19th International CODATA Conference
Category: Interoperability
Information and Data Management at the South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON)
Avinash Chuntharpursat (Avinash@nrf.ac.za)
South
African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON), National Research Foundation
(NRF),
The South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON) is an emerging research
facility that establishes and maintains nodes (environmental observatories,
field stations or sites). These nodes are linked by an information management
network to serve as research and education platforms for long-term ecological
studies. This network serves to provide for incremental advances in our understanding
of ecosystems and our ability to detect, predict and react to environmental
change. The core of SAEON’s activities involves the
generation, archiving and dissemination of environmental data and information.
To achieve this, an Information and Data Management Strategy was developed.
This strategy integrates components and requirements of a data system via a
common ethic/philosophy. It also takes into account local technological disparities
of a developing country and in delivering a service, aims to redress these.
Data would be produced at various nodes in