Objectives
The goal of GODAR is to increase the volume of historical oceanographic data available to climate change and other researchers by locating ocean profile and plankton data sets not yet in digital form, digitizing these data, and ensuring their submission to national data centers and the World Data Center System. In addition, data on electronic media that are at risk of loss due to media degradation are also candidates for rescue.
Establishment
The GODAR project was established by the 14th Session of the IODE Committee (1992) through Recommendation IODE-XIV.DR.3 (Data Archaeology and Rescue Project).
During the 22nd Session of the IODE Committee (2013) the Committee called on the United States (host of the GODAR and WOD projects and to continue its support of GODAR and WOD through Recommendation IODE-XXII.10
Governance
Contrary to other IODE projects GODAR is not managed by a Steering Group. The GODAR project is managed by a Project Leader: Hernan Garcia, Director World Data Service for Oceanography (formerly WDC Oceanography, Silver Spring, USA).
(previously Sydney Levitus, Director of the WDC Oceanography, Silver Spring, USA, now retired.)
Activities
Project Documentation and Meeting reports
A full list of all GODAR related documents can be seen here.
A number of GODAR workshops have been organized since the start of the GODAR project. Several of these were organized in regions. The reports of these workshops are available here:
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International Global Oceanographic Data Archaeology and Rescue (GODAR) Review Conference, Silver Spring, MD, USA, 12-15 July 1999 IOC Workshop Report 178 Publ: 1999 |
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IOC Regional Workshop for Member States of Western Africa, GODAR-VI (Global Oceanographic Data Archaeology and Rescue Project); Accra; 1997 IOC. Workshop report; 136 Publ: 1998; (87 p. in various pagings); maps; SC.98/WS/64.
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IOC Regional Workshop for Member States of the Caribbean and South America: GODAR-V (Global Oceanographic Data Archaeology and Rescue Project); Cartagena de Indias, Colombia; 1996 IOC. Workshop report; 127 Publ: 1997; (62 p. in various pagings); SC.97/WS/73. english spanish
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IOC/ICSU/CEC Regional Workshop for Member States of the Mediterranean: GODAR-IV; Valletta; 1995 IOC. Workshop report; 110 (56 p. in various pagings); illus., maps
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IOC/ICSU/NIO/NOAA Regional Workshop for Member States of the Indian Ocean: GODAR III (Global Oceanographic Data Archaeology and RescueProject); Goa, India; 1994 IOC. Workshop report; 107 Publ: 1995; (45 p. in various pagings).
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IOC/SOA/NOAA Regional Workshop for Member States of the Western Pacific - GODAR-II (Global Oceanographic Data Archaeology and Rescue Project); Tianjin, China; 1994 IOC. Workshop report; 100 (72 p. in various pagings).
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IOC/CEC/ICSU/ICES Regional Workshop for Member States of Eastern and Northern Europe: Global Oceanographic Data Archeology and Rescue (GODAR) Project; Obninsk, Russian Federation; 1993 IOC. Workshop report; 88 (57 p. in various pagings).
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Information collected from the GODAR web site http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/General/NODC-dataexch/NODC-godar.html and updated by the Project Leader on 19/12/06
History
The international oceanographic community has had a long history of exchanging oceanographic data that begins with the founding of the International Council for Exploration of the Sea (ICES) in 1902 and the publication of ICES-related oceanographic profile and plankton date in 1907. There continues to be a pressing need for the international oceanographic and climate communities to have access to the most complete oceanographic databases possible for research and operational forecasting purposes and particularly for scientific studies in support of international agreements and treaties.
In December 1992, NODC/WDC presented a proposal for the Global Oceanographic Data Archaeology and Rescue (GODAR) Project at the 14th Session of the Committee on International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE) where it was approved. The proposal was subsequently endorsed by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC)--the parent body of the IODE--at the 17th IOC Assembly held in March 1993. At that time, it was further agreed that the WDC for Oceanography in Silver Spring, Maryland, would lead this project. The goal of GODAR was to increase the volume of historical oceanographic data available to climate change and other researchers by locating ocean profile and plankton data sets not yet in digital form, digitizing these data, and ensuring their submission to national data centers and the World Data Center System. In addition, data on electronic media that are at risk of loss due to media degradation are also candidates for rescue.
Six regional GODAR meetings have been held since 1993 to bring together scientists and data managers to focus on oceanographic data resources in various areas of the world. In 1999, an "International GODAR Review Meeting" was held in Silver Spring, MD, to review project results and plan future work. More than 75 data managers and scientists from around the world attended this meeting, which concluded that the GODAR project should be continued and extended to include additional variables such as sea level and ocean bathymetry.
