The Observing System Monitoring Center: an Emerging Source for Integrated In-Situ Ocean Data

The Observing System Monitoring Center (OSMC) was originally conceived to serve as a tool to assist managers in monitoring the performance of the integrated global in-situ ocean observing system. For much of the past decade, the OSMC has been storing real time data and metadata from ocean observation sources such as the Global Telecommunications System (GTS), IOC sea level monitoring center, and others. The goal of the OSMC has been to maintain a record of all of the observations that represent the global climate data record. Though the initial purpose of the OSMC was mainly to track platform and observing subsystem performance, it has become clear that the data represented in the OSMC would be a valuable source for anyone interested in ocean processes. This presentation will discuss the implementation details involved in making the OSMC data available to the general public. We'll also discuss how we leveraged the NOAA-led Unified Access Framework (UAF), which defines a framework built upon community-accepted standards and conventions, in order to assist in the creation of the data services. By adhering to these well known and widely used standards and conventions, we ensure that the OSMC data will be available to users through many popular tools, including both web-based services and desktop clients. Additionally, we will also be discussing the modernized OSMC suite of user interfaces which intends to provide access to both ocean data and platform metrics for people ranging from ocean novices to scientific experts.