Sea Observations Utility for Reprocessing, Calibration and Evaluation (SOURCE): software update for virtual environment workflows

The Sea Observations Utility for Reprocessing, Calibration and Evaluation (SOURCE) is a software tool (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.5008245) designed for web applications that permits to visualize and analyze in-situ observations, and at the same time, calibrate and validate ocean models in a selected sea region. Within the framework of the EU FAIR-EASE project (https://fairease.eu/), the SOURCE python code has been updated in GitHub repository and adapted in a Jupyter notebook for use in a cloud-based Coastal Water Dynamics Pilot focused in the Northern Adriatic Sea.

The workflow aims to provide the users with an interactive experience for the analysis of the coastal water dynamics through multiple data sources (in situ, remote sensed and model data). The deployment of SOURCE, together with DIVAnd and webODV tools on the Galaxy platform represents a significant advancement in enabling interactive workflows for the analysis of the coastal marine environment, where important processes, such as the evolution of plankton blooms or the transport and fate of nutrients, carbon, and contaminants take place and depend critically on many factors. 

Nowadays, in-situ observations and ocean models can be freely accessed from several marine data services together with the relative metadata information. FAIR data access services and input data allow the user to access and filter the data according to the level of quality required for the intended use. However, the in situ data might still contain some anomalous data (bad data flagged as good) or need a higher level of quality control to be fit for use. SOURCE uses moored temperature and salinity observations, ocean reanalysis distributed by the Copernicus Marine Service and climatologies computed with the DIVAnd tool (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.1303229) within the same cloud-based environment.

SOURCE tool performs a re-processing of observations and model data, computes accurate model skill scores and provides output data for visualization and further analysis. Data reprocessing allows one to characterize temperature and salinity variability at each mooring site and continuously monitor the ocean state. The SOURCE output includes climatologies, trends, averages at different time scales and model skill scores at the mooring location, which could also be useful to visually inspect both model and mooring sensor performance.

The output files in NetCDF format can be visualized through web applications such as webODV and downloaded for further use. 

A demonstration of SOURCE capabilities will be presented.