Shawn Smith
Principal Investigator

With their global capability and diverse array of sensors, research vessels are essential mobile observing platforms for ocean science. Data collected on every expedition are of high value, given the high cost and increasingly limited resources for ocean exploration. The Rolling Deck to Repository (R2R) program provides fleet-wide management of underway data to ensure preservation of, and access to, our national oceanographic research assets.

R2R routinely catalogs and deposits data in long-term public archives, including the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) (for data) and Chronopolis (for documents). Data from each cruise are submitted directly to R2R by the vessel operator, rather than by the science party. R2R provides essential documentation and standard products for each expedition, as well as tools to document shipboard data acquisition activities while underway. Post-cruise quality assessment of selected underway data types is supported, including feedback to ship technicians.

Assessment of underway meteorological data is implemented in near-real-time in partnership with the SAMOS program at FSU.

For more information about the R2R, visit the Rolling Deck to Repository (R2R) website.