Talk:Introduction

Introduction (old version)

Environmental and climatic observations enable us to have insights into the five main parts of the earth (hydrosphere, biosphere, kryosphere, geosphere, atmosphere). This is essential for the understanding of earth systems dynamics. Geological investigations extend the baseline of these investigations back into the past. The challenge is to determine how a specific system operated under boundary conditions substantially different from today. This knowledge is crucial for modeling environmental changes and future climate development.

High resolution data describing recent environmental conditions are available from instrumental records. The library of natural climatic archives, e.g. ice, sediment, trees, or corals provides us with the paleoenvironmental information in time spans ranging from years to millions of years, and resolutions ranging between months and thousands of years.

With the introduction of new and more efficient sampling as well as analytical methods, the number of parameters and the amount of data in (paleo)environmental sciences has increased tremendously during the last decade. This increasing amount of important data has to be archived carefully or it will be lost. In addition, the emergence of an integrated earth system science calls for a full knowledge of all related processes, in both space and time, and for data sets that are drawn as composites from different sources, methods and techniques.

The only way to obtain a useful system for this purpose is to collect as much data as possible in a standardised format and to make it easily accessible in a common information system. Tools for retrieving the data and for their visualization have to be closely linked to the collection. This collection, stored in an information system and implemented in a network connecting the working groups, can be used as the data source as well as an interpretation tool. In the future it should also be used as a publishing and reference system for data related to publications.

The initiative

In 1993, scientists from various German research institutes initiated a project for the implementation of an information system to store site oriented data from marine geological samples with the related meta-information. Based on recommendations of this group, an information system was developed at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), funded by the German Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Technology (BMBF). The final data model covers any data which can be geocoded in time and space. The resulting system named PANGAEA Network for Geological and Environmental Data is operable and used by national and international projects since 1996 and has a web domain since 1998. As its data archive and distribution system PANGAEA is used by the World Data Center for Marine Environmental Sciences (WDC-MARE) which was founded in 2001. PANGAEA and WDC-MARE is operated by AWI and the MARUM Institute for Marine Environmental Sciences in Bremen, Germany on a long-term perspective.

PANGAEA - Network for Geological and Environmental Data (even older version)

The information system PANGAEA - Network for Geological and Environmental Data is aimed at archiving, publishing and distributing georeferenced data from research on climate variability, solid earth, and the marine environment. Data is stored with meta-information in a relational database which is accessible through the Internet (http://www.pangaea.de). The system is used by the World Data Center for Marine Environmental Sciences (WDC-MARE) to archive and distribute data from publications and projects.

The challenge of managing the heterogenic and dynamic data of environmental and geological research was met through a flexible data model which reflects a strictly generalized 'world' of scientific data. The data model follows the steps of gathering data and information and can handle any technical and scientific format. The basic structure corresponds to a three tiered client/server architecture with a number of clients and middleware components controlling the information flow and quality. On the server side a relational database management system (RDBMS) is used for information storage. The web-based clients include a search engine (PangaVista) and a data mining tool (ART).

The system can be seen as a public scientifc data library on the Internet which can be used by any project to collect, share and archive data and finally to make the data available to the community. The Alfred Wegener institute foundation for polar and Marine Research (AWI) and the MARUM Center for marine Environmental Sciences are responsible for the operation of the system and give support for individual data providers, users and data curators of projects. Organization of data management includes quality control and publication of data and the dissemination of metadata according to international standards. For the visualization of data freeware tools are provided, which can be used either with a direct link to the system or as standalone applications.