Data Management Supporting the U.S. Extended Continental Shelf Project
Abstract
The U.S. Extended Continental Shelf (ECS) Project is a multi-agency collaboration led by the U.S. Department of State whose mission is to establish the full extent of the continental shelf of the United States consistent with international law. Since 2003, the U.S. has been actively collecting bathymetric, seismic, and other geophysical data and geologic samples required to delineate its outer limits in accordance with Article 76 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. In 2007, the U.S. ECS Task Force designated the National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) to serve as both the Data Management lead and the Data Archive and Integration Center for the U.S. ECS Project. NGDC, one of three National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Offices active in the ECS Project, has the primary responsibility to provide a common infrastructure and a means to integrate the data supporting, and products resulting from ECS analysis. One of the key challenges in the ECS project is the requirement to track the provenance of data and derived products. Final ECS analyses may result in hundreds of points that define a new maritime boundary that is our extended continental shelf. These points will be developed in a rigorous process of analysis encompassing potentially thousands of raw datasets and derived products. NGDC has spent the past two years planning, designing, and partially implementing the Information Management System (IMS), a highly functional, interactive software system that serves as the master database for the ECS Project. The purpose of this geospatial database is to archive, access, and manage the primary data, derivative data and products, associated metadata, information and decisions that will form the U.S. submission. The IMS enables team members to manage ECS data in a consistent way while maintaining institutional memory and the rationale behind decisions. The IMS contains two major components: First, a catalog that acts as the interface to the IMS by organizing the data and products and assisting in populating submission document templates. Second, a web map viewer that geospatially displays the data and products. These components enable dispersed team members to manage ECS data consistently, to track the provenance of data and derived products used in the analyses, and to display analyses using a dynamic web map service. This poster illustrates the importance of data management within the ECS project and focuses on the implementation of the IMS and its use supporting the final determination of a new maritime boundary for the U.S.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2013
- Bibcode:
- 2013AGUFMOS13B1709L
- Keywords:
-
- 1912 INFORMATICS Data management;
- preservation;
- rescue;
- 3000 MARINE GEOLOGY AND GEOPHYSICS;
- 1926 INFORMATICS Geospatial