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Programme for Sustainable Development
and funded by the European Union, the
WACOP Project seeks to improve our
understanding of regional wave dynamics
and their influence on shoreline processes.
The outcomes will contribute to regional and
global understanding of potential climate
change and climate variability impacts
with respect to wave climate and provide
information for improved understanding
of coastal vulnerability and adaptation
responses in Pacific Islands.
Using state of the art open source models
that can compute wind-waves from the
offshore (Wavewatch III model), through to
nearshore wave transformations (SWAN
model), to coastal erosion and overtopping
(the XBeach model), the project will provide
solutions at small island scales, and at
scales where decisions about adaptation
and energy security need to be made.
Efforts to collect data have commenced
since December 2012 with the preparation
and deployment of oceanographic
instruments in two pioneering field sites in
Tuvalu (Fatato Island) and Fiji (Maui Bay).
This will eventually lead to stakeholder
being better informed on the management
of coastal areas that have shallow fringing
reefs.
SOPAC COMPENDIUM PROJECT WRAPS-UP FIRST TASK
Wondering what’s transpiring down at the
databank? Since our first and only update
many moons ago, we now have our very
own climate-controlled databank room
housing numerous documents and charts,
meticulously manned by a team of 5
dedicated data management staff.
The SOPAC Compendium is a digital
collection of the entire body of knowledge
of SOPAC data holdings in the Pacific
region from the time of its inception in 1972
to 2010. The project is of a special nature
due to the consequences of the Forum
Leaders decision to merge the functions of
SOPAC into the Secretariat of the Pacific
Community as of January 1, 2011. This
database was thus set up to facilitate the
bringing together of the final dataset of
the Division into a formal repository before
packaging and delivering respective data to
member countries.
The Compendium Console is populated
with metadata descriptions of activities/
tasks/projects carried out in the 21
countries (17 member countries and 4
associate countries) during the SOPAC
“Commission” days since 1972. Research
for the compendium content has been
completed for all countries with due
completion also of the quality assurance
and quality control (QA/QC) process.
To date, the Compendium now holds a total
of 4282 entries in the system. Metadata
entries are linked to relevant reports from
the Virtual Library; maps and images on
GeoNetwork (an interactive portal for
maps); and GIS datasets, satellite imagery
and related coastal applications. The team
have also digitised more than 2300 large
format charts and its subsequent data
entry into the GeoNetwork. Furthermore,
the portal also has a photo database with
more than 34,400 registered photos of the
Division. Archiving of SOPAC material is well
underway including financial documents.
Miscellaneous materials which were stored
in boxes are also sorted and registered. The
cleaning and refining of the compendium
entries describing the digital products to
enable detection and retrieval from search
engines, is a major undertaking that will
most likely continue beyond the life of the
Project.
A first sample of Vanuatu dataset was
handed over to Vanuatu in the month of
February. This sample catalogue is now
available on the Vanuatu Government Citrix
Web Interface that is accessible from any
government department depending on
access level. The Compendium Databank
further received petroleum datasets from
Geoscience Australia towards the end
of 2013. This data comprised reports,
maps and seismic sections and petroleum
potential information of the southwest
Pacific countries of Papua New Guinea,
Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji and Tonga.
The team will proceed to georeference and
archive this data in a database available
for the users. Hard copy maps of the
following countries have been shelved
into their respective repositories: Papua
New Guinea, Cook Islands, Tuvalu, FSM,
Marshall Islands and Fiji Islands.
Staff exchanges in the past year included
the farewell of our former Project
Supervisors Ms Lala Bukarau and Ms Kata
Duaibe several Project Officers and the
welcoming of our new Project Supervisor
Mr Leonard Wong.
The compendium exercise is a once-in-
a-lifetime project and has potential to act
as a digital home for other activities of the
SOPAC Division post-2011. Retrieving
records from different places can be difficult
and time-consuming. This exercise has laid
a platform that other SPC Divisions can
follow through with their respective data
holdings and management. This project
has given the SOPAC Division a “best shot”
chance at putting the Commission records
in order, for the new custodians at the
greater SPC.
Map stickers and shelving
Insert top Left: Screenshot of the compendium console
Insert bottom left: Registration of maps