SAON Data

1. SAON Data Policy, activities, services, and deliveries Jan René Larsen SAON Board Meeting, 29 April 2013, Vancouver, Canada ,

2. SAON Vision “Users should have access to free, open and high quality data that will realize pan-Arctic and global value-added services and provide societal benefits”

3. Recommendations (IG and SG) • Establish a data policy/data charter in order to support the concept of free, open access to data. This should recognize that funding for data management should be an integral part of funding for all data collection activities. It should encourage publication (of data) in open access journals. • Establish interoperability, supported by data and metadata standards and protocols. • Create a detailed inventory of Arctic observing systems and projects. • Establish data oriented criteria for the recognition of SAON Networks.

4. Recommendations (IG and SG) • Establish an Arctic data management body to coordinate community building, system design, and general activity planning and execution. • Establish a data portal. • Mobilize funding for data management activities. • Promote efforts to ensure that data are archived in sustained long-term data archives. • Provide assistance to various observing networks, data systems, and individuals to help them expose their data and metadata in ways that can be discovered, accessed, and translated across different web services.

5. Recommendations (IG and SG) • Conducting training in data management and identification of best practices and “cookbooks” for data and metadata standards, tools, etc. • SAON should develop plans and strategies for recommendations 1-5. • The management of data and metadata can serve as an integrating factor across SAON Tasks, networks, and programs/partners. The National SAON Coordinating Committees (NSCCs) will play a strong role in driving this.

6. Data oriented Tasks • 2: Metadata profile • 5: Data assembly • 7: Data workshop • 8: Database coordination • 10: CBM Vocabularies • 11: People – ACE • 14: Arctic Ocean Structure • 15: Historical climate analysis • 19/N2: Network for Arctic Data and Coordination • 20/N3: Rolling Review of Requirements/WMO • 21/N5: Arctic e-IONET

7. R1: Establish a SAON data policy/charter • An IASC working group has almost finished their work on a draft on this

8. R2: Establish interoperability, supported by data and metadata standards and protocols • SAON should cooperate with existing (and coming) international initiatives that organises metadata • The work should be based on an arctic metadata standard. • Should be done through support to Task 2 (IPY legacy)

9. R3: An inventory of Arctic observing systems and projects • First version created, based on national reports • Not standardised, contents not easy to maintain • A standard for project metadata does not exist, but may be borrowed from other initiatives

10. R4: Establish data oriented criteria for the SAON governance structure • The capability to manage data and metadata should be part of the process for recognition/approval of SAON Tasks, networks, and partners/programs

11. R5: Establish a data management group • Mandate: • Review past recommendations to the SAON IG and SG on arctic data management • Formulate a SAON data policy. • Review new and existing SAON Tasks from the Data Management Perspective • Give guidance to the SAON Board on the development of data and metadata protocols • Provide guidance on the relevance of establishing a ‘SAON Metadata Portals’ and/or a ‘SAON Data Portals’