International Polar Year 2007–2008 - WMO

data management structures. Unfortunately, many
of these robust data management structures are
very independent or siloed and do not necessarily
collaborate with other systems.
IPY Data Strategy
As IPY began, the Data Subcommittee laid out a
basic four-point data strategy briefly described in
points A to D below, and summarized in Fig. 3.11-2.
A. Identify and share the data (Identification).
Goal: all metadata by March 2009
All projects should create brief descriptions of
their IPY data in a standard metadata format in
accordance with the IPY Metadata Profile. Metadata
should be provided to the IPY Metadata Portal at
the GCMD (http://gcmd.nasa.gov/portals/ipy/) or at
an appropriate national registry. National registries
should enable ready discovery of their holdings
through the GCMD either through metadata sharing,
such as the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for
Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) or open search
(ISO23950) protocols. National data coordinators
greatly facilitate this process.
B. Serve the data in interoperable frameworks
(Availability).
Goal: ongoing demos of integration, all data available
March 2010
All IPY projects should make their data fully and
openly available in standard data formats through
standard data access mechanisms. Data may be served
by individual projects or by designated archives, but
the data must be linked directly to the discovery level
metadata described above. IPY projects and data
centers should work to make their data as interoperable
as practical and to work with other projects and
data centers to develop targeted interoperability
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
IDENTIFICATION
AVAILABILITY
COORDINATION
arrangements. Projects and centers should also
participate in global interoperability initiatives, notably
the Global Earth Observing System of Systems (GEOSS)
and the WMO Information System (WIS).
C. Preserve the data (Preservation).
Goal: all data in secure archives by March 2012
All IPY data and associated documentation
(including metadata) should be deposited in secure,
accessible repositories within three years after the end
of the IPY. Archives should follow the ISO-Standard
Open Archival Information System Standard Reference
Model. National governments and international
organizations must develop means to sustain archives
over the long-term.
D. Coordinate the process (Coordination).
Goal: ensure broad international collaboration and
agreement on standards
Nations should designate national data coordinators
and participate actively in the IPYDIS to
ensure the other elements of the strategy are met.
Note the original strategy envisioned the coordination
role fading out as data were secured, but actually
coordination still needs to continue for several years.
The JC endorsed this strategy in October
2007. Subsequently, the JC, the IPO and the Data
Subcommittee actively urged participating countries
to designate national data coordinators and
support IPY data archives. To date, 16 countries have
designated national IPY data coordinators. Some
nations formally designated IPY coordinators through
national IPY Committees, research councils or other
agencies. Because some IPY countries are only active
in the Antarctic, their SCADM representatives act as
de facto IPY coordinators. Many of these coordinators
were not designated until well after IPY began and
some will not continue very long after the IPY.
PRESERVATION
Fig. 3.11-2. Timeline
for implementing the
IPY Data Strategy
o b s e r v I n g s Y s t e m s a n d d a t a m a n a g e m e n t 461