Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry (OCB)
Data Management Office (DMO)
Project History
In mid 2005, the U.S. National Science Foundation recognized the need for coordination and data management for medium-sized ocean carbon and biogeochemistry projects, and funded the Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry Coordination and Data Management Office (OCB CDMO) at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The OCB CDMO began efforts in three main areas: (1) community development and support; (2) workshop sponsorship and (3) data management (including data recovery, enhanced availability and long-term archive). In addition to sponsoring an annual scientific workshop in 2005, the group began doing data management with five medium-sized ocean science research programs:
- CARIACO CArbon Retention In A Colored Ocean Project
- EDDIES Eddies Dynamics, Mixing, Export, and Species composition
- MedFlux MedFlux collaborative research project
- SOFeX Southern Ocean Iron Experiment
- VERTIGO VERtical Transport In the Global Ocean
Project Description
In April 2006, the U.S. Ocean Carbon & Biogeochemistry Project Office (us-ocb.org) became a separate entity, but the OCB Data Management Office (DMO) continues to provide coordinated data management for the five original research projects. The OCB DMO is preparing the in situ data from participating projects for addition to an online database. Currently, our main objective is to support the actively participating projects and the broader scientific community through improved accessibility to ocean biogeochemistry data. The coordination component, including future workshops, will be provided by the U.S. OCB Project Office (US-OCB, us-ocb.org).
Relationship to Other Carbon Research Projects
Two efforts are underway to improve communication and to coordinate existing and new U.S. ocean biogeochemistry research programs. The first, Ocean Carbon and Climate Change (OCCC) was established in 2005 and focuses directly on the ocean carbon system and its interaction with the atmosphere and land carbon reservoirs. OCCC is part of the U.S. Global Change Research Program Interagency Partnership Carbon Cycle Science Program and is the marine counterpoint to the North American Carbon Program (NACP).
The U.S. Ocean Carbon & Biogeochemistry (OCB) Project Office (US-OCB, us-ocb.org) was established in February 2006 by the NSF, NASA and NOAA and will focus on the ocean's role as a component of the global Earth system. The OCB project office will coordinate research in geochemistry, ocean physics, and ecology that inform and advance our understanding of ocean biogeochemistry. The overall program goals are to promote, plan, and coordinate collaborative, multidisciplinary research opportunities within the U.S. research community and with international partners. Important OCB-related activities currently include: the Ocean Carbon and Climate Change (OCCC) and the North American Carbon Program (NACP); U.S. contributions to IMBER, SOLAS, CARBOOCEAN; and numerous U.S. single-investigator and medium-size research projects funded by NASA, NOAA, and NSF.
The OCB and OCCC have a joint Scientific Steering Committee (OCB-SSC), chaired by Scott Doney (sdoney@whoi.edu). The efforts of the two steering entities will be closely interrelated because the OCCC-SSG members are a sub-group of the OCB-SSC. An OCCC Implementation Strategy was published in 2004 (Doney et al., 2004) outlining a program of oceanic monitoring and research aimed at determining how much carbon dioxide is being taken up by the ocean at the present time and how climate change will affect the future behavior of the carbon sink.
funding is provided by the