HR: 08:20h
AN: U21A-02    [PDF]
TI: Virtual Observatories, Virtual Archives: Only as Good as Their Metadata?
AU: * Duerr, R
EM: rduerr@nsidc.org
AF: National Snow and Ice Data Center, University of Colorado UCB 449, Boulder, CO 80309-0449 United States
AU: Kaminski, M
EM: marilynk@nsidc.org
AF: National Snow and Ice Data Center, University of Colorado UCB 449, Boulder, CO 80309-0449 United States
AU: Marquis, M C
EM: marquism@kryos.colorado.edu
AF: National Snow and Ice Data Center, University of Colorado UCB 449, Boulder, CO 80309-0449 United States
AU: Parsons, M A
EM: parsonsm@kryos.colorado.edu
AF: National Snow and Ice Data Center, University of Colorado UCB 449, Boulder, CO 80309-0449 United States
AU: Fetterer, F
EM: fetterer@kryos.colorado.edu
AF: National Snow and Ice Data Center, University of Colorado UCB 449, Boulder, CO 80309-0449 United States
AU: Webster, K
EM: kwebster@nsidc.org
AF: National Snow and Ice Data Center, University of Colorado UCB 449, Boulder, CO 80309-0449 United States
AU: Mullins, T
EM: tmullins@kryos.colorado.edu
AF: National Snow and Ice Data Center, University of Colorado UCB 449, Boulder, CO 80309-0449 United States
AB: Over the last 27 years, the National Snow and Ice Data Center has participated in a number of programs that have striven to provide ready access to high-quality observations and long-term geophysical records. In the last 10 years these programs have increasingly involved data archived at multiple, geographically distributed sites. The key lessons we have learned from these experiences are that providing access to data is not sufficient for users to find and successfully use it, and that ensuring long-term preservation of data is especially difficult in a distributed environment. Developing and maintaining appropriate metadata (i.e., information about the data) is key to facilitating data discovery and use and is also important to data preservation, as is maintaining linkage between the data and its metadata. Yet there are many programmatic, scientific and technical challenges to developing and maintaining these metadata and linkages. Examples from a variety of NSIDC programs illustrate these challenges and some of the tools and techniques employed to overcome them.
DE: 1863 Snow and ice (1827)
DE: 6344 System operation and management
DE: 6399 General or miscellaneous
DE: 6699 General or miscellaneous
DE: 9820 Techniques applicable in three or more fields
SC: U
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting