Ocean Data and Information System (ODIS) and web-based services

Abstract

The Ocean Data and Information System (ODIS) is a one stop shop for providing data and information on physical, chemical and biological parameters of ocean and coasts on various spatial and temporal domains that is vital for both research and operational oceanography. It is an end-to-end ocean data management system, developed by exploiting the advances in the field of information and communication technology that brought revolutionary changes in data acquisition, processing, analysis and data availability at a click away. ODIS is fed by voluminous (˜5 Tb per year) and highly heterogeneous oceanographic data in real time, acquired from the Ocean Observing Systems (both in-situ and remote sensing) established in the Indian Ocean. The challenges involved in developing ODIS are integration of heterogeneous data received from a wide variety of ocean observing systems, generation of metadata, quality control, generation of database and implementation of data warehousing and mining concepts for providing web-based data services. ODIS forms as a vital component for providing web-based services. The web-site has been matured as a prime vehicle for providing ocean data, information and advisory services such as potential fishing zone, ocean state forecast, Indian Argo, Indian Ocean Global Ocean Observing System, etc. The web-based online delivery system facilitates the user with multi-lingual and Web-GIS capabilities to query, analyze, visualize and download the ocean data, information and advisory services on different spatial and temporal resolutions. In this paper, we describe the development of ocean data and information system, data flow from various ocean observing system, formats, metadata base, quality control procedures and web-based data services that facilitates online data discovery, visualization and delivery. We also give an account on the web-based ocean information and advisory services and the challenges involved in ocean data management and web-based services. Further, we briefly discuss on the efforts with regard to open standards and interoperability issues pertaining to marine data management for seamless exchange of data.