Applying Open Geospatial Consortium's Sensor Web Enablement to Address Real-Time Oceanographic Data Quality, Secondary Data Use, and Long-Term Preservation

Abstract – Key to the appropriate use of data is the knowledge of data quality. This knowledge is critical for products and decision-support tools that utilize real-time data, and it is also essential for the longer term application of data as well. Guidance by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) for appraising observational data for archive states that factors favoring long-term or permanent retention include the uniqueness, completeness, and quality of observational data and the quality and completeness of metadata [1]. The National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC), the designated archive center for oceanographic data in the U.S., requires that data submitted be documented to enable secondary use and ensure data posterity. Such metadata should include not only geospatial characteristics and time periods of observations, but also the collection methods, instrumentation used, units of measure, acceptable values, error tolerance, processing history, qualit