Gateway to Ocean Data Management: Ocean Best Practices, Information and Visualisation for moored ocean observation network

Oceans continuously interact with the overlying atmosphere, which dynamically varies and significantly impacts the weather and climate. The data over the oceans is complex and time series observations are vital. The knowledge we acquire from the data collected will help us to manage in oceans long term. Recent developments in ocean observation platforms and the advancements in sensor technologies have paved the way for modern and reliable deep sea instrumented buoy systems that offer most suitable and dependable platforms for uninterrupted data collection and transmission of the data in real-time to the shore through satellite communication networks. Ocean Observation Systems, an operational programme of National Institute of Ocean Technology, Chennai, under Ministry of Earth Sciences, Govt. of India has been deploying and maintaining moored data buoys in Indian waters since 1997. The data, received in compressed numerical data packets, takes a reasonable amount of time to decipher, infer and uncover some of the potentially valuable information it contains. Hence, validation and analysis of the data for making decisions during natural hazards has become colossal and relatively complicated. The challenge is to develop a rugged mechanism the harnessing information technology to generate the information required for ocean sustenance, which warrants partnering with Information Technology. To modern societies, digital communications and information technologies have become fundamental and referred as "connected society."Scientific community expect data to accurately represent the phenomenon that was measured. The data collected over prolonged periods are of immense use for scientists, to carry out scientific analyses, and frame strategic policies. Today, precise electronics and high-performance computers have altered our expectations of scientific data management, much as it has altered the expectations for many other elements of society and we find portentous agreement with improved data management strategies. CORNEA – Centre for Ocean Realtime iNformation viEw and Archives is a high-end IT infrastructure built with computational and visual capabilities to bring significant benefits to ocean researchers. Large quantum of data received from buoys contain information about various parameters such as meteorlogical, oceanographic (surface and subsurface). Mining them for predictive analysis and tracking the history of sensors is a challenge. This stresses the need for automated mechanism to collage the information and present it on demand, minimizing the challenges faced retrieving the same through manual means. ADDRESS (ADvanced Data REception and AnalysiS System) is a software tool developed for visualization within the context of data and information, heuristic way of interpretation, analysis, automated quality control, reliable data reception and dissemination using modern software technologies, which are the linchpin to a successful Ocean Observation Programme driven in the Information Technology era. Further, the buoy data is disseminated to the global community through Global Telecommunication Systems (GTS). The data and metadata from Indian buoy programme is acclaimed by the global scientific community. Ocean Best Practices methodology recognized by "International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange" (IODE) of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) - UNESCO, is adopted to achieve quality and consistency in observation.Data from Indian buoy programme is also portrayed in OceanOPS (formerly JCOMMOPS), the agency that establishes a common platform, coordinates within and amongst ocean observation communities across the globe. Apart from regional, data from collaborative projects such as OMNI-RAMA are exhibited through interactive webportals with wealth of data and information to the scientific community blending international efforts.The culmination of this paper reveals how technology, confined is standards and best practices deployed, transform the way the ocean data is accessed, utilized, augmented, and transformed into information and knowledge.