An ocean data archivist's perspective during an ocean exploration cruise

Since June 2004, two ocean data archivists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) have participated as on-board data managers for two cruises sponsored by the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration (OE). These two offices are part of the OE Integrated Product Team (IPT), which is developing an end-to-end OE data management system. Two components of this system are 1) gathering information during OE cruises about the on-board science activities and the collected data; and 2) archiving these data with their accompanying science and cruise information. The NODC archivists' participation on the OE cruises gave them a first-hand perspective and insight on these two ends of the data management spectrum. Based on these experiences, three recommendations for an end-to-end data management system are presented.