Avril¹, Bernard, and the JGOFS Data Management Task Team

JGOFS International Project Office, University of Bergen, SMR, Post Box

7800, N-5020 Bergen, Norway, Fax: +47 5558 9687, E-mail: bernard.avril@jgofs.uib.no,

Marine data management: a positive evolution from JGOFS to OCEANS

The JGOFS project has been highly successful in providing new insights into global biogeochemical cycling of carbon and associated elements in the oceans through a multi-national effort at the regional scale (process studies in the North Atlantic, Arabian Sea, Equatorial Pacific, Southern Ocean and North Pacific), global scale (carbon survey) and from long-term measurements at key ocean sites (time-series). The database thus created is very large and complex in diversity and format, and it is currently managed at the international level, thanks to the efforts of the JGOFS Data Management Task Team and of external initiatives. Whilst the OCEANS project science and implementation plans are being prepared, the international oceanographic community is now hoping to benefit from the JGOFS data management experience and to elaborate beforehand the best design and practices for its data management. The draft OCEANS data management plan (international data policy and recommendations for participating international agencies and national data managers) is presented. This plan should result in the rapid and full availability of data, and its long-term preservation and accessibility, thanks to a better, integrated and fully implemented data management system.