Data Management in the IODP

Abstract

The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) is challenged to develop a program-wide, state-of-the-art data management concept enabling the receipt and handling of scientifi c data from three different IODP drilling platforms, legacy data from the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) and the Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP), and post-drilling scientifi c data published in the open literature. Data collected from boreholes and cores include various types of measurements, images and downhole logging data and ranges in nature from microbiology and micropaleontology to geochemistry and physical properties. The data underpin research spanning from fundamental geodynamics and solid Earth cycles over biological evolution, the deep biosphere, paleoclimatology, and hydrosphere–lithosphere interaction. A proper data management system for the future must present these highly diverse data in a transparent way through a single user-interface and provide links to related data bases (Fig. 1). Accomplishing these goals will be a major step forward not only in ocean drilling, but ultimately also in the broader fi eld of Earth sciences. To be successful it requires strong coordination and involvement of the IODP science and drilling operators and eventually strong integration with related initiatives in the broader community. The IODP Management International (IODP-MI) is charged with providing the overarching IODP data portal and integrating all data provided by the different platform operators and eventually by individual researchers. The IODP-MI is also taking a lead in establishing a Web-based system for scientifi c drilling proposals and an all-digital data bank for pre-drilling site-survey data. In all of these efforts, actual programming work is outsourced as much as possible to interested partners in the community or via commercial vendors identifi ed through a process of competitive bidding.