The SCARCOMNAP Joint Committee on Antarctic Data Management JCADM

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The SCAR/COMNAP Joint Committee on Antarctic
Data Management (JCADM) An infrastructure in
support of IPY
Scientific observations and results from
Antarctica shall be exchanged and made freely
available (Antarctic Treaty, Article III 1c)
JCADM membership Currently 31 nations are
involved in JCADM Argentina Netherlands
Australia New Zealand Belgium
Norway Bulgaria Pakistan Canada Peru
Chile Poland China Russia
Estonia Spain Finland South Africa
France Sweden Germany Switzerland India
Ukraine Italy United Kingdom Japan United
States Korea Uruguay Malaysia
History and organisation In 1997, the Scientific
Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) and the
Council of Managers of National Antarctic
Programmes (COMNAP) established the Joint
Committee on Antarctic Data Management (JCADM)

• to coordinate the development of the Antarctic
  Data Management System
• Note that the Southern Ocean is considered to be
  part of Antarctica
• Members of JCADM are
• the managers of the National Antarctic Data
  Centres
• or a relevant national contact if a NADC has not
  yet been established

• JCADM Terms of Reference
• To promote long-term preservation and
  accessibility of scientific data relating to
  Antarctica and the Southern Ocean in
  sustainable repositories
• To assist in establishing Antarctic scientific
  data management policies, priorities and best
  practices
• To support the establishment and ongoing work of
  National Antarctic Data Centres, in accordance
  with ATCM XXII Resolution 4.1 (1998)
• To encourage submission of scientific metadata
  and data to the Antarctic Data Management System
• To further improve and populate the AMD and
  provide guidance to the AMD host
• To provide linkages to other relevant data
  management systems and thereby enhance the ADMS
• In partnership with SC-AGI to work with SCAR
  SSGs, COMNAP and the Antarctic Treaty Secretariat
  to identify and develop fundamental
  scientific datasets of value to the Antarctic
  Community

Advanced search capabilities The AMD offers
advanced search capabilities, combining
free-text, keywords, spatial and temporal
searches into one query

• The Antarctic Master Directory (AMD)
• is a global inventory of Antarctic and Southern
  Ocean data set descriptions, with the following
  characteristics
• online, searchable data base of Antarctic data
  set descriptions
• data set descriptions are in the Directory
  Interchange Format (DIF)
• contains over 4700 data set descriptions and is
  the largest directory of Antarctic data set
  descriptions
• Data sets range from a few (but unique!)
  observations at a particular time and place
  to millions of observations over many years
  and large areas
• hosted by NASAs Global Change Master Directory
  (GCMD)

Contact information JCADM
http//www.jcadm.scar.org SCAR
http//www.scar.org COMNAP
http//www.comnap.aq
Background photo by courtesy of NOAA/NESDIS/ORA