About Us

Who are we?

The Australian Antarctic Data Centre is a part of Australia's Antarctic Science Program.
Location: Top floor, John King Davis building at the Australian Antarctic Division site.

What do we do?

Maintain an appropriate data policy for Australian Antarctic program scientists
Manage science data from Australia's Antarctic research (acquire, index, store, disseminate, link and 'mine')
Map Australia's areas of interest in the Antarctic region
Manage Australia's Antarctic state of the environment reporting
Fabricate, install and manage Australia's Antarctic station tide gauges
Provide advice and education and a range of other products

Why do we do it?

Scientific data are key (and highly valuable) outputs of Australia's Antarctic Science Program and therefore should be managed for posterity
Article III.1.c of the Antarctic Treaty states that "to the greatest extent feasible and practicable" ... "scientific observations and results from Antarctica shall be exchanged and made freely available"
National Antarctic data management policy

Australian Antarctic Data Centre Staff

Management

Kim Finney, Manager

Mapping & GIS

Henk Brolsma, Mapping Officer
Ursula Harris, GIS Development Officer
David Smith, GIS Applications
Angela Bender, GIS Support Officer
Meredith Inglis, Map & Aerial Photos Curator

Metadata

Dave Connell, Scientific Data Coordinator

Applications Development

Miles Jordan, Business Systems Analyst & Marine Science Programmer
Matt McKellar-Spence, Application Developer

Data Mining & Research

Ben Raymond, Data Miner

Please send any enquiries via our feedback form.

Unless otherwise noted, the following copyright policy applies to all images, text and data viewed or downloaded from the Australian Antarctic Data Centre.

All images, text and downloadable data are copyright © Commonwealth of Australia 2006, unless otherwise stated, in which case the copyright belongs to the respective authors or data originators as indicated.

Clear acknowledgement of the Australian Antarctic Division is to be given on any product resulting from the use of Commonwealth copyright images, text and data.

Material marked © Commonwealth of Australia 2006 may be downloaded, displayed, printed and reproduced in an unaltered form only for your personal, non-commercial use or for use by your organisation. The Australian Antarctic Division must be cited as the source of the material as follows:

Courtesy Australian Antarctic Division © Commonwealth of Australia 2006

Use of any material marked © author_name or © photographer_name is not permitted without specific permission from that author, or photographer.

Apart from uses as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, all other rights are reserved by the Commonwealth of Australia.

The Australian Antarctic Division accepts no responsibility for the completeness or accuracy of the data.

You consent to your name, organisation, e-mail address and contact phone number being recorded and acknowledge that downloads are monitored and statistics generated by the AADC. You consent to the possibility that the Australian Antarctic Division may contact you regarding your use of downloaded data.

Introduction
The Australian Antarctic Data Centre
Australian Antarctic Data Centre Structure
Appendix 1 - The Clients
Appendix 2 - Government Goals and the Australian Antarctic Data Centre

Introduction

The Australian Antarctic Data Centre (AADC) Strategic Plan has been developed in response to a need for an operational framework for the Data Centre. The Plan is designed to communicate key operational aspects of the AADC to management and clients. The Strategic Plan was originally developed during a meeting of all Australian Antarctic Data Centre staff on August 13, 1998 and has been updated periodically to reflect an evolving environment. This Strategic Plan is supported each year by an annual work-plan.

The Australian Antarctic Data Centre was established to provide a national facility to manage and disseminate scientific data resulting from Australia's Antarctic scientific research program in response to Article III.1.c of the Antarctic Treaty, which states that -

"Scientific observations and results from Antarctica shall be exchanged and made freely available".

Other responsibilities include:

Mapping of the Australian Antarctic and subantarctic Territories.
Developing and maintining an Australian Antarctic State of the Environment Reporting System.

The Australian Antarctic Data Centre

Mission

To provide an efficient service for locating and accessing relevant Antarctic scientific information.

Objective

To facilitate more effective Antarctic research and operations by developing and managing a comprehensive, accurate and accessible scientific information base.

Key Success Areas

Develop a skilled team to
Acquire, manage and disseminate information (The Process),
Deliver data, information, maps and advice (The Products) and
Contribute to achieving Government goals (The Outcome)

1. Develop a Skilled Team (The People)

Objective

To create and maintain an effective team within a satisfying and productive work environment.

