Improving Access to and Use of Ocean Observations from Animal Borne Sensors Project TOPP-ONR-IOOS

Abstract : Stanford University s Tagging of Pelagic Predators (TOPP) program a project of the Census of Marine Life - at the Hopkins Marine Lab in Pacific Grove, CA working with the U.S. IOOS Program (IOOS) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Navy s Office of Naval Research (ONR) Marine Mammals and Biological Oceanography Program (MMB) facilitated improved access and use of associated ocean observing data, particularly physical oceanographic data, by ocean modelers from the Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO) and at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction of NOAA s National Weather Service (NOAA/NCEP). Technical staff at IOOS and ONR have been worked with scientists and computer programmers at TOPP to implement web-based data services and other community-based software tools and technologies that can enable broader exposure of TOPP animal tagging data sets based on customer requirements for data representation, metadata, QA/QC, format and delivery. The project is being conducted over a 6 month period. Funds have been received from NOAA/US IOOS to support this activity. Additional supporting funds were provided by ONR/MMB.