Data Management for the Ocean Sciences - The Next Decade

With the advent of the internet, our expectations for scientific data management have grown vastly. Today, we find remarkable agreement towards the prospects of immensely improving ocean data management, benefits of which will be shared by the society when ocean researches will be conducted in the future. While talking about advanced data management, we have to keep in mind that it is not merely a question of improving the present technology-we require cultural and policy changes that are slow to effect. As advancing data management is a slow process, the technical foundations upon which data management systems are built continue to advance rapidly alongside. While planning data management strategies, the above mentioned concerns become a point of discussion for adopting attitudes of pragmatism and realism. In this paper we make an effort to understand that technological progresses are always made step by step and they take place slowly, over a period of time. Various factors that are considered essential for the growth of technology are evaluated as per the set standards. Technologies suggested by scientists, program managers and data management professionals are evaluated based upon their potential contributions to the distant vision, but selected by their effectiveness at addressing today's challenges. This paper concludes by recommending a few specific, near-term targets for implementation that are believed to be achievable and have the ability to address pressing problems.