Last September, OCB organized an NSF EarthCube-funded meeting focused on shipboard ocean time series data (meeting report). One of the key recommendations that emerged from this workshop was the need for a sustained activity such as a research coordination network (RCN) focused on developing ecological and biogeochemical data and metadata standards and broadening users of shipboard time series data sets. In March 2020, we (co-PIs Heather Benway, WHOI/OCB and Angelicque White, Univ Hawai’i and Danie Kinkade, WHOI/BCO-DMO) submitted an EarthCube RCN proposal for Marine Ecological Time Series (METS), and I am happy to share that the RCN has been selected for funding! OCB will host and coordinate the activities of the RCN. We will provide regular updates (via this eNewsletter and us-ocb.org for now) as we begin to establish the RCN steering committee and website and begin planning activities. The METS RCN is an excellent and much needed opportunity for the time series community, and I hope members of the OCB community will be engaged as much as possible. See proposal abstract below – please note that proposed RCN community activities may be delayed due to the pandemic.
Project abstract: EarthCube RCN for Marine Ecological Time Series (METS)
This project will support coordination efforts that bring together participants in large- and small group formats to foster the necessary dialog to develop Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) data solutions and practices. The project will include a Consensus Building Workshop and METS Data Working Group to develop reference implementations of a data model for adoption by the METS community; formation of regional METS user networks and a Broadening Users Workshop to identify the needs of a broader range of data end users and associated data interfaces and tools to meet those needs; and a Data Hackathon to build capacity to ingest, analyze, and integrate METS data with other disciplinary and cross-disciplinary data to accelerate scientific discovery.
This project will develop community consensus for a FAIR METS data model. The METS RCN will leverage the wealth of oceanographic coordination and community building experience and staff capacity of the Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry (OCB) Project Office and the infrastructure, expertise, and extensive METS data handling experience of the Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO), along with an RCN Steering Committee that comprises expertise in the fields of oceanography, data science, earth system models, statistics, and data synthesis.
