Design, construction, and application of a regional ocean database: A case study in Jiaozhou Bay, China

Abstract

Access to geophysical data poses a challenge in Oceanography and Marine Sciences. Ocean databases are an efficient solution to storing, standardizing, validating, and sharing marine and environmental data. However, ocean databases of regional seas and coastal systems are still rare. In this article, we describe a regional ocean database for Jiaozhou Bay, a coastal system affected by increasing anthropogenic activities, such as land reclamation, a cross-bay bridge construction, and land-based pollutant discharges. Understanding the impact of human activities on Jiaozhou Bay requires a comprehensive range of research on biogeochemical and physical changes, and on the current environmental state of the bay. The Jiaozhou Bay database described here aims to inform this key research and also to serve as a reference for the future development of regional ocean databases. It includes three kinds of variables: on-site, satellite, and modeling data. The database structure is unified and incorporates file names, header information (including metadata), measured values and data-quality flags, which facilitate data exchange and use. We propose a system of data-quality flags, based on 13 checks that encompass quality control of the different kinds of variables (e.g., satellite 2D data and on-site profile data). Three examples, one for each type of data, illustrate the use and value of the Jiaozhou Bay database in better understanding the oceanographic characteristics of this bay and the impact of intensive anthropogenic activities on its marine environment.