Online data services at the Belgian Marine Datacentre
De Cauwer, K.; Devolder, M.; Jans, S.; Meerhaeghe, A.; Scory, S. (2008). Online data services at the Belgian Marine Datacentre, in: Mees, J. et al. (Ed.) VLIZ Young Scientists' Day, Brugge, Belgium, 29 February 2008: book of abstracts. VLIZ Special Publication, 40: pp. 44
In: Mees, J.; Seys, J. (Ed.) (2008). VLIZ Young Scientists' Day, Brugge, Belgium, 29 February 2008: book of abstracts. VLIZ Special Publication, 40. Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee (VLIZ): Oostende. ix, 96 pp., more
In: VLIZ Special Publication. Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee (VLIZ): Oostende. ISSN 1377-0950, more
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Document type: Summary
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Acquisition > Data acquisition
Data > Oceanographic data
Data processing
Storage > Data storage
ANE, Belgium [Marine Regions]
Marine/Coastal |
| Authors | | Top |
- De Cauwer, K., more
- Devolder, M., more
- Jans, S.
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| Abstract |
Over the past few years, the Management Unit of the North Sea Mathematical Models (MUMM) has built up a centre of human and technical expertise oriented towards the management and the analysis of marine environmental data. The Belgian Marine Data Centre (BMDC) serves as national repository and processing centre for marine and environmental data and ensures a continuous and scientifically sound data flow between data producers and end-users of marine and environmental data collected in the frame of national and international research and monitoring programmes. The data cover most domains of oceanology as there are: physico-chemical, optical parameters, biodiversity, hydrodynamics, sedimentology, geography and human interest. Most of the datasets relate to the Belgian Continental Shelf, the Scheldt estuary and its surrounding areas.To promote the use of a high variety of data sets, different tools are constantly being developed and are presented on our website (www.mumm.ac.be/datacentre). An interface to the integrated database on the quality of the marine environment was developed. This database mainly contains the results of measurements and observations in situ and laboratory analyses of air, water, sediment and biota samples. Besides an extensive inventory of the database and an advanced request form with several selection criteria, some more straightforward queries and geographical selection tools are being developed for a faster and easier access to a specific dataset. Data can freely be downloaded. Once the data are obtained, a spatial analysis tool is freely and online available for the visualization on an interactive map. A lot of documentation accompanying the data is online available. The strongest feature of this system is the common underlying structure for different kinds and sources of data. This opens the possibility to compare biodiversity data, physico-chemical data, sedimentological data and historical data.Another database at MUMM, the real-time data acquisition system ‘ODAS’ stores the physical and chemical parameters measured onboard of the research vessel RV Belgica since 1984. The along -track data are published online shortly after the end of the measurement campaign together with all other information like the campaign reports, cruise tracks, … This is a valuable source of basic information for the scientists. |
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