Operated by UT-Battelle for DOE
2/5/2019

17. ORNL is Operated by UT-Battelle for DOE
Mercury Oceans Search Screen
Underway Measure
xCO2
“xCO2”
PI Name
C. L. Sabine
C. L. Sabine
Select Ocean
All Oceans
Pacific
North Pacific
South Pacific
Atlantic
North Atlantic
South Atlantic
Indian
Southern
ORNL is Operated by UT-Battelle for DOE
2/5/2019

18. ORNL is Operated by UT-Battelle for DOE
Mercury Oceans Search Screen
Underway Measure
xCO2
“xCO2”
PI Name
C. L. Sabine
C. L. Sabine
26.415
30.320
Select Ocean
Indian
ORNL is Operated by UT-Battelle for DOE
2/5/2019

19. Mercury Oceans Search Results
ORNL is Operated by UT-Battelle for DOE
2/5/2019

20. Mercury Oceans Metadata
ORNL is Operated by UT-Battelle for DOE
2/5/2019

21. Mercury Oceans Product Link
ORNL is Operated by UT-Battelle for DOE
2/5/2019

22. Mercury Oceans Data Link
ORNL is Operated by UT-Battelle for DOE
2/5/2019

23. ORNL is Operated by UT-Battelle for DOE
XML Encoded Metadata
ORNL is Operated by UT-Battelle for DOE
2/5/2019

24. ORNL is Operated by UT-Battelle for DOE
ORNL Metadata Editor
ORNL is Operated by UT-Battelle for DOE
2/5/2019

25. ORNL is Operated by UT-Battelle for DOE
ORNL Metadata Editor
ORNL is Operated by UT-Battelle for DOE
2/5/2019

26. Application Broker Technology
LAS
Mercury
USERS
ODV
RDB
ORNL is Operated by UT-Battelle for DOE
2/5/2019

27. Live Access Server for GLODAP Data
ORNL is Operated by UT-Battelle for DOE
2/5/2019