SeaBASS news announcements, Spring 2020

[OB SeaBASS - cwproctor]

The SeaBASS team would like to share several announcements about recent updates that affect data users and submitters.1) New Data Submission Special Requirements (affects data submitters)A new Data Submission Special Requirements page has been launched. It has new submission requirements, plus examples for various types of data to help streamline submissions. When preparing a new submission, check to see if your data type is listed on that page. If so, review the conditionally required metadata, and optionally read tips or examples for formatting your files. Additional data types will be added in the future.Importantly, some submissions must now include a checklist document (listed under "required extra documents"). Checklists forms were designed to standardize and better preserve critical methods and analysis details that are part of community vetted protocols. 2) New faces on the SeaBASS teamOver the past half a year we have had several staffing changes. We bid data manager Joel Scott a fair farewell as he has transitioned to a new role within the Ocean Ecology Laboratory supporting PACE applications and applied science. Joel’s many contributions to SeaBASS are appreciated and he will be missed - we wish him luck in his new adventures.SeaBASS is very excited to welcome a couple new faces, Dr. Inia Soto Ramos and David Norris. Inia has joined the team filling Joel’s data manager position. She brings a wealth of oceanographic knowledge and data management experience to the table, and looks forward to interacting with data submitters and undertaking various projects to improve SeaBASS. David is a developer and software engineer and is using his many talents to build and maintain the SeaBASS website, tools, and systems.As usual, please send any emails to seabass@seabass.gsfc.nasa.gov if you wish to reach the entire SeaBASS team.3) filename extension change ".sb" (affects data submitters and users)As mentioned in a separate post, the filename extension ".sb" is now officially used to identify the SeaBASS file format. Read more. Data users should note that a large percentage of historical files have recently had their names updated to the new standard. Other than the metadata "/data_file_name" being updated, the contents and format are otherwise unchanged.Data submitters, please use ".sb" when creating future file names (instead of .csv, .txt, etc.), otherwise our data managers will rename your files. This naming only affects SeaBASS data files; it isn't used for documentation and other metadata files. Please also keep in mind our general naming recommendations so your file names are informative and unique.4) Upcoming change: Earthdata login for data downloads (more details will be provided in the future)A project is underway to update several back end systems used for ordering and distributing SeaBASS files. One part of these changes is that Earthdata logins will be required in the future to download SeaBASS data. More information will be provided when we are closer to implementing this change.