IOOS vocabulary and ontology strategy for observed properties

With the rapid growth of coastal ocean observations becoming available for integration by US Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) Regional Associations and federal data assembly centers, there is a need for the establishment of IOOS Parameter Vocabulary strategy. Currently, different data naming conventions are being used by existing regional and subregional coastal ocean observing systems. This makes things complicated for the discovery, access and proper usage of the valuable data. To eliminate the misuse and misinterpretation of the data being made available and to facilitate the discovery and proper use of in data scientific research and other management applications, the authors have presented the development of IOOS Parameter Vocabulary and recommended a strategy to move this forward with ocean observing community engagement.