First Session of the IODE Steering Group for the IODE Ocean Data Portal (SG-ODP-I), IOC Project Office for IODE, Oostende, Belgium, 20-22 September 2010.

Abstract

Timely access to quality data is essential for the understanding of marine processes. The International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE) programme, through its distributed network of National Oceanographic Data Centres (NODCs), is developing the Ocean Data Portal (ODP) to facilitate seamless access to oceanographic data and to promote the exchange and dissemination of marine data and services. The ODP provides the full range of processes including data discovery, evaluation and access, and delivers a standards-based infrastructure that provides integration of marine data and information across the NODC network. The key principle behind the ODP is its interoperability with existing systems and resources and the IODE is working closely with the Joint WMO-IOC Technical Commission for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology (JCOMM) to ensure the ODP is interoperable with the WMO Information System (WIS) that will provide access to marine meteorological and oceanographic data and information to serve a number of applications, including climate. Following the IODE-XX recommendations high priority has been assigned to the interaction with the SeaDataNet infrastructure (SDN). The ODP web site is available at www.oceandataportal.org. This site provides background information on the project, software, documentation and training materials in addition to assistance to users on how to use ODP and how to become ODP data providers. The ODP data access is available at http://data.oceandataportal.org .