A data management strategy for the ocean exploration program

In implementing the vision described in the 2000 Report of the Presidents Panel on Ocean Exploration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of Ocean Exploration (OE) has sponsored pathfinding ocean exploration expeditions in 2001 and 2002. Emerging large and diverse data sets from these expeditions and future missions warrant a robust data management capability to provide timely access to these data by a broad cross-section of public users. This paper presents the results of a data management strategy development effort, a model for describing the unique process for data collection, processing, storage, access and archive, and a proposed solution that includes distributed data access via a centralized catalog and data exchange interfaces that seamlessly converts native data formats to an open standard format. This data management strategy promises to provide a unique capability for ocean exploration data stakeholders as well as a model for satisfying other oceanographic data management needs.