Data Management and Preservation: It Starts in the Field

Management of oceanographic data has become one of the most important needs of the oceanographic community due to the sheer volume and increasing complexity of the data being collected. Data acquisition is not the difficulty anymore; managing the data is now the challenge. As data and metadata flow from the field, through data processing, and finally to national data archives, the details of how the data were initially collected and processed need to be preserved and documented. Data by themselves are of little value. Metadata must be maintained and recorded to insure the longevity and long-term utility of the data. Quality data and metadata ultimately rely on accurate field records, data inventory management, and efficient use of established primary quality control protocols.

Here we present strategies for primary quality control and field management for NOAA underway pCO₂ data collected globally over the past 30 years. Challenges include maintaining accurate field documentation for individual cruises; identifying and flagging problematic data without losing relevant ancillary data; tracking sensor calibrations, standards, and system configurations; and providing timely turnaround of quality controlled data to the SOCAT community for second level QC and archival.