Joint unit on long-term marine data opens with the National Registry

A joint unit on long-term marine data has opened with the National Registry. The unit's work is to link measurement series spanning 41 years and to provide governed access to that linked data.

The value of long series comes not from individual measurements but from their comparability. A temperature record from forty years ago and one from today cannot be placed side by side without knowing the measurement method, the instrument calibration and the station position. The unit's first task is to compile that metadata and move the series into a common format.

Access will operate under the rules of the newly established public oversight board. Some series carry personal data or a commercial confidentiality claim, so access to those is by application; series with no such claim go straight into open access. We made it a condition that the board's decisions, and the grounds for any refusal, are published too.