Life-Cycle Data Management at NOAA

Abstract:

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) operates over a hundred observing systems which span the environment from the bottom of the ocean to the surface of the Sun. The resulting data are essential for immediate priorities such as weather forecasting, and the data also constitute an irreplaceable resource collected at great cost. It is therefore necessary to carefully preserve this information for ongoing scientific use, for new research and applications, and to ensure reproducibility of scientific conclusions.

The NOAA data life-cycle includes activities in three major phases: planning and production, management of the resulting data, and usage activities. This paper will describe current work by the NOAA Environmental Data Management Committee (EDMC), Data Management Integration Team (DMIT), and the NOAA National Data Centers in areas including DM planning, documentation, cataloging, data access, and preservation and stewardship to improve and standardize policies and practices for life-cycle data management.