The Alaska Ocean Observing System Data Center: Tools and Technologies for the New Arctic

The Alaska Ocean Observing System (AOOS) is the Alaska regional component of the national Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) and hosts a federally-certified regional Data Assembly Center. The AOOS data system serves as the backbone for several other thematic data systems including the Office of Naval Research-supported Animal Telemetry Network Data Assembly Center, National Science Foundation's Northern Gulf of Alaska Long Term Ecological Research Program, and the IOOS Environmental Sensor Map and Marine Biodiversity Observation Network Portal. The AOOS data management system allows a complex array of oceanographic data types to be well organized, accessible, and understandable. The system is a scalable, open source platform that uses existing and emerging software resources, high performance compute clusters and interoperability services consistent with IOOS standards and protocols. In its current capacity, the AOOS regional Data Assembly Center is the largest data management service in this region.

The Ocean Data Explorer is the flagship statewide data portal for AOOS and includes tools to visualize and explore oceanographic and coastal data across Alaska and neighboring coastal areas. The custom-built tools allow for dataset cataloging, elastic searches, automated and custom visualization, time-series exploration and extraction, data downloading using static files and multiple interoperable web services, map representation of multiple data layers, and more. AOOS specializes in visualizing more complex data types (gliders, animal telemetry, CTDs) as well as providing next generation visualization capabilities to users (e.g., Ocean in 4D).

New applications and capabilities to meet stakeholder needs include emergency response tools, maps for siting mariculture activities, AIS vessel tracking datasets for hydrographic survey prioritizations and oil spill risk assessments, integration and display of alternative water level observations, and numerical modeling infrastructure to run forecasts describing pan-arctic sea ice dynamics. With the latest Data View capability, users can save a collection of data layers and visualize them together for comparison and analysis, and share the view with others.