Contribute Your Data

Are you a data provider interested in exposing your geophysical data to the IOOS community?  If so, the information below will provide you with everything you need to know about requirements for participation in DMAC.


Guidance for Implementation of the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) Data Management and Communications (DMAC) Subsystem

IOOS partners must implement a DMAC Subsystem component that follows these guiding principles:

  1. Open Data Sharing
  2. Provision of Data to WMO GTS
  3. Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA)
  4. Standards-based Data Access Services
  5. Common Data Formats
  6. Common Vocabularies and Identifiers
  7. Metadata Standards
  8. Storage and Archiving
  9. Data Management Planning and Coordination
  10. IOOS Maturity Levels and Certification Standards
  11. Consideration for Long-term Operations

Open Data Sharing

IOOS, being a part of the Global Earth Observing System of Systems (GEOSS), ascribes to the GEOSS data sharing principles. The basic intent  of these principles is for full and open exchange of data and metadata with minimum possible cost, delay and restriction. In particular, observations gathered with IOOS funding are to be freely available. In some instances, IOOS® data providers may act as a “clearinghouse” for other lower capacity or smaller scale providers.

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Provision of Data to WMO GTS

The World Meteorological Organization Global Telecommunications System (WMO GTS), and an emerging next generation system - the WMO Information System (WIS), - disseminates data in near-real-time to operational weather and ocean forecasting centers. NOAA IOOS is committed to ensuring that all relevant U.S. coastal ocean observations will be contributed in near real time to the global GTS network. IOOS partners can fulfill this requirement by entering into an agreement with NOAA’s National Data Buoy Center (NDBC) to post data onto the GTS in near real time. NOAA IOOS® will provide specific guidance to partners on data priorities.

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Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA)

DMAC employs a service-oriented architecture (SOA). IOOS® partners must participate in a highly distributed system of compatible components that includes:

  1. Registering their service instances in the IOOS Service Registry
  2. Utilizing IOOS®-approved mechanisms for notifying users of service outages and enhancements
  3. Permitting basic monitoring, by IOOS®, of service availability and response time
  4. Reporting summary data usage statistics to IOOS® on a monthly basis. Data provider should provide monthly usage statistics based on web server logs.  This aggregate information should include basic statistics such as average daily requests during the month, and fraction of requests from various top-level domains (.com, .gov, .edu, etc.).  Additional information is encouraged.

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Standards-Based Data Access Services

The basic data access services currently used by IOOS® DMAC are described below.  IOOS® data partners are expected to establish, register, and maintain services which correspond to their data types (legacy services may also be maintained, if desired).

  1. For gridded data and model outputs:
  2. For in situ observations:
  3. For geo-referenced image data:

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Common Vocabularies and Identifiers

IOOS is presently developing and adopting shared vocabularies for terminology such as names of observed properties, units of measure, coordinate reference systems, animal species, etc.

IOOS data partners are encouraged to implement, and to help expand, such vocabularies and identifiers, as well as develop cross-walks (i.e., semantic mediation) between IOOS® and existing local or community-of-interest vocabularies and identifiers.

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Metadata Standards

Descriptive information about datasets, sensors, platforms, models, analysis methods, quality-control procedures is essential for the long-term usability and reuse of information.

IOOS is developing conventions for use of metadata formats such as:

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Storage and Archiving

IOOS partners must describe how they will:

  1.  Provide initial stewardship; and

  2. Ensure permanent archiving of their observations, model outputs, metadata and derived information products of archival quality.  

NOAA’s National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) is the nominal archive center for IOOS data. Data providers are expected to provide for storage of data, metadata and other supporting documentation and algorithm descriptions, to establish data recovery mechanisms, and to perform off-site storage of backups until the data and metadata are submitted to NODC for archiving. NOAA IOOS will facilitate execution of NODC partnerships with IOOS partners.

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Data Management Planning and Coordination

IOOS partners should maintain the capacity to and demonstrate how they will:

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IOOS Maturity Levels and Certification Standards

IOOS is presently developing capability maturity levels for particular areas in data management such as use of standardized data access services, provision of metadata, system reliability, and others.  IOOS will assess and display maturity levels for IOOS data and service providers.  IOOS partners shall permit and assist with such assessment, and will be encouraged to achieve as high a level as practical in each category and to describe requirements or obstacles to moving to higher maturity levels if applicable.


Consideration for Long-term Operations

The IOOS observing, data management, and modeling capacities being developed will, ideally, persist as the overall enterprise matures.  IOOS partners should include a discussion of potential plans for maintaining such persistence as part of normal IOOS operations (e.g., by automating as many activities as possible, implementing operational procedures).

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News and Announcements

Contact Us

For general inquiries about DMAC projects contact:  data.ioos@noaa.gov


Technical forum

If you would like to participate in discussions related to data management of ocean observations sign up for the ioostech mailing list.


IOOS System Status

Notifications of changes to registered IOOS data access services, such as the NDBC and CO-OPS SOS servers, are sent to the [ioos.system.status@noaa.gov] list.
If you would like to receive these notifications, please send a request to data.ioos@noaa.gov.