NERRS Centralized Data Management Office
The NERRS Centralized Data Management Office (CDMO) was established in 1994 in support of the NOAA National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) System-wide Monitoring Program (SWMP). Located at the North Inlet-Winyah Bay NERR in Georgetown, SC, the mission of the CDMO is to oversee the management, documentation, and publication of the NERRS monitoring data on the Internet.
Background
The NERR SWMP was established in 1994 by NOAA NERRS for the long-term environmental monitoring of estuarine resources. SWMP identifies and tracks short-term variability and long-term changes in the integrity and biodiversity of representative estuarine ecosystems and coastal watersheds with the intent of contributing to effective national, regional, and site-specific coastal zone-management efforts. The NERRS SWMP is currently implemented at 27 Reserves in 21 states and one territory.
The initial phase of the SWMP began in 1995. The focus was on monitoring a suite of water quality and meteorological variables over a range of spatial and temporal scales. Water quality parameters measured include pH, conductivity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, turbidity and water level. Weather parameters include temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, wind speed and direction, rainfall and photosynthetic active radiation. Since the initial phase, chlorophyll a and nutrient monitoring have been added as well as provisional GIS shapefiles (Reserve boundary, watershed, elevation, canopy, impervious surface) and Google Earth files. After 14 years, there are 110 water quality stations and 27 weather stations in SWMP. Data from all the weather stations and at least one water quality station per Reserve are transmitted to the CDMO database and website in near real time.
Collecting Good Data
Standardized protocols developed by the Reserves and the CDMO assure that sampling, processing and data management techniques are comparable among sites. The SWMP includes a rigorous Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) program to ensure that the quality of data is adequate to meet the study objectives. The SWMP Quality Control program currently includes standardized operating procedures for the routine calibration, deployment and recovery of automated data loggers, and data management procedures for the identification and treatment of data outliers, submission of data to the CDMO and development of supporting metadata which is a critical element of the monitoring program.
In 2001, the CDMO established an annual Technical Training Workshop series that provides instruction to NERRS research technicians working on SWMP initiatives. Peer-led training encompasses equipment setup, operation and maintenance; data collection and data management; quality assurance/quality control activities; and promotes interaction and communication among Reserve research technicians.
Improved Data Management Strategy
The CDMO implemented a new data management strategy in 2007 to streamline the data management process and improve data delivery to the public. The CDMO reduces errors into the dataset and streamlines the data editing process by:
- Conducting primary QAQC as the data are ingested into the CDMO database
- Embedding "metadata" in the dataset as QAQC flags and codes
- Providing secondary QAQC tools are to the Reserves for additional data editing
Data are acquired from the Reserves in two ways. For the near real time stations, data are transmitted to a GOES satellite hourly, retrieved by the CDMO digital readout ground station, then ingested by the CDMO database for primary QAQC and dissemination as provisional data over the World Wide Web. For the non-real time stations, data are retrieved by the Reserve then uploaded to the CDMO database via a web page where data go through the same process as above.
Once data reside in the CDMO database, the information is readily obtainable by researchers, coastal managers and educators. Data are available for graphing based on station and parameter to include daily averages or all data points. Data are also available for export and will include the data with QAQC flags, metadata, sampling station information, data ownership and liability policy, and flagging scheme.
The datasets available via the CDMO web portal include:
- 11 years of water quality data (1995-2006); provisional through 2009
- 5 years of meteorological data (2001-2006); provisional through 2009
- 4 years of nutrient data (2002-2006)
For more information, visit the NOAA NERRS Centralized Data Management Office website.