Extending Ocean Drilling Pursuits [eODP]: Making scientific ocean
drilling data accessible through searchable databases
Abstract
Scientific ocean drilling through the International Ocean Discovery
Program (IODP) and its predecessors, has a far-reaching legacy. They
have produced vast quantities of marine data, the results of which have
revolutionized many geoscience subdisciplines. Meta-analytical studies
from these efforts exist for micropaleontology, paleoclimate, and marine
sedimentation, and several outstanding resources have curated and made
available elements of offshore drilling data, but much of the data
remain heterogeneous and dispersed. Each study, therefore, requires
reassembling a synthesis of data from numerous sources; a slow,
difficult process that limits reproducibility and slows the progress of
hypothesis testing and generation. A computer
programmatically-accessible repository of scientific ocean drilling data
which spans the globe will allow for large-scale marine sedimentary
geology and micropaleontologic studies and may help stimulate major
advances in these fields. The eODP project, funded through the NSF’s
EarthCube program, seeks to facilitate access to and visualization of
these large microfossil and stratigraphic datasets. To achieve these
goals, eODP will be linking and enhancing three existing database
structures: Open Core Data (OCD), the Paleobiology Database (PBDB), and
Macrostrat. Over the next three years, eODP will be accomplishing the
following goals: (1) enable construction of sediment-grounded and
flexible age models in an environment that encompasses the deep-sea and
continental records; (2) expand existing lithology and age model
construction approaches in this integrated offshore-onshore
stratigraphically-focused environment; (3) adapt key microfossil data
into the PBDB data model from OCD; (4) develop new API-driven web user
interfaces for easily discovering and acquiring data; and (5) establish
user working groups for community input and feedback. This project is
targeting shipboard drilling-derived data, but the infrastructure will
be put in place to allow the addition of other shore-based information.
The success of eODP hinges upon interaction, feedback, and contribution
of the scientific ocean drilling community, and we invite anyone
interested in participating in this project to join the eODP team.