From seafloor depths to fishing activity, free software brings ocean data together
For scientists studying the ocean, finding the right data can sometimes be as challenging as figuring out what to do with it. Want to know seafloor depth, the location of underwater mountains or sea surface temperatures? The information exists, but it can take considerable time and computer coding to pull it together from different sources and get it into the proper format.
A new open-source software package called oceandatr has been developed by researchers at UC Santa Barbara to simplify the process of accessing and organizing global ocean data. With a single command, users can retrieve and prepare a wide range of spatial ocean data sets for analysis and mapping, such as seafloor depth, seamount locations, and sea surface temperature.
The R-based package was created to help scientists focus on answering research questions rather than spending time cleaning and combining data from multiple sources. The tool can also standardize data from different sources to ensure consistency, making it useful for projects ranging from large-scale marine protected area planning to small-scale regional studies.
Future updates may include additional features like daily sea surface temperature data and improved efficiency for researchers with older or slower computers.
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