Strategies

Develop a fair, flexible, supportive and streamlined approach to management of Data Centre staff
Facilitate training of staff for the development of, and sharing of skills in support of the objectives of the Data Centre
Maintain an awareness of technical developments relevant to the Data Centre and ensure an environment exists that supports the adoption of effective new technologies
Establish individual plans for best-practice procedures and contingency plans for identified vulnerabilities
Develop effective communication skills and procedures both internally and externally

We will know we are successful when we

Have a satisfying and productive work environment,
Have skilled and helpful staff that are addressing client needs in a timely manner,
Can improve the efficiency of Data Centre operations,
Have staff that are comfortable with procedures covering all aspects of Data Centre objectives and
Are able to supply relevant information about any aspect of Data Centre objectives.

2. Acquire, Manage and Disseminate Scientific Information (The Process)

Objective

Build an effective information management infrastructure for Australian Antarctic scientific data/information.

Strategies

Develop procedures that ensure effective interaction with scientists from project approval to project completion
Develop, deploy and document best practice technology, standards, protocols and procedures that facilitate management of, and access to Antarctic scientific data
Ensure system and data integrity and security, identifying, documenting and managing risks
Where feasible, add value to data by integration into fewer discrete components

We will know we are successful when we-

Have regular and productive involvement with Australian Antarctic scientists, Program Leaders and science advisory bodies,
Can deliver appropriate and timely information in an efficient manner.
Have plans and procedures in-place to eliminate or mitigate any contingency involving loss of system or data integrity and
Can reduce the number of discrete data components managed by the Data Centre.

3. Deliver Data and Advice (The Products)

Objective

To provide ready access to a comprehensive Antarctic scientific information base.

Strategies

Develop procedures that ensure effective interaction with scientists from project approval to project completion
Ensure that all data generated within the Data Centre meets client needs, is being efficiently collected, managed and distributed
Ensure each dataset acquired is handled in a manner endorsed by the custodian and clients as well as conforming to efficient Data Centre management procedures, national and international standards

We will know we are successful when-

Data from all AAS (Australian Antarctic Science) projects is being documented using metadata, managed and distributed in an effective and timely manner.
Data for which the Data Centre is custodian is being efficiently collected and processed, meets the needs of clients and is distributed in a useful format and a timely a manner.
Data is being managed in accordance with Data Centre procedures, and can be discovered and displayed in a form that is endorsed by the custodian, the client community and national and international standards.

4. Contribute to Achieving Government Goals

Objective

Contribute to the achievement of Government goals for the Antarctic Program.

Strategies

Make data resulting from scientific research in the Australian Antarctic scientific program freely available in accordance with the Antarctic Treaty Article III.I.c
Ensure that data is available data from the Australian Antarctic science programs-
- On environmental protection of the Antarctic and subantarctic.
- On global climate change.
- That is of Practical and Economic and National Significance
Facilitate people to hold positions of influence on national and international committees relevant to the support of the Australian Antarctic program.
Provide leadership in national and international fora that relate to the development of effective information management strategies in support of the Antarctic Treaty System.
Promote the value of data management within the Australian Antarctic Program by detailing the responsibilities under the Antarctic Treaty System

We will know we are successful when-

Data from all AAS projects is being effectively managed and freely disseminated,
Staff of the Data Centre are in positions of influence that relate to Antarctic data management,
The Data Centre is providing leadership in data management to relevant national and international fora and our policies and procedures are being adopted by national and international organisations and
The Government, the Australian Antarctic Division, the Antarctic Treaty System and scientists all value the work of the Data Centre.

Australian Antarctic Data Centre Structure

The Australian Antarctic Data Centre structure provides for:

effective management of scientific information, maximising the linkage of information to research, policies and programs;
coordination of data acquisition within the Australian Antarctic program;
horizontal linkages to peer organisations both nationally and internationally;
flexible allocation of resources to meet priorities, accountability for those resources, and the capacity to allocate additional resource for specific tasks; and
efficient performance of key tasks which are generic across all areas such as information management, applications development, GIS and corporate support.

