SOOSmap brings circumpolar Southern Ocean data to a computer near you

Data discovery and accessibility are constant challenges for scientists, especially those working in inherently international disciplines, such as oceanography. The Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS) and EMODnet Physics groups are collaborating to remove some of these challenges by developing SOOSmap. SOOSmap builds on the data aggregation and sharing infrastructure of EMODnet to bring circumpolar datasets into a single web-based discovery portal. Through SOOSmap, users can discover, plot, explore, and download datasets of relevance to biologists, ecologists, ice scientists, and physical oceanographers. They can also use it to identify key spatial and temporal gaps in the observing infrastructure of the Southern Ocean. Until now, EMODnet’s focus has been on European waters, although it houses several global datasets. The collaboration with SOOS brings Southern Ocean-specific datasets into EMODnet’s datahandling infrastructure. For SOOS, accessing the coding skills and data aggregating infrastructure of EMODnet allows it to develop the data-sharing tools it needs without duplicating existing infrastructure and without placing undue burden on its member organisations. In this presentation, we will share our lessons from this new collaboration, demonstrate the progress so far in sharing circumpolar datasets, and describe our future development plans.