Teaching students how to visualize ocean data is a challenge. But before you get into cognitive theory, choosing colors, or the the principles of (good) visualization design, you really just need to get your students’ feet wet plotting some data. This summer, as part our Virtual REU 2-week mini-workshop, we challenged students to work in groups […]
Python notebooks are a wonderful tool for sharing and collaborating on code. Built on the open-source backbone of the Python programming language, JupyterLab notebooks (their formal name) allow you to include code, text, formulas and images all in a single sharable file. What’s more, the ecosystem for sharing and running these files has expanded over […]
We now live in an ocean of data. And of course, that is literally true for those of us who study the ocean. We’ve come a long way from the early days of oceanography, when scientists like Nansen, Ekman, and Bjerknes might collect a few dozen data points while on a ship, or from their […]
This week was #ScienceLiteracyWeek in Canada, and as part of the campaign, the Arctic Relations blog asked Janice McDonnell, Ocean Data Labs Project PI, to share her thoughts on developing and Using the Polar Literacy Principles in Science Communication. We encourage you to check out her thoughts on the Arctic Relations website. And if you […]
Today I had the opportunity to virtually present an introduction to the Ocean Data Labs project, along with a short tutorial on working with OOI Profiler data to the WHOI Ocean Informatics Working Group. We had over 40 participants attend, including undergraduate students, faculty and career scientists. (Oh, and Tropical Storm Isaias was barreling down […]
We spend a lot of time talking about the wonders and potential of the Ocean Observatories Initiative during our Data Labs workshops. After all, the OOI includes a large collection of standard and cutting-edge instruments that allow us to monitor the ocean like never before. High-resolution, realtime data, along with the OOI’s comprehensive ability measure bio-geo-chemical-physical interactions […]
About a year ago, I ran across the cool new site for the #ShowYourStripes campaign. On the site, you can download a customized climate anomaly graph for any country or state. Spoiler alert: they’re all trending from blue towards red as the global climate warms, but there is quite a bit of variability from place to […]
In this issue: Data Labs Summer Update Ready to Use Datasets for Educational Activities NSF Letter on Data Proposals Virtual OceanHackWeek 2020 Data Labs Summer Update It’s been a while since our last note, but like all of you, we’ve been busy! Over the past 3 months, the Data Labs team, in partnership with Rutgers RIOS […]
It’s officially summer, and that means it’s time for some summer weekend reading! Here are a few suggestions that popped up in my inbox and blog feed over the past few weeks. The topics range from undergraduate research to ocean data, visualization and the OOI – all things I know our community loves to learn […]
Earlier this month, Janice and I presented an update on the Data Labs project to the OOI Facilities Board during their (virtual) spring meeting. It’s always nice to have an opportunity to reflect on your accomplishments. It’s been almost 2 years since we began this 2-year project (now stretched to 3), and it’s been an […]
Today’s example is rather simple, but it answers a common question I’ve heard… What is the sample rate of my dataset? For many ocean observatory datasets, the rates are usually pretty well defined and constant in time. For example, most NDBC offshore buoys are sampled hourly, while CMAN and NOS Water Level stations record every […]
If you find yourself with multiple datasets that you need to analyze or plot together, you will probably need to merge them. A merged dataset is handy because all of the data points line up with the same index or timestamp, which allows you to quickly compare variables, calculate correlations or create scatterplots. Because OOI […]
