Data QA/QC in the IOOS Mid-Atlantic Regional Association Coastal Ocean Observation System

The Mid-Atlantic Regional Association Coastal Ocean Observing System (MARACOOS) is one of the eleven Regional Associations (RAs) comprising the coastal network of the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (US IOOS). MARACOOS involves participants from academia, government, the private sector, and non-profit entities, and covers the ocean and estuaries from Cape Cod, MA to Cape Hatteras, NC. The high quality of MARACOOS-served data is predicated on the quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) and data flow of the internal and external data streams that MARACOOS makes available through an interactive map/data display (oceansmap.maracoos.org) as well as through THREDDS servers. These data are from (1) High Frequency Radar (HF-Radar), (2) Ocean Gliders, (3) the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) satellite imagery, (4) the Hudson River Environmental Conditions Observing System (HRECOS), and (5) the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (Maryland DNR). This documented and sustained QA/QC elevates MARACOOS-served data to be federally-equivalent — a pre-requisite to becoming a certified Regional Information Coordination Entity (RICE), which MARACOOS achieved in December 2016.