Mapping Arctic Observing Systems and In Situ Data Collections

Climate change in the Arctic is significant and will have far-reaching consequences for marine life and sustainable societal and industrial development in this region. Sustained direct (in situ) measurements of key physical and biogeochemical parameters in Arctic waters are required to estimate the state and monitor changes in the marine environment. Since in situ data is most frequently collected in research projects funded by national, regional or international programmes, there is no common overview of what data are collected in which area, for which time period, by which organisation, or where the data are stored. The H2020 INTAROS project has conducted a survey of Arctic in situ observing systems, in situ and remote sensing data collections. Based on the questionnaires from this survey we have developed a user-friendly web-based system for collecting and maintaining information about Arctic in situ observing systems and data collections in a project funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment. This system, called arcmap, is developed using open source technologies and frameworks, such as wq (https://wq.io/) and Django REST (https://www.django-rest-framework.org/). Arcmap enables users to register and maintain information about their Arctic in situ observing systems and data collections. The information is stored in a relational database, which offers a flexible query language for extracting subsets and aggregates of information based on user defined criteria. Building on this database, statistics can be generated on for example spatial and temporal coverage, parameters observed and targeted application areas, nationality of owners of observing systems and data collections, funding sources and periods, maturity of data management. Using these statistical measures different aspects of sustainability for current and planned Arctic observing systems can be analysed. This allows us to identify patterns and gaps in collection of important environmental variables and to follow the evolution of observing systems over time. The presentation will focus on the current functionality of arcmap and outline possible future enhancements.