Overview of MDL Course: Introduction to Marine

Data Management IIMurray Brown

MarineDataLiteracy.orgm.brown.nsb@gmail.com

Course Summary

• Assembly, synthesis & display of many ocean and atmosphere data products

• Synoptic, climatological• Measured, modeled• In situ, remotely sensed

• Software platforms: ODV, IDV, SAGA• Classwork (Liberia) and personal projects (AOI)• Final project presentations

Basic Approach

• Read articles in OTA digital library (19)• Course: 40 sequential exercises (Liberia)• Individual student projects (TBD)• Area selection• Problem-solving & detective work

• Personal datasets as desired – ask the guru• Student presentations

Student Preparation

• Lesson 1 – Reading list (pre-course)• Lesson 2 – Instructor’s opening talks, including

the Integration Diagram• Lesson 3 – Computer setup

4. Area of Interest

Geographic Information Systems methods to map ocean areas, from basic to complex

4, continued

High resolution ancillary data for coastal zone considerations

5. Initial Collection from the World Ocean Database

Repatriation of data from the World Ocean Dataset

5, continuedBuilding managed data collections in Ocean Data View: OSD, PFL, CTD, XBT/MBT

6. Basic Data Analyses

Standard graphical analyses for marine research and publications

7. Exporting ODV Products

Ocean Data View exports data subsets or interpolations for use in other systems, especially GIS

8. Data Contouring

Your first (?) brush with contouring

9. Grid and Raster Analysis with SagaGridding scattered data for further analyses

9, continuedPractice in making “standard products” for academic and professional work, and for new technologies

9, continued

Methods for Level 3 remote sensing products – synoptic and climatological

10. Global Relief Data Products

Working with relief grids permits estimates of unpublished contours and rough assessment of flooding risk

Shelf depth contour estimates

11. Vector ChartsWinds (below) and surface current vectors from climatologies

12. Managing Operational Data

Nowcasts and forecasts of ocean scalar parameters

12, continued

Building global salinity grids with L2 swaths

12, continued

Near-real-time monitoring of ocean chlorophyll … possibly the “holy grail” of remote sensing

Postscript

• The MDM II course is possibly the most difficult short-course in oceanography, due to the large number of datasets, the short duration, and the complexity of the software. BUT, the student exercises have been uniformly excellent over the years.

• You are strongly recommended to keep your PPT file, update or improve it whenever you can, and use it for demonstrations of your skills.