Exploring Distributed Ocean Profile Datasets with Java OceanAtlas and Dapper

Dapper - a data server based upon the community-standard OpenDAP technology - eases selection and ingest of individual profiles from large collections of in-situ oceanographic profile data (e.g., bottle, CTD, XBT, etc.). Java OceanAtlas (JOA), a sophisticated tool for browsing and visualizing oceanographic profile data, can be used as a Dapper client. Dapper makes possible seamless access to both distributed and local profile datasets in JOA. The JOA Dapper client enables scientists to choose a profile data server, pre-select from hundreds of thousands of profiles by selecting a spatial/temporal domain of interest, and ingest selected profiles directly into Java OceanAtlas for analysis. JOA profiles can be exported to other file formats. Dapper and JOA are both based upon Java which means they will run on a wide variety of desktop operating systems (Windows, Mac OS X, and UNIX). Currently a test server (Climate Data Portal), maintained at NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, contains ca. 1.9 million bottle profiles and 291 thousand CTD profiles from the World Ocean Database 2001. An additional 45,000 profiles from the EPIC archives are available. Other Dapper servers proposed will include the NODC Argo and GTSPP datasets.