Appendix 1 - The Clients

Science
Australian Antarctic Division
Antarctic Marine Living Resources
Space and Atmospheric and Science
Biology
Glaciology
Human Impacts
Human Biology and Medicine
Australian Universities
Committee for Earth Observation Satellites - International Directory Network
Committee on Environmental Protection (CEP)
Cooperative Research Centres
CSIRO
Educational organisations

Primary schools
Secondary schools
Universities
Global Change Master Directory

Antarctic Master Directory

Non-Australian research organisations

Netherlands

Other Australian research organisations

National Tidal Facility
Australian Heritage Commission
Geoscience Australia

Public
Treaty Parties
Policy

Australian Archives
ANZLIC Directory Working Group
Arctic Environmental Data Directory
Australian Antarctic Division

Policy Section
Environmental Management and Audit Unit
CCAMLR
Committee for Earth Observation Satellites - International Directory Network
Global Change Master Directory
International Hydrographic Office

Other government departments

DFAT
Naval Hydrographic Office
Permanent Committee on Tides and Mean Sea Level
The Treaty & Treaty Parties

SCAR

JCADM
Life Sciences Standing Group
Physical Sciences Standing Group
Geosciences Standing Group
Geodesy and Geographic Information
COMNAP
Tourist Operator

Logistics & Support

Geoscience Australia
Australian Antarctic Division

Shipping and Air Operations
Engineering

Australian Hydrographic Office
National Tidal Facility
Tourist Operators

Appendix 2 - Government Goals and the Australian Antarctic Data Centre

Undertake Scientific Work of Practical, Economic & National Significance

Identification of research and resulting data (metadata)
Readily accessible data repository supporting scientific research
Placing all information on-line (only requires Web browser)
Provision of fundamental data (eg base mapping)
Data synthesis (eg common format databases)
Education & advice
Preparation of value-added products (eg databases and heli-ops maps)
Development and maintenance of the Antarctic station tide gauges
Development of an aerial camera system for use in helicopters

To Understand the Role of the Antarctic in Global Climate Change

Southern Ocean Sea Level Network
Mapping - eg moraines & old beaches
Support of the geodetic network (Ground Control Point Database)
Climate and related metadata & data
Contributions through JCADM to SCAR on climate data
Development of the SCAR RiSCC Biodiversity database

To Protect the Antarctic Environment

spatial data management infrastructure (GIS)
fundamental and applications spatial data
Development and maintenance of our State of the Antarctic environment system (SIMR)
staff expertise in environmental management
knowledge of environmental research
Development of the SCAR RiSCC Biodiversity database

To Enhance Australia's influence in the Antarctic Treaty System

Implementing Treaty directives - Article III.1.c
Generated XXII ATCM Resolution 4 (1998)
Chief Officer of JCADM (1997-2000), Vice CO (2003-2004), Regional coordinator (2000-2004)
Setting agenda and methodologies for addressing Article III.1.c
Development and management of Antarctic Data Directory System
Leadership by example using AADC data management procedures
Databases and GIS delivery structures
Specific projects in support of SCAR and COMNAP eg SCAR map catalogue, gazetteer (GGI)
Antarctic Data Directory System
Metadata support of SCAR WG-GGI
Data support to CEP and other Treaty bodies (Biodiversity database and SIMR)
Pre-DIF implementation (Treaty Information Exchange)
Hosting and maintaining the JCADM Web site
Hosting the SCAR Map Catalogue
Hosting and maintaining the National Antarctic Data Centre status database

Data Sharing Networks - International

The Data Centre participates in a number of international data sharing networks. Since December 2003 the AADC has contributed data to the information management arm of the Global Census of Marine Life (CoML) Program. This data network is called OBIS. With the establishment of distributed global data nodes, all Antarctic data for the CoML is now being aggregated and served via a regional node of OBIS, called SCAR-MarBIN. The Australian Antarctic Division is also the lead agency for the CoML field project, called the Census of Antarctic Marine Life (CaML), which will provide census information on Antarctic marine species diversity.

In addition, all AADC biological data, both marine and land-based is fed into the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), a global biodiversity data network.

Data Sharing Networks - National

The Data Centre also participates in national data sharing networks. The Australian marine community has formed a consortium of collaborators who are working together to improve access to marine data and are building Australia's marine spatial data infrastructure. This consortium is called the Australian Ocean Data Centre Joint Facility (AODC JF) and consists of the AADC, AIMS, CSIRO, RAN, BoM and GA). BlueNet is a current project of the AODC JF. As a participant in this project the AADC is providing data hosting services to help make marine data held by the Australian academic sector more accessible.

Data Management Networks

The AADC is a member of the Joint Committee on Antarctic Data Management (JCADM). This committee was established in 1997 to manage Antarctic data and has over 30 members. JCADM helps facilitate co-operation between scientists and nations with regard to managing scientific data. The AADC hosts the JCADM web site and community list server.