HR: 1330h
AN: B12A-0725    [PDF]
TI: Development of a Rapid, Standardized Data Inventory for R2K Field Programs
AU: * Arko, R A
EM: arko@ldeo.columbia.edu
AF: Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, 61 Route 9W, Palisades, NY 10964 United States
AU: Chayes, D N
AF: Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, 61 Route 9W, Palisades, NY 10964 United States
AU: Carbotte, S M
AF: Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, 61 Route 9W, Palisades, NY 10964 United States
AU: Ryan, W B
AF: Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, 61 Route 9W, Palisades, NY 10964 United States
AU: Lehnert, K A
AF: Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, 61 Route 9W, Palisades, NY 10964 United States
AU: Shank, T M
AF: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Mail Stop 33, Woods Hole, MA 02543 United States
AB: Effective data management for Ridge2000 requires the production of a complete data inventory for every field program in a timely and standardized way. We are developing a set of forms to document 1.) basic field program information (dates and locations, platform, science party, etc); 2.) an inventory of sensor systems, data types (marine geophysical, physical and chemical oceanographic, rock and sediment samples, and biological), and file formats; 3.) supplemental attachments (written reports, instrument diagrams, etc); and 4.) a basic navigation track. We regard this as the minimal set of metadata which should be produced immediately at the end of a field program, in order to publicize it in an online database and satisfy agency requirements. We have developed a prototype set of Portable Document Format (PDF) forms which can be completed during a cruise through a combination of manual and automated input. PDF is a stable and widely-used format, with software available as both a commercial product (Adobe Acrobat) and an open-source library (http://www.pdflib.org). Completing a PDF form requires only the Acrobat Reader software, which is freely available for every major computing platform. Acrobat offers extensive functionality to aid in data inventory, including the ability to verify content on-the-fly, import data from other files and forms, show controlled vocabularies as pop-up menus, export to XML format, and print a high-quality readable report. Prototype forms have been tested on a recent transit of the CGC Healy, and we plan to continue testing on other ships and soliciting community feedback over the next several months. We envision a long-term plan in which a master set of forms is deployed with every R2K field program, along with a copy of Acrobat Reader, on lightweight storage media such as USB keys. The completed forms will then be transmitted to the data management center, where they are ingested automatically and the information made available in the online R2K database.
DE: 0400 Biogeosciences
SC: Biogeosciences [B]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting