NCEI Data Management in support of the Coral Reef Conservation Program

2017 ANNUAL REPORT

Background

In June of 2015, Dr. Brian Beck joined CICS-MD and is the NESDIS representative on Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) Strategic Evaluation and Assessment (SEA) Team. The SEA Team is responsible for developing an annual spend plan for the CRCP. They are also tasked with ensuring the CRCP is compliant across all line offices with various NOAA policies and administrative orders. Brian is also the Data Management Coordinator for the CRCP and coordinates all data management efforts through the NCEI Maryland office. He is the CRCP representative on the Acropora Recovery Team, in order to help coordinate research across the country to assure the recovery of the 2 ESA listed Acropora corals in the Caribbean. He is the NESDIS executive secretariat on the NOAA Ocean and Coastal Council (The NOAA Ocean and Coastal Council serves as the principal advisory body to the Under Secretary and the focal point for the agency's activities and interests in the open ocean, near shore, coastal and estuarine areas, and the Great Lakes) and the NESDIS representative for the NOAA Caribbean strategy.

Accomplishments

Dr. Brian Beck fulfills a number of roles with the CRCP. The primary is representing NESDIS on the Staff Evaluation and Assessment (SEA) Team. The SEA Team (one member for each of the four line offices participating in the CRCP) is tasked with reviewing internal work plans for funding and drafting a recommended annual spend plan for the CRCP’s $26 million dollar budget. The SEA Team is also responsible for assuring the CRCP funded work within their line offices are compliant with certain NOAA wide policies (eg. NEPA). He will also be coordinating with American Samoa and the US Virgin Islands to better coordinate the jurisdictional needs for coral reef management with internally funded projects.

He also fulfills the role of Data Management Coordinator for the CRCP. This involves assuring that all CRCP funded projects (across all line offices and external grants) are compliant with all NOAA and federal data management requirements, most notably the White House memorandum on Public Access to Research Results (PARR). This work included the development of a program wide data management plan. In the 6 months, over 80 coral reef monitoring data sets were made publicly available due to these efforts. This is by far the largest collection of NOAA coral data to be released to date. Brian coordinates the upkeep and further development of the NOAA Coral Project Database with the NOS’s Office of Coastal Management, which is used to track all funding and deliverables of CRCP projects. Finally, he also serves as Data Content Manager within NCEI for incoming CRCP funded data to be archived.

Planned work        

• Continue to discover, assess, acquire and archive the wide array of new ocean data as they become available.
• Continue roles supporting the CRCP. This includes representation on a number of teams and councils and releasing a third version of the NOAA Coral Project Database.
• Secured funding to work on the next tier of data management for the CRCP and created automated products from the archived monitoring data. These products will be directed at resource managers in the U.S. states and territories that manage coral reefs.

Products      

• Improved the NOAA Coral Project Database to version 2.0 improving on the initial release.

Presentations       

·         Beck, B. Will your data be useful after you are gone? U.S. federal data management policies as recommendations for all scientists 2016 International Coral Reef Symposium. Honolulu, HI. 19-24 June 2016.

·         Beck, B. Data Management: If it’s good enough for the government, it’s good enough for you. CICS Science Conference. College Park, MD. Nov. 29, 30 and Dec 1.

·         Beck, B. Coral Reef Conservation Program: an overview of the program and NCEI involvement. NCEI Seminar Series. Silver Spring, MD. 7 February 2017.