The Mesophotic and Deep Benthic Communities (MDBC) restoration projects were selected by the Open Ocean Trustee Implementation Group to restore mesophotic and deep benthic ecosystems impacted by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Four project teams are composed of members from multiple federal agencies from three NOAA Line Offices (NESDIS, NMFS, NOS), BOEM, USGS, and over 30 external partner organizations (e.g., academic universities, scientific institutions, and non-profit organizations). Together, these projects collaborate to address ecological knowledge gaps, map and characterize habitats associated with MDBC, develop coral propagation and restoration techniques, and inform active management of valuable ecosystems to ensure resiliency.

However, the stewardship of MDBC portfolio data poses significant challenges given the large volume (average 5TB/mission), proprietary nature, and heterogeneity of data. Data pre-processing, curation, archiving, and dissemination may also be customized and unique depending on the source, data type, and purpose.

Effective data management is vital for the stewardship of such diverse data collection, considering the data-limited nature of MDBC and the need to evaluate recovery trajectories and restoration progress. To address these challenges, standardized workflows and customized tools were implemented to ensure effective data QA/QC and access for the MDBC projects. Advancements include a customized Microsoft Access-based data collection system to standardize data entry, automated scripts for data validation and refining ROV navigational data, and a centralized SQL server database that stores MDBC portfolio metadata along with select ancillary data. 

Here, we expand on these pathways by presenting strategies for gathering data and organizing MDBC-related data and pipelines to archive and disseminate these data for both cross-line office and cross-agency data management, as well as to the broader scientific community and the public.