Data Management

Marine observation data is costly and time consuming to collect. Therefore there has always been much attention on "collecting once, using many times". This is the focus for "traditional" monitoring data, and should as well be for cost-efficient sensor monitoring data, independent if this data is collected by a professional researcher or a citizen volunteer. Optimising re-use is done by striving for data FAIRness (Findable Accessible Interoperable and Reusable), following the principles as provided by GO-FAIR: https://www.go-fair.org/fair-principles/. 

If we want low-cost/cost-efficient sensor data to be fully accepted, and taken up by researchers and engineers, in a similar way to traditional monitoring data, the data must align at the level of FAIRness: It must be well findable and accessible in catalogues, with sufficient metadata and in dataformat standards that are adopted by the marine community to be interoperable, and in the metadata sufficient information about the method and origin to estimate the re-use potential of the data. Only in this way the data will reach the international research community, where it can be combined with traditional in-situ observations, and integrated into models.

How to achieve this?

SCOOP will bring together cost-efficient sensor developers, researchers, marine data management experts, and later also marine citizen science communities. The data management experts in the team will work together with the developers of the cost-efficient devices to increase the use and re-use of the data, determining the route for publication, observation protocols, metadata content and standardisation, and document all this.

To become Findable and Accessible

The landscape of cost-efficient sensors is diverse. Some sensors have their own data transmission, and their developers have set up a cloud or central server to store all observation data, even in (near) real-time. Other sensors do not have network connection, or a method to submit to a central repository via phone or laptop, but datasets (e.g. from water sample analysis) are just stored on the users laptop. These cases require a different strategy to become findable and accessible for re-use:

• For sensors with a central repository, and services to download and access the data, a cooperation with the developers will be set up to streamline the datasets towards EMODnet Data Ingestion. This could be done in an operational way, or e.g. via monthly/yearly snapshots. Especially for physical parameters an operational method could be worthwhile, because then (once the metadata/data is expanded - see net point), the data could be integrated into the EMODnet Physics data lake. For delayed mode data, and datasets with chemical or biogeochemical parameters a first publication in EMODnet Data Ingestion will provide a DOI, and could afterwards lead to a take up into the data infrastructure network of national data centers SeaDataNet.
• For sensors without a central repository the challenge is probably harder, because it it up to the user to collect and upload the datasets to a central repository. In this case it will all be delayed mode data and the best option is to either deposite it in EMODnet Data Ingestion (wand receive a DOI), or contact the national marine data center to directly request storage and republication via them.

To become Interoperable and Re-usable

Apart from publication in relevant repositories, cost-efficient sensor data and metadata need to follow marine community standards and formats to become interoperable and re-usable in combination with other marine observation data. Adopting best practices for metadata to describe the who, what, how, when, where, in combination with using vocabularies in the metadata elements (for describing units and variable measured among others), significantly enhances the accessibility and usability of data. 

Best practices in marine data management already exist:

• For NRT physical data the INSTAC and EMODnet Physics metadata standards will be the guidance: https://www.emodnet-ingestion.eu/operational-data/demo-showcase-for-rt-data-exchange--how-can-you-join 
• For delayed mode physical, (bio)chemical data the SeaDataNet metadata and data requirements will provide the guidance:
  • Metadata
  • Data formats
• In both cases the use of vocabularies ("codes from codelists") is essential. The NERC Vocabulary Services is the key resource.

In all cases work needs to be done towards cost-efficient sensors application, which will be done under the projects LandSeaLot and CS-MACH1. 

The adoption of metadata practices needs to be implemented as early in the dataflow as possible, meaning that already in the output of the device, or in the output of the sensors data access services (managed by the developer), this needs to be built in. The SCOOP data management expert will engage with developers, analyse the current status, create advice and documentation, and together with the developers work towards the optimum solution.

 

Within SCOOP we will work on documentation to explain the data publishing mentods, metadata standards, a data access platform, and document these, including examples use cases, for and by the community. Please follow our website while we proceed with our work.