Data and Metadata

Data Management

The Carocoops data management effort will support the modeling and analysis communities by providing tools and infrastructure for metadata, data and quality assurance/quality control(QA/QC) processes. Real-time reporting will be provided for current buoy conditions to the research and public communities via internet access. This information as well as other research datasets will be saved into searchable archives. The initial formats of these datasets will be a varied mixture of flat-file and relational database formats, but metadata and data conventions should allow uniform access from a user perspective.

Tools used by Caro-COOPS

• DODS - an open source software solution that makes remote scientific data accessible to data analysis and visualization packages; authored by Unidata
• LAS - an open source general purpose Web server for geo-science data sets; authored by PMEL
• netCDF - an interface for array-oriented data access; authored by Unidata
• ncBrowse - a Java application that provides flexible, interactive graphical displays of data and attributes from a netCDF data files; authored by EPIC
• MapServer - an open source development environment for building spatially enabled Internet applications; authored by the University of Minnesota
• MapLab - a suite of Web-based, open source tools that simplifies the process of deploying MapServer Web mapping applications; authored by DM Solutions Group
• RedHat 7.3 - an open source Linux distribution; authored by Red Hat

Data available at Caro-COOPS.org

• DODS server
• LAS
• Storm surge data - netCDF files describing topography and bathymetry for North and South Carolina, river discharge and hurricane profiles

Metadata

Metadata development will be an integrated component of the Caro-COOPS data management system, and will be a vital component of the Virtual Network Information System (VNIS) that will facilitate data archival, search and query. The diverse and distributed nature of the Caro-COOPS data collection network necessitates the use and development of unique solutions to metadata development and data management. Metadata provides a key component to meeting Caro-COOPS objectives by documenting the real-time data streams from Caro-COOPS instrumentation via the development of automated metadata development and documentation of in situ and other data collections through the use of the Automated Cast-Net Entry Tool (ACET) developed by the Cast-Net group. ACET is a Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) compliant tool that provides a unique solution to metadata development, in part, through the use of existing software developed by the FGDC and the Internet. Thus only an internet browser is needed to write, verify and make the metadata available online. In addition, a web-based metadata search utility developed by the NOAA Coastal Services Center will provide online search and query capabilities for existing metadata within the Caro-COOPS data management system. These metadata tools will provide additional utilities to the VNIS and will form the foundation for data search and retrieval by utilizing key data structures.

Links

• Metadata Search