The Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level - Navigating the digital ocean
Channel: World Data System of the ISC
Date: 16/10/2020

WDS Member Organization: Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level

Abstract:
Changing sea levels will have a major impact on human life over the next 100 years. We need mean sea level data to study climate change, the impact of human activities on densely populated areas, the economic impacts of sea level rise and to plan coastal engineering. The Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level (PSMSL) is the global databank for long-term mean sea level data. 
The primary purpose of the PSMSL is to grow the databank and fill in gaps in the observational network by the use of novel techniques (e.g. automatic QC) and technologies (e.g. GNSS reflectometry). We also have a mandate to provide training and software. 
Our main goal over the next five years is to set up an ERDDAP data server to help provide unified access to global sea level data and convert our data into a file format that the ERDDAP server can access. We are working on a NetCDF file format but need to develop new parameters and add to controlled vocabularies to ensure that we are working towards FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable). There is a particular need to develop lineage metadata for long-term time series. 
In a world of big data, we can no longer control what happens to our distributed product. We need to make sure what we distribute is properly and fully described. We need to be able to produce a full audit trail showing where data (and metadata) came from, and if we have updated records, why. We will continue to work with the Research Data Alliance Persistent Identification of Instruments Working Group on developing Persistent Identifiers (PIDs) for sensors. 
Developing these tools will help improve our links to other global sea level data centres, such as the Flanders Marine Institute and with services in the Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS). We hope to work more closely with the meteorological community, particularly around data rescue activities.