All OOI data are freely available to everyone who has an Internet connection. The only requirement for use of OOI data is to acknowledge OOI as its source, provide citations where appropriate, and include acknowledgment of the US National Science Foundation’s support. Guidelines for how to use, acknowledge, and cite OOI data are described below.
Use
Data use, limitations, and disclaimer are detailed in the OOI User Terms and Conditions (US National Science Foundation Cooperative Agreement, Financial and Administrative Terms and Conditions, May 13, 2022).
OOI participates in global registries that enhance data discoverability, interoperability, and adherence to FAIR principles, ensuring OOI data are accessible and properly attributed. OOI is registered with the Research Organization Registry (ROR) (https://ror.org/00vnfmn19), an open registry for research organizations used in metadata systems and data repositories.
Acknowledge
The OOI Program Management Office requires acknowledgment (in publications, conference presentations, etc.) from those who use data from OOI, as well as tools or software. Users are required to acknowledge the US National Science Foundation (NSF) and
- the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) OOI Program Management Office when core data/infrastructure is used, and
- individual researchers, groups, or organizations when project specific data is used.
Please use the NSF logo if a presentation is graphical in nature, and include the NSF award number in a publication or other written material. The OOI is funded by the US National Science Foundation under Cooperative Agreement No. 2244833.
Acknowledgement in publication
DOIs
The OOI program has implemented Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) to assist researchers in citing data. As of 2025 DOIs are available for OOI Platforms. The recommended citation format described below is based on specifying the subset of data used from a Platform.
Cite
For references/bibliography, OOI’s recommended citation format is based on the Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP) format, adopted by journals in relevant professional societies such as the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and the American Meteorological Society (AMS). For a data availability statement in a publication, consider how best to direct the reader/reviewer to the data by directly linking to the data or providing information to get to the data efficiently.
Recommended citation format:
NSF Ocean Observatories Initiative. ([date or year published]). [Platform title] [[Instrument(s) and/or data product(s) (reference designators, if applicable) data from [start date] to [end date]. [Repository]. [URL]]. [Platform DOI]. Accessed on [date accessed].
Guidance for citing data in this format
The recommended citation format is based on specifying the subset of data used from a Platform. If you are using a reference manager to generate a citation directly from the Platform DOI, please add in brackets: the instrument(s) and/or data product(s) used from that Platform, start and end dates, and the repository with respective URL from which you accessed data.
- The repository can be the OOI Data Portal, Data Explorer ERDDAP, Raw Data Archive, etc., with respective URL.
- Depending on the repository, the date published would be either the same as the date accessed (Data Portal, M2M API), the date last modified (Raw Data Archive, THREDDS, Data Explorer ERDDAP), or the date in README or filename (Cruise Data)
- To find the date last modified for Data Explorer ERDDAP, click on the RSS button (to right of Dataset Title) to view pubDate.
- Recommended date format YYYY-MM-DD.
- To find the reference designator in Data Explorer: When displaying a data product, click on More information (tab near top) or on Source (tab near bottom).
Example for specific instrument and time frame
- NSF Ocean Observatories Initiative. (2014). Central Caldera [Bottom Pressure and Tilt (RS03CCAL-MJ03F-05-BOTPTA301) data from 2015-01-25 to 2016-05-25. JupyterHub. https://jupyter.oceanobservatories.org] doi:10.58046/ooi-rs03ccal. Accessed on 2024-10-26.
Example for multiple instruments (same time frame)
- NSF Ocean Observatories Initiative. (2014). Pioneer New England Shelf Inshore Surface Mooring [Bulk Meteorology Instrument (CP03ISSM-SBD11-06-METBKA000) and CTD (CP03ISSM-RID27-03-CTDBPC000) data from 2015-05-09 to 2022-06-01. Data Explorer ERDDAP. https://erddap.dataexplorer.oceanobservatories.org] doi:10.58046/OOI-CP03ISSM. Accessed on 2024-11-22.
Example for cruise data
OOI provides cruise data, organized per cruise, through the Raw Data Archive (as of 2025; previously through Alfresco ) and to external repositories which may have their own citation guidance (please see OOI’s cruise data webpage for more information).
To cite OOI’s Water Sampling data, per cruise, please refer to the format of the following example:
- NSF Ocean Observatories Initiative. (2024-11-06). Oxygen sample data from cruise AR84-01 to the Global Irminger Sea Array. Raw Data Archive. https://rawdata.oceanobservatories.org/files/cruise_data/Irminger_Sea/Irminger_Sea-11_AR84-01_2024-06-02/Water_Sampling/Irminger_Sea-11_AR84-01_Oxygen_Sample_Data_2024-11-06_Ver_1-00.xlsx. Accessed on 2024-12-11.
OOI cruise data is also compiled per array and published through the Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO). As new water sampling data is gathered and processed at an OOI array, subsequent new and expanded versions of this time-series data are published at BCO-DMO. An example citation for OOI water sampling data accessed through BCO-DMO follows this format:
- NSF Ocean Observatories Initiative (2014) OOI Global Irminger Sea Array CTD and Discrete Water Sampling Data from Mooring Overturning Cruises in the Irminger Sea from 2014-2023 (OOI Cruise Data project). Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO). (Version 1) Version Date 2023-10-24, from 2014-09-08 to 2023-09-12. doi:10.26008/1912/bco-dmo.911407.1 Accessed on 2025-02-27.
We’re here to help!
If you have a question regarding how to use, acknowledge, or cite OOI data, please contact the HelpDesk.