The new Page21 Data Management System for the Global Terrestrial Network of Permafrost
The Data Management System (DMS) of the Page21 EU project operates towards providing a web-based resource for the essential climate variables (ECV) permafrost of the Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost (GTN-P), aiming to enable the assessment of the relation between ground temperature, gas fluxes and the Earth’s climate system. The database contains time series for borehole temperatures and grids of active layer thickness (TSP, CALM) plus air and surface temperature and moisture (DUE Permafrost, MODIS) measured in the terrestrial Panarctic, Antarctic and Mountainous realms. This DMS will provide, for the first time, a dynamic and comprehensive database for permafrost monitoring parameters where permafrost researchers and other stakeholders will be able to download data and detailed metadata for a specific site or region following international standards for geospatial metadata ISO 19115/2 and TC/221. As an open-source spatio-temporal database it is implemented with PostGIS, the spatial version of PostgreSQL, following the object-oriented logic. Carefully designed user interfaces, tutorials, templates, and the nomination of National Correspondents (NCs) provide the tools to facilitate the smooth input and extraction of data. Ad hoc visualizations of different automatically calculated statistics of the uploaded data will guide the user to an optimal data overview. The output is provided in most of the popular formats including csv, xml, NetCDF, kml, and shapefiles. This data management product will outlive the PAGE21 project and is therefore being conceived in collaboration within international networks for permafrost research (GTN-P, IPA).