Web Site for the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR)

Second SCOR Meeting on Coordination of International Marine Research Projects

Request for Background Information

Please submit the following written documentation by 1 November 2006. The availability of this information will help meeting participants prepare for the meeting.

To Projects:

Data Management Discussion
1. Please present the status of your project in terms of management of data and/or metadata. Three projects--GEOTRACES, IMBER, and SOLAS--have been asked to make oral presentations about the status of their data management activities, but it would also be helpful to have written statements from other projects.
2. Has your project done anything to encourage visualization of project data?
3. Is your project keeping track of project cruises and collecting any information about the cruises?
4. Has your project discussed data archiving with a World Data Center yet and/or involved in WDC staff in your data management discussions?

GOOS Discussion
1. Does your project have ongoing interactions with GOOS?
2. Have you had any GOOS scientists or staff attend a project SSC meeting, or have any project SSC members or IPO staff participated in a GOOS meeting?
3. Do you have a link to any element of GOOS on your project Web site?
4. Has your SSC discussed what is, or will be, available from GOOS and other observing systems?
5. Has your SSC identified any specific GOOS observations to which your scientists would like access?
6. What research observation systems would your project like to see become operational?

Time-Series Stations
1. Will implementation of your project require observations from time-series stations? If so, in what locations?
2. How will such stations be supported?
3. Has your project identified time-series sites (either existing or new) that are a priority for achieving project goals?

Southern Ocean Research and Observations
1. What activities has your project undertaken or planned for the Southern Ocean? Have you coordinated your Southern Ocean research with other projects? Do you have any special plans for the 3rd International Polar Year in 2007-2009 or later?
2. What is the status of planning and funding for your project's Southern Ocean cruises, observations, and experiments?

Education and Capacity Building
1. What activities, plans, and ideas does your project have in relation to education and capacity building?
2. How are you funding your education and capacity-building activities?

Satellite Availability and Needs
1. Is your project using satellite data or does it plan to do so?
2. Which satellite observations are most crucial for your project to meet its goals?

To Speakers:

Peter Liss/Jeff Hare (SOLAS), Julie Hall/Sylvie Roy (IMBER), and Gideon Henderson (GEOTRACES)--Please provide your project data management plans and discuss any plans your project has for cooperating with other projects in data management. What constraints or problems do you envision for your project's data management?
Robert Gelfeld (WDC-A) and Hannes Grobe (WDC-MARE)--Please describe how World Data Centers can work with projects to ensure long-term data archiving. What should projects consider when trying to standardize data formats through standard data dictionaries and other techniques?
Mark Costello--Please present briefly how OBIS works, what data it contains, how projects can use OBIS data, and how they can get species-specific data into OBIS.
Murray Brown--Please describe the options currently available for data visualization and any new techniques/software under development. How can project PIs get access to and training on the software?
Ed Harrison--Describe the current status of implementation of oceanic parts of GOOS, what kinds of data are routinely available, and how can projects access open-ocean GOOS data.
Tom Malone--Describe the current status of implementation of coastal parts of GOOS, what kinds of data are routinely available, and how can projects access coastal GOOS data.
Keith Alverson--Present status and plans for GOOS Regional Alliances.
Bob Weller--Present status and plans for OceanSITES. How can projects get access to time-series data, and support the maintenance of exisiting sites and development of new sites?
Colin Summerhayes--Present status and plans of SCAR/SCOR Group of Experts on Oceanography and about how projects are interacting in IPY planning.

Questions or Comments?
Please contact SCOR.