This award supports the Antarctic Multibeam Bathymetry and geophysical data Synthesis (AMBS). The AMBS is a database for the Southern Ocean and Antarctica, whose primary focus is compilation of multibeam bathymetry, geophysical, and underway data collected by the US Antarctic Program (USAP) research ships. The data are critical to current research activities and represent an important program legacy. In terms of broader impacts, the AMBS synthesizes data into regional maps to facilitate the dissemination of results. It also supports exploration, visualization, and correlation through simple, web-based interfaces as well as specialized research applications. This award also supports dissemination of results through the Antarctic Master Directory, an archive of metadata records from each research project supported by the USAP.
This grant supported the ongoing development and maintenance of data resources for scientific research funded by the NSF within the Southern Ocean and Antarctica. These resources include the data collections and services of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Data System (ASODS) and the support and coordination services of the U.S. Antarctic Program-Data Coordination Center (USAP-DCC). The USAP-DCC (www.usap-data.org, Figure 1) provides services to help scientists in the U.S. Antarctic Program find data of interest registered within the Antarctic Master Directory and aids scientists in documenting their programs for discovery and long-term preservation. The ASODS (www.marine-geo.org/portals/antarctic, Figure 2) data collections include the diverse suite of geophysical, oceanographic, and meteorological data acquired with the R/V N. B. Palmer and R/V L. Gould, the two dedicated research vessels serving the U.S. Antarctic Program and ensures the documentation, preservation, and open access of these high value and unique data sets. ASODS provides tools for scientists, educators, and the general public to explore these data as well as other Southern Ocean and Antarctic related data sets (Figure 3, GeoMapApp, EarthObserver, Virtual Ocean). A wide range of multi-disciplinary data can be visualized including topography and seafloor bathymetry, seismic reflection profiles of sediment structures beneath the seafloor, deep sea photographs, earthquake locations, radar profiles showing the internal structure of Antarctic glaciers, and satellite imagery, among many other geological, climate, and oceanographic data. The ASODS also provides a gridded synthesis of the highest-resolution bathymetry data available from the Southern Ocean (Figure 4). All services and tools are openly available to the public. The ASODS collection currently includes over 2413 data sets from 343 expeditions totaling 186,786 files and 2.141 TB of marine sensor data. Data volumes downloaded from the ASODS each year of the project period averaged 102,000 files and 1.3 Terabytes.
