Data Exploration for Multidisciplinary Research

The metadata oriented query assistant (MOQuA) is a web application for exploring complex collections of data via a highly interactive and intuitive interface. MOQuA development has been motivated by the evolution of climate and ecosystem studies towards highly interdisciplinary research programs that depend on data drawn from a variety of sources. Present generations of earth science data systems are not structured to support exploration through a data space that is simultaneously rich in measured parameters, yet sparse in geographic and temporal coverage. We have implemented MOQuA for the Autonomous Ocean Sampling Network 2003 field program data set, which includes observations from a diverse collection of platforms such as drifters, autonomous underwater vehicles and ships, fixed measurement assets (such as moorings and radar), and remote measurements from satellites and aircraft. It also includes output from three oceanographic models. Measured and derived data are stored in several formats, residing within numerous data management systems.