Indicators & Data Management

Observations — however numerous — only inform conservation and policy when they are synthesized into indicators, made interoperable across networks, and delivered through open, reproducible data systems. MBON’s indicators and data management (DMAC) working groups develop the infrastructure that connects raw data to decisions.

Essential Ocean Variables and Essential Biodiversity Variables

MBON organizes its observing around the framework of Essential Ocean Variables (EOVs, defined by GOOS) and Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs, defined by GEO BON). These provide a shared vocabulary for what to measure and how, enabling comparison across programs, regions, and time.

Biodiversity EOVs include phytoplankton biomass and diversity, zooplankton biomass and diversity, fish abundance and distribution, marine turtles, seabirds, marine mammals, and hard coral cover — all of which MBON nodes actively measure.

FAIR data and OBIS

All MBON data flows to the Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS), the world’s largest open-access repository of marine species occurrence data. MBON enforces FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) data principles: Darwin Core-formatted records, rich metadata, persistent identifiers, and open licenses.

Indicators pipeline

The MBON indicators working group builds and maintains reproducible analysis pipelines — typically in R and Python, version-controlled on GitHub — that ingest raw observations from OBIS and produce indicator time series. These pipelines power products such as the climate dashboard, the early alert system, and the condition report infographics.

Data Management and Cyberinfrastructure (DMAC)

The DMAC working group coordinates with NOAA IOOS and international partners on data standards, metadata schemas, API design, and sensor data integration. The goal is a seamless flow from instrument to archive to analysis product — with no data left stranded in spreadsheets on a local hard drive.