SIOS Data Management System: distributed data system for Earth System Science

Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observing System (SIOS) is an international consortium to develop and maintain a regional observing system in Svalbard and the associated waters. SIOS brings together the existing infrastructure and data of its members into a multidisciplinary network dedicated to answering Earth System Science (ESS) questions related to global change. The Observing System is built around “SIOS core data” – long-term data series collected by SIOS partners. SIOS Data Management System (SDMS) is dedicated to harvesting information on historical and current datasets from collaborating thematic and institutional data centres and making them available to users. A central data access portal is linked to the data repositories maintained by SIOS partners, which manage and distribute data sets and their associated metadata. The integrity of the information and harmonisation of data is based on internationally accepted protocols assuring interoperability of data, standardised documentation of data through the use of metadata and standardised interfaces by data systems through the discovery of metadata. By these means, SDMS is working towards FAIR data compliance (making data findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable), among other initiatives through the H2020 funded ENVRI-FAIR project (http://envri.eu/envri-fair/).