Award: OCE-1924618

The Biological and Chemical Oceanography and Data Management Office (BCO-DMO) is a disciplinary open access data repository created to address oceanographic research data challenges. The repository works with researchers to assemble, curate, and publish data and related products resulting from relevant awards funded by the US National Science Foundation (NSF). In doing so, the project contributes to geoscience research infrastructure by assisting researchers in sharing their project output, educating them on data management best practices, and curating a catalog of high-quality data for use in new research, policy and management, and education. 

During the 2019-2024 award period, the project maintained its core operational objective working with NSF-awardees to review, quality check and reformat, robustly describe, and publish nearly 2,500datasets of diverse types from over 1,100 funded projects, submitted by more than 1,400 contributors from physical, chemical, ecological and biogeochemical sub-domains. To build trust in the project’s operations and services, BCO-DMO applied for and obtained CoreTrustSeal (CTS) approval. CTS is an international certification entity that assesses digital data repository function, structure, services and sustainability. 

In addition to its core data curation and publication objectives, BCO-DMO responded to recommendations provided during the previous performance period to implement technologies and leading practices that benefit the scientific user community and improve the repository’s efficiency and sustainability. These included a re-architecting of the underlying data infrastructure to implement the BCO-DMO Knowledge Graph, a technology that improves sustainability of the repository by easily adapting to strategies that address evolutionary changes in oceanographic research coinciding with the big data revolution. With the Knowledge Graph as the central "brain" of the project, software packages become easier to swap out as more relevant alternatives emerge. The Knowledge Graph, all legacy data, and operational software were migrated into a commercial cloud environment. 

Data processing was improved through the completion and implementation of shared data processing software that supports transparency and traceability, thereby increasing efficiency and consistency of data processing activities. The project also implemented a public-facing, web-based data submission service to accept critical metadata and files for sharing. This tool is integrated with the data processing service and connected to the website to allow automated ingestion of submitted metadata, further increasing data processing efficiency. Responding to researcher needs in data publication, the project implemented features that allow for peer review and sharing of non-public, unprocessed data in as-submitted form. A dashboard was developed and implemented to assist in tracking overall data processing status and efficiency. 

Perhaps one of the most publicly impactful improvements was the launch of the new BCO-DMO website. The website was redesigned with an eye toward presenting data as a publication so that the experience of navigating between data and related scholarly publications feels familiar. The website was tested for usability leveraging feedback from the BCO-DMO user community and includes improved data visualization and filtering capabilities. Comprehensive documentation on data management, preparation and sharing via the repository was overhauled, augmented and connected to the website. In addition, the underlying infrastructure to collect and display dataset usage metrics was built and connected to the new website. Coincident with the new website launch was the sunsetting of the old site, ensuring proper migration of legacy servers. 

BCO-DMO is dedicated to improving data literacy and increasing science engagement in data management topics through education, training, and outreach. During this award period the repository: co-developed and administered data science training curricula via the “Data Savvy Oceanographer” graduate course; engaged in the cross-pollination of science and technical skills through internship opportunities that allowed exploration of ocean informatics; participated in Data and Software Carpentries courses focused on oceanographic data to promote interest and reuse in oceanographic data; and instituted a blog to connect with the research community and disseminate best practices and news and updates on the repository. 

Finally, the project continued to contribute to development and adoption of technologies such as schema.org and data-related best practices on topics such as data publication, through working groups, synergistic projects, and volunteer service within the Research Data Alliance, AGU, EarthCube, and Earth Science Information Partners.  

The improved infrastructure and services developed over the course of this performance period help lower the barriers to data sharing, and improve the interoperability, discovery, and access of oceanographic data; facilitating integration of diverse datasets to enable researchers to achieve a deeper understanding of ocean ecological and biogeochemical systems. As the analysis of ocean processes becomes more sophisticated, multidisciplinary data integration is growing more complex. BCO-DMO is committed to being an essential component of the ocean science research infrastructure without which the emerging scientific challenges will not be addressable.

Last Modified: 06/27/2025
Modified by: Danie Kinkade