ARCHIVE AND ACCESS OF GLOBAL WATER-LEVEL DATA: FROM THE COAST TO THE DEEP-OCEAN

NOAA's National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) operates the World Data Center (WDC) for Solid Earth Geophysics (including tsunamis). NGDC is one of three environmental data centers within NOAAs Environmental Satellite Service. The WDC/NGDC provides the long-term archive, data management, and access to national and global tsunami data for research and mitigation of tsunami hazards. Archive responsibilities include the global historic tsunami event and run-up database, the bottom pressure recorder data, and access to event-specific tide-gauge data, as well as other related hazards and bathymetric data and information. Recently, NGDC has assumed the responsibility to archive the high-resolution water level data. Currently, NGDC is archiving the pressure and temperature data recorded by NOAAs deep-ocean tsunameters. The next step would be to incorporate the water level data from coastal tide-gauge stations around the globe. There is a significant gap in data management for the coastal water level data in that no formal archive currently exists and it is quite a challenge to obtain water level information from various sources due to the lack of a central portal. It is envisioned that the retrospective water level data will be available through web services, using an XML-based schema. NGDC and the WDC are committed to distributing data in standard formats and the water level data would be no exception. Images of the station locations would be available through the Open Geospatial Consortium Web Map Services (WMS) and station metadata would be available through Web Feature Services (WFS). As part of the World Data Center, NGDC is committed to working with its international and national partners to develop a method for long-term sustainability of this important data.