NOOS (North West Shelf Operational Oceanographic System)

The European North West Shelf region consists of nine countries: Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK. The North West Shelf Operational Oceanographic System (NOOS) consists of national governmental agencies responsible for the collection of observations, model operations and production of forecasts, services and information for industry, the public and other end-users. The goals of NOOS are [11]:

1. To develop and implement online operational marine data and information services
2. Give a reliable description of the actual marine condition of the North West Shelf area, including physical, sedimentological, and ecosystem variables
3. Provide analysis, forecasts, and model-based products describing the marine conditions
4. Establish a marine database from which time-series and statistical analyses can be obtained, including trends and changes in the marine environment, and the economic, environmental, and social impacts
5. Collaborate with national and multinational agencies in the North West Shelf area to maximise the efficiency of the ocean observing system, and to maximise the value of the information products

NOOS uses a password protected FTP-box system for data exchange between member institutions. It is a decentralised system where each member puts data it wants to exchange in its own FTP-box, where it can be collected by the other members. Therefore, each institute is free to put what data they want in their own box in whatever format they like. All partners are obliged to setup an FTP-box (read only by the other partners) for publishing operational data, metadata, disclaimer, header and format information. However, a number of regional data centres have been given responsibility for collating the various in situ datasets from various FTP-boxes in the NOOS region. Each regional centre specialises in a particular parameter. These collated datasets are placed in a single FTP-box per regional centre. All these datasets are available in various ASCII formats with an associated readme file describing an individual format. The institutes who are responsible for collating regional data within NOOS are listed in the following Table

This section outlines the temperature and salinity profile, water level, and waves data formats for NOOS.

BSH are responsible for collecting temperature and salinity (T/S) data from FTP-boxes in the NOOS region. This compiled T/S dataset is stored in two ASCII files: one for sea temperature and another for sea salinity. This data is disseminated via a central FTP-box. The format for both ASCII files is:

Long Lat StatName Time depth:value depth:value ….

representing longitude, latitude, station name, data and time (YYYYMMDDhhmm), and a series of water depth and associated measurement values.

NOOS water level observations from tide gauges are collected by DMI via FTP-boxes from the various NOOS partners. Sixty days of data from each observation station is stored in a single individual ASCII file and disseminated via a central FTP-box. However, the frequency of the data is the original data sampling frequency provided from the original data provider. The format of the file is:

YYYYMMDDhhmm wl

where the left hand value represents date and time (e.g. 200704192300), and the right hand value represents water level in metres (e.g. 0.6). Missing water level data is represented with the value -9.99. Water level is referenced to national reference levels.

RIKZ are responsible for collecting wave data in the NOOS region. This data is stored in an ASCII format and disseminated via a central FTP-box. Wave measurements and corresponding units are:

swellwaveheight_hm0 (metres)

wavedir_th0 (degrees)

wavedirspread_s0bh (degrees)

waveheight_h1d3 (metres)

waveheight_hm0 (metres)

waveheight_hmax (metres)

waveperiod_th1d3 (seconds)

waveperiod_tm-10 (seconds)

waveperiod_tm02 (seconds)

waveperiod_tp (seconds)

waveperiod_tz (seconds)

There are no centralised metadata practices existing within NOOS. Instead, each individual data provider is responsible for supplying adequate metadata information via readme files in their dedicated NOOS FTP-box.

There are no centralised quality control practices existing within NOOS. Instead, datasets are quality controlled at data provider level. To date, no centralised quality control practices have been discussed within NOOS.