Data management is included in the IFREMER mandate. From 2016, SISMER has been a key player in “Odatis – the French Marine Data Cluster” which is the Oceanographic component of the French Research Infrastructure for Earth Observation data management.

Being included in a French Research Infrastructure, directly linked to the French Ministry of Research, provides an additional guarantee of long-term sustainability of the SISMER data centers. Moreover, the Ifremer Sismer ISO9001, CoreTrustSeal and IODE-NODC certifications guarantee Ifremer’s commitment for long-term data preservation.

SISMER data management information can be founded through the address http://en.data.ifremer.fr/, and manuals for all managed data types may be requested at sismer[at]ifremer.fr

A total of about 60 FTE – Full Time Equivalent were working at the data centre in 2023/2024 (Management 3, Scientific 19, Technical 16, IT support 10, Administrative 1, Temporary 8, support 10, Students 3).

Several data collections managed by SISMER are already replicated in other national or international data centers; with the master copy of data collections kept at SISMER:

• Metadata (metadata catalogues such as Cruise Summary reports, Common Data Index, …) are replicated at the European level within the SeaDataNet European infrastructure.
• Physical and chemical oceanographic data managed at SISMER are periodically included in the World Ocean Data Base maintained by the IOC/IODE World Data Centre.
• Operational oceanography in-situ data, such as ARGO data, are continuously replicated in other regional or global data centres, according to the data management plan of the related international programs like Copernicus CMEMS.
• Bathymetric data sets, when publically available, are provided to the French Oceanographic Office (SHOM), the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO) and to the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet).
• Parts of data linked to the exploitation of ocean resources and environment such as coastal environmental data, fishery monitoring data and geological data are transmitted to National and European legal repositories in accordance with national and European regulations.