Jordi Sorribas

Bridging semantically different paradigms in the field of marine acquisition event logging

To use data proficiently and efficiently, scientists require comprehensive metadata. This is very difficult to reconstruct conceptually, positionally and temporally far from the time and place of data acquisition. The European Commission funded Eurofleets project, whose mission is to build an integrated European oceanographic research vessel fleet, is developing a system that aims to address this issue by capturing metadata in a uniform way at time of observation. As this is a European-wide initiative, the problems associated with the desired level of integration are also broad. Having so many partners, different paradigms, schools, practices and vocabularies must be taken into consideration. Assuming that this divergence is natural and even somehow positive in the perspective of adapting to a changing environment, we detail how bridging can take place using a systemic approach. In the Eurofleets experience, this relied on the definition of a boundary object: that is an artifact that can be used by each of the diverging communities, since it embeds the core, shared conceptual entities. The structure of the boundary object is based on an event model, its ontology and the controlled vocabularies linked to it. All conceptual entities, and indeed the structure of the boundary object itself, resulted from wide discussions among the divergent communities. These discussions, allowed the extension of meaning from a semantic perspective to the pragmatic scope, where theoretical and cultural matters can also be considered, so that, eventually, the knowledge represented by the boundary object is more likely to be understood across the divergent communities. To exploit the possibilities offered by the boundary object, specific software has been developed that, using the event model and ontology, allows easier deployment across the project partners of a system intended to address the heterogeneity of the research vessel fleet. In this paper we describe in detail the underlying ontology.

An Oceanographic Data Acquisition System (ODAS) for Ethernet LANs for Spanish research vessels

This paper presents an Oceanographic Data Acquisition System implemented using Local Area Network (LAN) capabilities for large and middle oceanographic vessels, discussing the technical solutions that have been taken about several topics such as hardware and network topology, data transmission protocols, data formats, real-time data integration, data visualisation, data storage, time synchronisation, process monitoring, etc.

A metadata model for cross-domain marine data management, the SeaDataNet/Geo-Seas experience

Data management in the marine sciences faces the complex issue of addressing contrasting cognitive models across scientific domains, meaning the various representations that different communities build for overlapping areas of interest. Each of these communities constructs an identity on a specific and personal set of inherited backgrounds, practices, and tacit knowledge, which are mirrored in how they understand the targets of their studies. From a practical point of view, this can result in mis-linking observations and usage. This paper reports on the work done within the EU FP7 SeaDataNet project to tackle such problems through an integrated discovery and data access paradigm. It is based on a flexible metadata model that allows researchers to link domain-specific metadata profiles encoded using SensorML OGC standard, the general discovery framework based on an ISO 19115/19139 profile called CDI, and the data through a common hub based on the Observations and Measurements OGC standard.

GLOBE software: An innovative software for Geoscience data processing and 3D/4D viewing

Within the EUROFLEETS project, and linked to the EMODNet and Geo-Seas European projects, GLOBE (Global Oceanographic Bathymetry Explorer) is an innovative and generic software combining all necessary functionalities for cruise preparation, for collection, linking, processing and display of scientific data acquired during sea cruises, and for exporting data and information to the main marine data centers and networks.

Data Acquisition in Oceanographic Research Vessels

This paper describes the design and the development of a new real time data acquisition system which focuses on oceanographic research. The system has been implemented in several Spanish oceanographic platforms (vessels and land-sites) using very reliable MESH network that can still operate when one node breaks down or a connection goes bad. Service Oriented Architecture allows expandable access to real time and historical data. This system is applicable to any network of instrumentation where an integrated management of data and a wide range of access procedures are needed. We can frame these data acquisition system in a satellite communications environment both VSAT (C band) and TNX75 (X band). The target domain off these projects is to provide long-range data and optimize satellite communications resources. The challenging issue is to achieve cross-platform data-generating infrastructure, which in an optimized use of system resources and provide real time information to the user without depending on the location in which to generate or produce them. The project is focused mainly in relation to the acquisition of data, such as an integrated system of generation of data with a multilayer structure for accessing data consulting services, all using communications via satellite. To this day, we fully integrated platform and running, and we are expanding the services and optimizing the end-user interfaces with these new services. The eyelet of this document is to provide global technical community the current status in Spain, in regard to oceanographic data generation and exploitation of the same by the scientific community, from both the oceanographic vessels located anywhere of the world from locations ashore.