[Sdi-northamerica] One-Stop source for scientific Information about U.S. oceans and waters

[Kate Lance]

http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=2397
One-Stop source for scientific Information about U.S. oceans and waters
A one-stop source for biogeographic information collected from U.S. waters and oceanic regions is now available from the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) Programme. The Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS)-USA website offers a unique combination of tools, resources and biodiversity information to aide scientists, resource managers and decision makers in the research and analyses critical to sustaining the nation’s valued marine ecosystems. 

OBIS-USA data holdings comprise millions of individual records supplied by marine data sponsors from across the nation. The site provides a work space for visitors to search and manipulate that data. This is accomplished in collaboration with data providers to produce a compilation of data in a common format. Data are interoperable and can be consistently viewed and applied by researchers, decision makers and resource managers.

Users can search and download data and metadata describing when and where species were observed or collected. The site’s offerings are available through an atlas (where users can review and select specific data sets). Individual or composite data sets (user-created selections from the entire holdings) may be viewed through several functions, including: data dashboard, data richness, data quality, duplication status, general metadata, geographic coverage, participants and taxonomic depth
OBIS-USA goals this year include an increase to over 10 million total data records and expanded functionality to address needs such as integration with non-biological data and further capability regarding species distributions. 



      
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