GRIIDC Participates in the GoMOSES Conference 2018

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The 2018 Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill and Ecosystem Science (GoMOSES) Conference was held on February 5-8 in New Orleans, Louisiana. While tourists and locals were busy catching beads at Mardi Gras parades, Gulf of Mexico researchers presented and attended sessions focusing on the conference theme “Response, Restoration, and Resiliency in the Gulf.” The GRIIDC team was in attendance presenting workshops, participating in associated events, and reviewing the year’s accomplishments with the GRIIDC Advisory Committee.

On the second night of the conference, GoMOSES hosted its Tools Café in conjunction with the moderated session “Innovative Mainstream Designs.” This session focused on using the large amounts of data collected and tools developed to answer “big picture” questions. The goal of the session was to share knowledge about best practices on organizing and managing data tools in order to plan, report, and restore.

Some tools highlighted included the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative Information and Data Cooperative (GRIIDC), the Gulf of Mexico Migratory Species Conservation Project Tool, the Data Integration, Visualization, Exploration, and Reporting (DIVER) Tool, the Chemical Aquatic Fate and Effects (CAFÉ) Database, and the Oil Spill Contingency and Response (OSCAR) model. Tools Café booths were interactive and presenters were able to spend one-on-one time with participants to answer questions and provide demonstrations of their tools. The GRIIDC team participated by showcasing helpful tools on its website such as the GRIIDC ISO 19115-2 Metadata Editor, data management planning tools, and the Data Discovery portal.

The GRIIDC Advisory Committee (AC) met during a luncheon on Tuesday, February 6th. The luncheon provided an opportunity for GRIIDC to give mid-year updates on program progress to AC members, including research consortia representatives; members of the Research Board Data Committee; and Dr. Rita Colwell, GoMRI Research Board Chair. Dr. Jim Gibeaut, GRIIDC Director, reported on the status of archiving data to NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). Other announcements included new GRIIDC personnel, a new cruise data guidance document, RFP VI data management planning and training, and GRIIDC’s future.

The GRIIDC team also held a three-hour, half-day workshop on Monday, February 5th covering the following topics: Introduction to the GoMRI Data Management Program; Organizing Data – Best Practices and GRIIDC Submission; How to Submit Data to GRIIDC; How to Write a Data Management Plan; and Dataset File Transfer Methods. Additionally, GRIIDC held six workshops during the course of the conference covering individual topics.

The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) All Hands meeting, held after the GoMOSES conference, offered Dr. Gibeaut an opportunity to provide the entire GoMRI community with updates on the data management program. The conference, while action-packed, was a success. GRIIDC was able to meet many newly funded RFP VI researchers and looks forward to working with meeting participants in the future!