Oceanographic Informatics in a Collaborative Environment - Invited Talk at AGU Fall 2008

A presentation by Peter Wiebe at Session IN012

Research in oceanography - and other multidisciplinary sciences - proceeds along three major lines: field observation, field and laboratory experimentation, and modeling. Data management and informatics have been an after-thought - if considered at all. More recently, the need for comprehensive scientific understanding, which forms the foundation for ecosystem-based management, has required the integration of oceanographic, fisheries, and other marine environmental data, as well as the development of analysis and assessment tools. Exponential increase in data sources and the proliferation and distributed nature of databases have created a fourth new and important line of marine research. Data management and informatics is now on par with lines of oceanographic research. Research priorities in this new field include approaches to rapid and efficient data acquisition, enhanced data management, more effective data utilization and reuse, and improved data visualization. Also, barriers or structural impediments to the free and open dissemination of data and information must be eliminated wherever possible. A critical proximate goal is to foster data discovery through enhanced metadata and common vocabularies. An ultimate goal is to create a cyberinfrastructure for oceanography that enables open, transparent, interoperable access to data and information, regardless of their location.

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