Data Services in Support of Marine Geoscience Research: Preservation, Synthesis and Access

This project provides continued support for a facility that shares marine geology and geophysics data. Users can download and use data from the global oceans for new research projects. Software allows scientists, educators, and students to easily explore and visualize the seafloor. A topography synthesis integrates seafloor and land data for use by researchers and the public. Broader impacts include workshops to the user community and engagement of summer undergraduate students from Minority Serving Institutions.This project supports complementary disciplinary data services focused on the preservation and access of marine geology and geophysics (MGG) data acquired throughout the global ocean. The Marine Geoscience Data System (MGDS) curates a coherent collection of disciplinary data about the seafloor and subseafloor, and provides data documentation and preservation services that support data publication, discovery and re-use. The Global Multi-Resolution Topography (GMRT) synthesis is a multi-resolution Digital Elevation Model (DEM) that seamlessly integrates curated multibeam bathymetry data with other publicly available elevation data to deliver custom maps and elevation data products on-demand for interdisciplinary researchers and the public. The visualization and data discovery tool GeoMapApp (GMA) provides map-based quantitative access to published and community-sourced geoscience data sets, including GMRT, and empowers researchers to visualize and analyze their own data within the context of complementary data. The combined data services of MGDS, GMRT, and GeoMapApp ensure that marine geoscientific data are Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR), and the complementary aspects of data stewardship handled by each system adds value to these unique and spatiotemporally sparse observational data. The tools and curated data collections that are made publicly available through this project support disciplinary and transdisciplinary research and education.This project is supported by the Marine Geology and Geophysics program in the Division of Ocean Sciences and the Antarctic program in the Office of Polar Programs.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.