USER GUIDE & DATA REFERENCE

How to investigate marine observations

Use the registry to identify candidate sources, understand their coverage, and map your requested observation to the canonical parameter dictionary.

WALKTHROUGH

From question to candidate source

Choose the meaning

Select a parameter family and canonical parameter. The canonical term is the app-level meaning; source-native names remain visible in source details.

Add constraints

Optionally provide location, radius, time interval, depth range, platform, or QC/data mode. Filters use the source coverage index.

Review candidates

Run the search and compare matching networks and archives. A match means the documented source coverage is compatible with the request, not that an individual observation has been confirmed.

Inspect and download

Open Inspect source for metadata, access links, mapping qualifiers, and Python/Bash examples for downloading a dataset or subset.

REFERENCE PAGES

Choose a guide

Source CatalogReview all registered networks, archives, platforms, variables, coverage, and access methods.Canonical DictionaryExplore all canonical parameters and their source-native names, qualifiers, units, and merge policies.

INTERPRETATION

What the results mean

Results identify registered networks and archives whose documented coverage and parameter mappings are compatible with your request. They do not confirm that a specific observation exists until a provider connector queries the source or dataset.

Verified native means the mapping is supported by source metadata. Conditional mappings require the listed qualifiers. Review required mappings are useful discovery candidates but require live provider metadata before scientific comparison.