The Architecture and Utility of SeaBASS: the SeaWiFS Bio-optical Archive and Storage System

The accumulation and evaluation of in situ data is a critical aspect of both satellite ocean color sensor validation and algorithm development. NASA's Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) and Sensor Intercomparison and Merger for Biological and Oceanic Studies (SIMBIOS) Projects designed the SeaWiFS Bio-optical Archive and Storage System (SeaBASS) to be a local repository of radiometric, phytoplankton pigment, and other oceanographic and atmospheric data, collected using well-defined and consistent measurement protocols. These data have been used by the SIMBIOS Project to validate SeaWiFS, Ocean Color and Temperature Scanner (OCTS), and Modular Optoelectronic Scanner (MOS) data products, to develop and evaluate bio-optical algorithms used to generate such products, for data merger studies, and to characterize the calibration history and stability of the field instruments used to build validation data sets. Data archived in SeaBASS were collected using a number of instrument packages on a variety of different platforms. The archive consists of an organized directory structure where physical data files and documentation are stored and a relational database system for managing and controlling these data and metadata. A series of World Wide Web-based search engines provide the user community direct access to data files, metadata, and geophysical data products. Additionally, other online utilities are available for generating maps and plots of data archived in SeaBASS. Historically, to protect the publication rights of contributors' data and to limit user-support to active participants, access to SeaBASS has been limited to contributing researchers and to members of the SIMBIOS and other NASA-affiliated Science Teams. As of August 2001, however, data collected prior to December 31, 1999 are available to the public at large. These data are available online and via the National Oceanographic Data Center. This report elaborates on the architecture of SeaBASS and on the methods employed by the SIMBIOS Project for radiometric and pigment data storage, quality control, distribution, and preparation for satellite ocean color sensor validation analyses.