The Partnership Centre for the IODE Ocean Data Portal was official inaugurated on 10 September 2013 in the Research Institute of Hydrometeorological Information – World Data Centre (RIHMI-WDC), Obninsk, Russian Federation.
The Ceremony was attended by the IOC Executive Secretary, Dr. Wendy Watson-Wright; the Deputy-Head of the Russian Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring (Roshydromet), Dr. Alexander Makosko; the IODE Vice-Chairs, Dr Sissy Iona and Mr Ariel Troisi); the IODE Past-Chair, Mr Greg Reed, the IODE Programme Manager and Head of the IOC Project Office for IODE, Mr Peter Pissierssens, the Inter-Agency National Oceanographic Commission (IANOC) of the Russian Federation and the Administration of the City of Obninsk.
The event was covered by Obninsk TV, News Channel (click on the image to start the video)
The Partnership Centre for IODE ODP was established following a decision of the Inter-Agency National Oceanographic Commission of the Russian Federation, taken in 2011, a Resolution of the 45th session of the IOC Executive Council (June 2012), and Recommendation IODE-XXII.9 (2013) and the Memorandum of Understanding on the Partnership Centre for the IODE ODP between IOC UNESCO and Roshydromet which was signed in March 2013.
At the Ceremony a number of welcoming and opening addresses were made. In particular the IOC Executive Secretary said: "The IODE Ocean Data Portal aims to provide seamless access to collections and inventories of marine data from the NODCs in the IODE network and will allow for the discovery, evaluation (through visualization and metadata review) and access to data via web services. The Russian Federation has been the lead partner in ODP since the end-to-end data management concept and has continued to build the ODP infrastructure ever since".
The Roshydromet Deputy-Head Dr. Alexander Makosko emphasized that "the tasks that the Partnership Centre should fulfill are not simple. It is necessary to support and develop the Portal tools and to coordinate the use of the Portal technology by the network of the IODE Centres and data sources available under other programmes of the IOC. The high quality of fulfillment of these tasks will pave the way to increase effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability of ocean research and services conducted and provided by the IOC and the Joint WMO/IOC Technical Commission for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology (JCOMM) in cooperation with the WIS, GEOSS and other ocean-related systems" and promised that Roshydromet will provide the financial assistance to the Centre on a regular basis.
Representatives of IANOC and IODE noted that "the Partnership Centre will further increase visibility and significance of the IOC in the field of international cooperation on the study of the World Ocean and development of the international ocean observing systems in close collaboration with the JCOMM" and that "the continuous development by the Russian Federation of the Ocean Data Portal as an architecture and infrastructure devised to provide seamless and open access to data and products whilst ensuring simplicity and interoperability is a matter of pride for our IODE community".
The RIHMI-WDC Director Dr. Vasily Kopylov thanked the IOC and Roshydromet for giving credence to the Institute and expressed his confidence the Partnership Centre hosted by RIHMI-WDC will achieve positive results. The staff of the Partnership Centre made a presentation on the IODE ODP using the most advanced information technologies. It outlined the IODE ODP goals, objectives, terms of reference, commitments and prospects.
The Official Inauguration was followed by the 2nd Session of the International Steering Group for the IODE ODP, held on 11-12 September 2013. The aim of the Session was to specify activities of the Centre for the nearest future and identify priority actions to be taken internationally to ensure its efficient operation.
Both events received wide coverage in the media of Obninsk. Of special interest for the participants were the questions asked by the young correspondent of the Obninsk newspaper "Province.pro", who represented the section "Scientists to children". Her questions made it necessary to use a real international brain storming to be able to explain the difference between "oceanology" and "oceanography", to convince that seamless access to data may be critical for solution of many problems and even to throw some light to the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle.
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Created on: Monday, 16 September 2013 22:34
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Last Updated on: Friday, 27 September 2013 11:54
