EOMF-36. Centralized Data Repositories: NOAA’s National Archives for Marine Acoustic Data

Abstract
CIRES scientists at the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information maintain two marine acoustic archives for the long-term stewardship of globally collected water-column sonar and passive acoustic data. These vast datasets are collected across NOAA, academia, and industry for a wide range of scientific objectives. The archives document the datasets using standards-driven metadata and preserve them on long-term storage systems. Users can discover, query, and access archived data using the archives’ web-based map viewers. Further, cloud-based access to 200+ TB through the NOAA Big Data Program enables free and immediate download of desired data and allows users to bring processing routines to large volumes of data - from simple statistical analyses to artificial intelligence. Cloud-based tools are being developed in collaboration with our partners in the ocean acoustic community to visualize and analyze archived data. These tools will allow researchers of varying backgrounds to easily understand the quality and content of complex acoustic data. The success and growth of these archives requires adaptability to keep pace with advancements in sonar technology, data collection methods, and the needs of the scientific community. This adaptability has enabled the stewardship of data from a diversity of platforms and instruments - both human operated and autonomous. Providing free access to data archives and facilitating the utility of these data increases the potential for researchers to address new scientific questions that will advance the field of marine ecosystem acoustics.