Unified Access To Distributed Data Sets SeaDataNet PanEuropean

unified access to distributed data sets: seadatanet - pan-european infrastructure for marine and ocean data management (www.seadatanet.org)

Unified access to distributed data sets: SeaDataNet - Pan-European
infrastructure for marine and ocean data management (www.seadatanet.org)
Giuseppe M.R. Manzella, Gilbert Maudire, Dick Schaap, Lesley Rickards,
Friederich Nast, Sissy Iona, Peter Piessersen,Reiner Schlitzer, Jean
Marie Beckers, Vittorio Barale, Marina Tonani and SeaDataNet
consortium.
Multidisciplinary oceanographic and marine data are collected by more
than a thousand research institutes, governmental organizations and
private companies in the countries bordering the European seas using
various heterogeneous observing sensors installed on research vessels,
submarines, aircraft, moorings drifting buoys and satellites. The
various sensors measure physical parameters (temperature, salinity
current, sea level, optical properties, magnetic field, gravity),
chemistry, biology, seabed characteristics, seabed depth etc. The data
are collected at a very considerable cost and are of prime value
because they are the reference for any study and, if lost, cannot be
remade.
This data and information is very important for research, but also for
monitoring, predicting and managing the marine environment, assessing
fish stocks and biodiversity, offshore engineering, controlling any
hazard or disaster, and the tourist industry. They support the
execution of international protocols, conventions and agreements,
which have been signed by coastal states for protection of the seas,
such as OSPAR, HELCOM and the Bucharest and Barcelona conventions.
They are essential for implementation of Europe’s environmental policy
concerning Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM), the Water
Framework Directive, and the new Marine Strategy Directive. Overall
there are many thousands of users, based in the research sector,
government and industry.
SeaDataNet is an Integrated Research Infrastructure Initiative (I3) in
EU FP6 to provide the Pan-European data management system adapted both
to the fragmented observation system and the users need for an
integrated access to data, meta-data, products and services. The
SeaDataNet project started in 2006, but builds upon earlier data
management infrastructure projects, undertaken over a period of 20
years by an expanding network of oceanographic data centres from the
countries around all European seas. Its predecessor project Sea-Search
had a strict focus on metadata. SeaDataNet maintains significant
interest in the further development of the metadata infrastructure,
but its primary objective is the provision of easy data access and
generic data products.
The SeaDataNet project has the following objectives:
*
To set up and operate an efficient Pan-European distributed
infrastructure for managing marine and ocean data by connecting 40
National Oceanographic Data Centres (NODC’s), national
oceanographic focal points, and ocean satellite data centres, in
Europe. These Data Centres are mostly divisions of major national
marine research institutes and based in 35 countries, surrounding
the European seas.
*
To ensure consistent dataset quality and to provide on-line
trans-national access to marine metadata, data, products and
services through a unique portal, while the base data and
information are stored and managed at the distributed data
centres.
*
To secure the long term archiving of the large number of
multidisciplinary data.
*
To develop added value regional data products like gridded
climatologies and trends, in partnership with scientific research
laboratories.