An open-source software package developed by marine scientists, including researchers at UC Santa Barbara, is simplifying how scientists access and prepare ocean data. By reducing the time spent gathering and processing information, the tool allows researchers to devote more attention to understanding the marine environment.

For ocean scientists, finding and preparing data can be a time-consuming process. Information about seafloor depth, underwater mountains, sea surface temperatures, and fishing activity is available from multiple sources, but combining these datasets often requires extensive coding and manual processing.

To address this challenge, researchers developed oceandatr, a software package built in R, a widely used programming language for data analysis. The package provides ready-to-use functions that retrieve and organize global ocean datasets, preparing them for mapping and further analysis.

The team describes the software in a paper published in Ecology and Evolution. Lead author Jason Flower and co-author Echelle Burns, both project scientists at UC Santa Barbara’s Environmental Markets Lab (emLab), helped develop the tool. EmLab is a collaborative program of UCSB’s Marine Science Institute, the Department of Economics, and the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management.

The development of oceandatr was informed in part by the team's work with the Waitt Institute on marine spatial planning in island nations such as Vanuatu and Fiji. These projects often require researchers to combine different sources of ocean information to support conservation and resource management.

Instead of repeatedly writing code to collect and organize information, users can rely on oceandatr’s reusable functions to streamline these tasks. The package brings commonly used data-access and preparation workflows together in a single resource and is freely available through GitHub for researchers to use in their own projects.

Oceandatr can retrieve a variety of spatial datasets, including bathymetry, seamount locations, and sea surface temperatures. In their paper, the researchers demonstrate two potential applications: supporting the planning of marine protected areas and modeling where fishing activity is likely to occur. These examples illustrate how the software can help researchers prepare information for different marine science and management projects.

Another useful feature is its ability to help standardize datasets that use different spatial formats and resolutions. For example, bathymetry data available through oceandatr have a resolution of 15 arc seconds, while fishing-effort data may be provided at resolutions of 0.01 or 0.1 degrees, depending on the user's preference. The package helps researchers handle these differences and prepare datasets at appropriate spatial scales, making it easier to combine information for analysis.

Although the software provides access to global datasets, it can also be used for research focused on smaller areas, including individual islands and coastal regions. Users can incorporate their own datasets, allowing them to adapt the tool to specific locations and research needs.

The team plans to continue expanding and improving oceandatr. Potential additions include daily sea surface temperature data, complementing the average temperature information already available. Researchers are also working to improve the package’s speed and efficiency so it remains practical for those using older computers or limited computing resources.

Oceandatr is designed to evolve as research needs and available data change. By simplifying the technical work involved in accessing and preparing ocean datasets, the software can help scientists spend more time investigating important questions about marine ecosystems and supporting efforts to manage and conserve the world's oceans.

Adapted from original reporting by Sarah Erickson, “A new tool makes mapping the ocean easier,” The Current, UC Santa Barbara, 2026.