The accomplishment of the GODAR project have resulted in the acquisition of data from:
- 1.3 million Ocean Station casts
- 1.0 million Mechanical Bathythermograph casts
- 0.6 million Expendable Bathythermograph casts
- 0.2 million Conductivity-Temperature-Depth casts
The figure below shows the spectacular increase of data sets rescued by GODAR which are now available on-line through the World Ocean Database (WODB).
The GODAR Project continues to locate and rescue historical oceanographic profile and plankton data that are at risk of being lost, due to media decay and/or neglect.
An international review meeting for the GODAR project was held during July, 1999 in Silver Spring, Maryland. One of the recommendations of this meeting was to extend the GODAR project to include sea level data. Part of this work is being performed by Mr. Pat Caldwell, the NODC Liaison Officer at the University of Hawaii.
Data and Products
All profile and plankton data acquired as part of the GODAR project were included in World Ocean Database 2001 (WOD01), which was released in March 2002. A comparison of the number of stations by instrument type in WOD01 with previous NODC/WDC global ocean databases is given in the following table:
http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/OC5/WOD01/expend01.html
Figures showing the increase of Station Data (OSD), CTD, XBT, and MBT data for the pre-1991 period that are due to the GODAR project can be viewed in the following Power Point file. You need MS Power Point to view the file.
The World Ocean Database (WOD) Project
In recognition of the success by the GODAR project, a proposal was presented at the 16th Session of the IODE, which was held in Lisbon, Portugal, in October-November 2000, to establish the World Ocean Database Project. This project is intended to stimulate international exchange of modern oceanographic data and encourage the development of regional oceanographic databases as well as the implementation of regional quality control procedures. This new Project was endorsed by the IODE at the conclusion of the Portugal meeting, and the IOC subsequently approved this project in June 2001.
More information on the World Ocean Database project can be found here.
Recommendation IOC/IODE-XIV.DR.3
DATA ARCHAEOLOGY AND RESCUE PROJECT
The IOC Committee on International Oceanographic & Information Exchange,
Noting that historical observations of oceanographic parameters are not repeatable if lost,
Acknowledging that substantial amounts of historical ocean observations are at risk of being lost due to media degradation or neglect,
Recognizing that the international scientific and engineering communities need the most comprehensive oceanographic multi-decadal databases possible for research purposes, particularly for use in studies describing the role of the World Ocean as part of the earth's climate system as well as for Global Change research,
Emphasizing that in order to make sound policy decisions national governments and intergovernmental advisory groups need scientific observations of the state of the World Ocean and for understanding of the role of the World Ocean as part of the earth's climate system,
Recommends that:
(i) IOC establish a Global Oceanographic Data Archaeology and Rescue Project under the IOC Committee on IODE as presented in the Annex to this recommendation subject to condition that the additional funds be made available;
(ii) a project leader be designated by the Secretary IOC in consultation with the Chairman of the IOC Committee on IODE to supervise its implementation;
(iii) IOC invite Member States and International Organizations to participate in and support this project, including the possibility of direct funding ear-marked for this purpose within the IOC Trust Fund.
Annex to Recommendation IODE-XIV.3
Introduction
All countries of the world have a concern about climate change because of the global impact of climate variability, whether natural or anthropogenic,
If international agreements are to be implemented due to concern about climate change, the science on which these agreements is based must be international in scope. All data on which these studies are based must therefore be available to the international scientific community without restriction.
Historical oceanographic data is of fundamental importance to scientists studying the role of the ocean as part of the earth's climate system. Regardless of any particular view an individual scientist or nation has on these issues, it is necessary that scientific assessments and national and international actions be based on the most complete environmental data bases possible.
Recognizing that oceanography is an observational science and that the world ocean is a major component of the earth's climate system it is suggested that the IOC sponsor activities that will result in more complete global oceanographic databases. These activities should be viewed as an enhancement of existing IODE activities. The new and enhanced oceanographic databases will be available without restriction to the international science community. We call this effort the "Global Oceanographic Data Archaeology and Rescue Project" (GODAR). To do the most thorough job possible this project must have a lifetime of 5 to 10 years. Funds to support the activities of this project will be obtained through as many sources independent of IOC as possible, including foundations.
"Data Archaeology" is the term used to describe the process of seeking out, restoring, evaluating, correcting and interpreting historical datasets.
