Supporting Data Management for Science Collaborative Projects

The NERRS Science Collaborative manages a national competitive research and engagement program that supports collaborative science projects addressing critical coastal management needs identified by the reserves. The program also disseminates the knowledge, processes, and key lessons learned from projects. With a national network dedicated to sharing data, tools and knowledge, research conducted at one reserve can be extended to and strengthen all 30 sites, the communities they serve, and throughout NOAA leaving all better prepared to manage our changing coasts. The NERRS Centralized Data Management Office is the NOAA center of data management for the Science Collaborative program, providing support and guidance for projects’ data management activities.

With funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, all Science Collaborative projects must comply with federal data sharing requirements. Among other things, these specify that environmental and social science data collected and/or created under NOAA grants must be made publicly accessible in a timely manner with appropriate metadata and data archival strategies. The CDMO helps ensure these expectations are met and provides the following types of support:

Sustaining Partnerships

• Helps establish and maintain relationships with core and cooperating programs to coordinate intra- and inter-regional data management efforts and critical technical training that leverage and benefit the NERRS and the Science Collaborative.
• Participates in a variety of NOAA data management initiatives, including the Digital Coast Partnership and IOOS program.

Guidance for Developing Data Sharing Plans

• Provides guidance and a template to help applicants to the Science Collaborative develop data sharing plans as part of their proposals. A suggested Data Sharing Plan template can be downloaded here: Collaborative Research Grant Opportunity.

Support for Project Teams

• Meets annually with Science Collaborative project teams that are collecting or generating new data to proactively identify data management questions and ensure teams are on track to make their datasets accessible when their projects are complete.

Cataloging Project Datasets

• Reviews the data and documentation developed by teams and develops an entry for each project in a national metadata catalog through NOAA’s InPort Program. You can browse NERRS related metadata records to identify datasets of interest.

Making Datasets Accessible

• Science Collaborative projects are encouraged to use a data sharing and archival strategy that is appropriate for their type of data and potential users of that data. The CDMO is one option for data sharing, but also serves as a data archive for copies of data and metadata that are shared elsewhere. For those datasets made accessible through the CDMO, the process is as follows:
  • The Science Collaborative creates an entry for a project’s datasets in the Science Collaborative online resource library, outlining the scope of the datasets and making them discoverable.
  • Potential users of the data complete a standard NERRS data request form, which generates an email response with a data download link from the CDMO.

Examples of Datasets Made Accessible through CDMO

• SWMP Time Series Data Analysis Code
• Game Code and Images for Visitor Center Games
• Synthesis of Salt Marsh Monitoring Data from Four New England NERRs
• Processed Surface Elevation Table (SET) Data from Five Reserves
• Ecological Assessment Data for Living Shorelines in GTM Reserve, Florida

Applicants and recipients of Science Collaborative grants are encouraged to reach out to the CDMO if they have questions about data management, data sharing or coordination with other NOAA data-related initiatives.

Learn More

• Explore projects supported by the Science Collaborative: Project Catalog
• Explore datasets generated by those projects: Datasets in Resource Library

CDMO Contacts

Jeremy Cothran
National Science Collaborative Coordinator
803-665-6454
jeremy.cothran@gmail.com

Melissa Ide
Deputy Director
843-904-9003
melissa@baruch.sc.edu

Dwayne Porter
Director
803-777-4615
porter@sc.edu