Repurposing research information and research data for maximum benefit.

1. Coordination of Environmental
Research Infrastructures for Access to
Multidisciplinary Earth/Ocean Data:
Experience from EMSO
CASRAI/RDC meeting, Ottawa, November 19, 2014
Mairi M.R. Best, B.Sc., Ph.D.
Consultant on Ocean Observing and
Environmental Sensor Systems

2. Overview
• Environmental Research Infrastructures
institutional/national initiatives,
different disciplines/cultures
vs.
regional to global questions
• Putting the Earth back together…

3. My Background
• Early involvement in big data and data mining in
field based descriptive disciplines
• Research focused on sampling and reading of
Earth’s historical records
• Early user and contributor of open Earth-Ocean data
such as NOAA’s NODC/NGDC
• Involved in transitions of fields becoming more data
rich and quantitative
• Led science and installation teams during building of
NEPTUNE Canada (ONC)

4. Earth-Ocean Processes
Ruhl et al., 2011

5. Challenge of Adequately Sampling
Natural Processes
Continuous, high-resolution data is required to
document and study…
– episodic events: earthquakes, submarine slides,
tsunamis, benthic storms, biodiversity changes,
pollution, gas hydrate release
– long-term change: temperature change,
hypoxia, acidification

6. Cabled Ocean Observatories
around the World

7. Ocean Observatories around the
World
• Infrastructure development: getting it built
• Nationalism/regionalism
• Disciplinary divides
• Culture change
…challenge of reassembling the Earth

8. EMSO
emso-eu.org

9. EMSO
•EMSO provides pan-European power, communications, sensors, and data
infrastructure for continuous, high resolution, (near) real-time,
coordinated, interactive ocean observations across a truly multi- and
interdisciplinary range of research areas that allows the scientific
community to address these challenges.
•It brings together not only countries and disciplines, but allows the
pooling of resources and coordination to assemble harmonised data into a
comprehensive regional ocean picture which it will then make available to
researchers and stakeholders worldwide on an open and interoperable
access basis.

10. ENVRI
•Framework 7 project for cooperation among environmental
research infrastructures in Europe
•ENVRIplus – next phase H2020
•Atmosphere, Hydrosphere, Lithosphere, Biosphere
•Cross cutting tools for:
–sensor technology
–data management
–access
–societal relevance: economics, ethics, citizen science
–communications
–infrastructure management
envri.eu

11. CoopEUS
Objectives:
• Share knowledge and best practices among EU and US
Environmental Research Infrastructures.
• Identify commonalities and gaps between pairs of infrastructures.
This analysis will define the necessary steps that will lead to
mutually beneficial long term cooperation and a common roadmap
on shared priorities.
• Organize meetings on topics that are relevant for an efficient,
sustainable operation of the Research Infrastructures.
• Integrate stakeholder groups.
• Exchange scientific personnel for time periods of several weeks.
• Work through use cases.
coopeus.eu

12. ONC and OOI
oceannetworks.ca oceanobservatories.org

13. CoopEUS
• Gap analysis and fact finding
• GEOSS interoperability test
• Tsunami use case

14. Gap Analysis
•Traditionally what is missing for effective collaboration and
interoperability.
•However, in a field as young as ocean observing, gaps may
also indicate limits of technology – for example challenges of
instrument maturity, deployment maturity,
communications/network complexity, and in general amount
of effort to get data on shore. Shared efforts to overcome
technological challenges are therefore particularly beneficial
to all parties.
•In as multidisciplinary a “field” as ocean sciences, gap analysis
may also indicate where the blind areas are between
disciplines.

15. Fact Finding

16. GEOSS Interoperability Test
•Robert Huber (EMSO) co-organized a GEOSS workshop July 1-
2 2014 in Bremen
•OOI sent Nancy Galbraith (WHOI) as a participant
•Both have registered data in GEOSS
http://dataportals.pangaea.de/coopeus/registry.php
•next steps: automated data registration and interoperability
tests

17. Tsunami Use Case
Tsunami modelling and early warning
systems for near source areas
(Mediterranean, Juan de Fuca) -> mutual
need for tsunami event field data and
modeling to deepen our experience in
testing methodology and developing real-time
data processing

18. Tsunami Use Case
•Sensors: agree on settings; gap analysis of
sensor coverage
•Data: compare/harmonise/align sensor
metadata, and registries; data policy and
access
•Modeling: collaborative framework for testing
already available algorithms for tsunami
detection

19. Tsunami Use Case
Tsunami Parameters
•seafloor ground velocity
•seafloor ground
acceleration
•seismic wave velocity in
water
•seafloor water pressure
•sea-level
•water density
•water temperature
Instruments
•broad-band
seismometers
•accelerometers
•hydrophones
•bottom pressure
sensor
•CTDs

20. Tsunami Use Case

21. Tsunami Use Case

22. Tsunami Use Case

23. Tsunami Use Case
•Working workshop will be held in San
Francisco, adjacent to AGU 2014, involving
key people from EMSO, OOI, and ONC
•Tests of access and analysis of data by
different partners proceeding

24. Summary
• Environmental Research Infrastructures
• Putting the Earth back together…
• Big Data Sensor Systems
• European Distributed Research Infrastructures
• ENVRI
• CoopEUS