"Rescue" refers to the effort to save data at risk from being lost to the science community.
Physical, chemical, and biological oceanographic data as well as surface marine meteorological observations are the specific types of data this project will focus on. These are the data types of greatest concern to IODE and climate research activities. Advances in computer technology both hardware and software (e.g., Relational Database technology) now allow for the construction of integrated global oceanographic data bases that include widely disparate types of oceanographic data from different oceanographic disciplines.
The data gathered as a result of this project will be of particular benefit to developing countries. The international availability of comprehensive global oceanographic datasets represent a policy of both information sharing as well as knowledge and technology transfer since the data can be used to study regional environmental oceanographic problems.
Rationale
Many oceanographic data are at risk of being lost to future use because of media degradation, hence the need for a "data rescue" effort in conjunction with the data archaeology effort. Sole copies of manuscript data are easily lost due to environmental damage or catastrophe such as fire. In addition manuscript data are of minimal use to researchers who require data in digital form with all pertinent meta-data in order to perform the most comprehensive studies possible. It is the international scientific community which must advise national and international bodies on such issues as climate change. Thus the most complete well-documented databases possible must be available to the international community.
Data archaeology and rescue activities at WDC-A, Washington; WDC-B, Obninsk; WDC-D, Tianjin; ICES, Denmark; the Japanese Oceanographic Data Center, and other institutions all have identified major oceanographic databases that exist only in manuscript form. Efforts sponsored by these institutions have resulted in digitization of some of these data and further digitization ("data rescue") is planned. For example the US NODC has located 150,000 MBT profiles in manuscript form and is contracting to have these data digitized. All the above institutions are already closely cooperating on archaeology and rescue activities to avoid duplication of effort and to maximize their resources.
Purpose
To facilitate the creation of global oceanographic databases for use by the international research community for the study of the role of the world ocean as part of the earth's climate system.
Main Emphasis
Specifically the project will emphasize:
(i) Digitization of data now known to exist only in manuscript and/or analog form. This effort will have highest priority of all activities.
(ii) Ensuring that all oceanographic data available for international exchange is archived at two or more international data centers in digital form.
(iii) Preparing catalogues (inventories) of:
a) Data now available only in manuscript form;
b) Data now available only in analog form;
c) Digital data not presently available to the international scientific community.
(iv) Making all data accessible on various media including CD-ROM's as well as standard magnetic tape.
These efforts represent implicit acknowledgement of the value of the ICSU-IOC International Oceanographic Data and Exchange (IODE) system but also recognize the need to enhance and expand the existing scope and efforts of this system as well as other international exchange mechanisms such as bilateral agreements. In fact this International Data Archaeology and Rescue Programme will build on existing data archaeology programs at WDC-A, WDC-B, and ICES.
The enhanced data bases will be made available as ASCII files on CD-ROM disks as this is the technology that represents the least expensive and most efficient means of distribution of large datasets.
The World Data Center-A for Oceanography (WDC-A) volunteers its services for these activities. WDC-A will work with data centers and research institutions around the world to compile the most complete oceanographic data bases possible and will arrange for the production and distribution of the resulting databases on CD-ROM's and magnetic tapes.
Proposed Activities
(i) IOC Secretary in consultation with the Chairman of the Committee on IODE appoint a project leader to direct the project (March 1993) - no funds required.
(ii) A project leader with the assistance, if necessary, of selected experts, will prepare an implementation plan and identify priorities (April 1993) - no funds required.
(iii) Workshop on GODAR will be arranged in Russian for Eastern Europe countries (May-June 1993) -20K from IOC RF and 40K from extra-budgetary sources.
(iv) IOC will mobilize and provide resources to sponsor series of regional and international meetings on the formation of global oceanographic databases for international distribution as part of GODAR (1994-...) - funds from IOC RF and extra-budgetary sources.
(v) IOC provide support via its VCP and by using extra-budgetary sources for the delivery of hardware/software required, and by arranging contracts with the staff of data centres to implement specific projects (1993-...) -funds from extra-budgetary sources.
(vi) IOC request its Member States declassify as much militarily-restricted oceanographic data as possible for international distribution.
Data Types of Interest
(i) Hydrographic casts including all chemical and biological observations;
(ii) Salinity/Conductivity Temperature-Depth casts;
(iii) Expendable Bathythermograph casts;
(iv) Mechanical Bathythermograph casts.
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Created on: Saturday, 16 December 2006 18:18
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Last Updated on: Tuesday, 11 June 2019 15:52