Download Regional Node for the Ocean Biogeographic Information System

OBIS Australia – Regional Node
for the Ocean Biogeographic
Information System (OBIS)
OBIS Australia is an operational component of the Census of Marine Life and a partnership between the National
Oceans Office (Department of the Environment and Heritage) and CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research
OBIS – a component of the Census of Marine Life
• The Census of Marine Life – a decadelong international collaborative project
(2000-2010) to census what lives in the
oceans; also...
– what did live in the oceans (historical data –
e.g. before the impact of human activities
such as fishing, etc.)
– what will live in the oceans (forecasts, e.g.
effects of fishing, climate change...)
OBIS – a component of the Census of Marine Life
• The Census of Marine Life – a decadelong international collaborative project
(2000-2010) to census what lives in the
oceans; also...
– what did live in the oceans (historical data –
e.g. before the impact of human activities
such as fishing, etc.)
– what will live in the oceans (forecasts, e.g.
effects of fishing, climate change...)
• OBIS – The Ocean Biogeographic
Information System – has been
established to provide the information
management infrastructure for CoML
data – now, and into the future.
OBIS Goal and Challenges
• OBIS Goal...
– “To be the primary, authoritative source of data on the distribution
of marine species in the world...” (extract from CoML Research
Report, 2005)
• Key Challenges...
– Technical: To create a system capable of accessing, and making
available, all the relevant information (plus useful visualisation
and analysis tools), for universal access over the internet
– Motivational: To promote the benefits of data sharing, and to
build an international community of marine species data
custodians willing to share their data via the OBIS network
– Practical: To provide assistance to data custodians to enable
them to connect to the network, and to assist potential users of
the data to successfully access it.
Addressing OBIS Goal and Challenges
• Mechanism adopted to address all three aspects...
– 2002-2004: OBIS International Portal (Rutgers University, USA)
– 2005 onwards: International Portal, plus global network of Regional OBIS
Nodes
– Each Regional Node has volunteered to progress OBIS goals within their
particular region of responsibility.
Regional OBIS Nodes – as at December 2005 (China, Japan to be added in 2006)
OBIS Australia
• OBIS Australia – launched today
(December 2005) – sponsored by
CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric
Research, the Department of
Heritage and Environment (National
Oceans Office), and the U.S. Sloan
Foundation
• Providing a route for data custodians
to connect their holdings to the OBIS
network, and for data users to access
that data
OBIS Australia Significance
• Launch of OBIS Australia marks a new
phase in:
– Data availability – more agencies will
be able to put marine species data on
line (in many cases, for the first time)
– Data integration – the OBIS system
will do all the data interrogation and
data integration for the user, and return
an integrated result in a common
format.
• This will underpin new types of
scientific research and “public interest”
access to research data for the future.
OBIS Australia
• Achievements to date
– 100,000+ records made
available from CSIRO
Marine and Atmospheric
Research into OBIS
– Australian Museum
community connected
through OZCAM (150,000+
records)
– Australian Antarctic Division
first Australian data to be
connected
• OBIS Australia website:
www.obis.org.au
Credits: Kim Finney & Ian Poiner (formerly DEH, CMAR);
Alicja Mosbauer, Amit Parashar (DEH); Paul
Tildesley, Tony Rees, Philip Bohm (CMAR).