9417423 Livingston By the end of their lifetimes, the U.S. Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (U.S. JGOFS) and Global Ecosystems Dynamics (GLOBEC) will have accumulated enormous databases on the biogeochemistry and ecology of the world ocean. Translating the results of hundreds of experiments and hundreds of thousands of observations, collected at many places and over more than a decade of time, into a statement of how the ocean functions as a dominant component in global ecology is a daunting task. Before the final modeling and synthesis can be done, the immense data base must be collected and organized, subjected to quality control checks, and organized for redistribution. That is what the principal investigator and his colleagues on this grant will do. They will organize a user-friendly data management system enabling individual U.S. JGOFS-GLOBEC scientists to submit and retrieve high-quality data rapidly and in a standardized, well-organized format while these two initiatives are still underway. Each investigator will then have access to synoptic data collected by other investigators at any given site or on any given cruise. On a grander scale and extending beyond the lifetimes of the two initiatives, biogeochemical and ecological modelers will be able to access pre-linked database for studies of global- scale ocean phenomena. Data management efforts such as this one are important for maximizing the scientific benefit derivable from large multi-investigator, multidisciplinary research projects like U.S. JGOFS and GLOBEC.
