[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 18 (Friday, January 29, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7541-7542]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-01956]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment 
Request; NOAA Geospatial Metadata

AGENCY: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of information collection, request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce, in accordance with the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), invites the general public and other 
Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and continuing information 
collections, which helps us assess the impact of our information 
collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. The 
purpose of this notice is to allow for 60 days of public comment 
preceding submission of the collection to OMB.

DATES: To ensure consideration, comments regarding this proposed 
information collection must be received on or before March 30, 2021.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit written comments to 
Adrienne Thomas, NOAA PRA Officer, at [email protected]. Please 
reference OMB Control Number 0648-0024 in the subject line of your 
comments. Do not submit Confidential Business Information or otherwise 
sensitive or protected information.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or 
specific questions related to collection activities should be directed 
to Donald Collins, Oceanographer, NOAA/National Centers for 
Environmental Information, 1315 East West Hwy., Silver Spring, MD 
20910, 301-713-4853, [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Abstract

    This request is for revision and extension of a currently approved 
information collection. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration (NOAA) collects, generates, retains, and redistributes 
geospatial metadata in a wide array of data formats covering diverse 
aspects of earth, biological, and space sciences. To fully understand 
and reuse these data over the course of many years, NOAA provides 
several metadata documentation tools for various communities of users 
to enable them to

[[Page 7542]]

easily create complete, standards-based descriptive information about 
geospatial data. The following tools, in use or planned for use by NOAA 
Program offices, are authorized to collect geospatial metadata 
consistent with Executive Order 12906, NOAA Administrative Order 212-
15, and the 2013 Office of Science and Technology Policy Memorandum 
`Public Access to Research Results'. Geospatial metadata collected by 
the listed tools are voluntary, but the ability for data documented by 
relevant geospatial metadata is significantly degraded if metadata are 
incomplete, inaccurate or otherwise less than the information 
collection tool supports.
     National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information 
Service: Send2NCEI web application (currently approved as OMB Control 
Number: 0648-0024).
     National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information 
Service: Advanced Tracking and Resource tool for Archive Collections 
(ATRAC) web application (new).
     National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information 
Service: Collection Metadata Editing Tool (CoMET) web application 
(new).
     National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS): InPort metadata 
authoring tool (new).
     Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR): Science 
Data Information System (SDIS) metadata and data submission tool (new).
    Collecting geospatial metadata is necessary to fully understand, 
use, and reuse geospatial data, geospatial metadata because metadata 
provides contextual information about data formats, bounding areas, use 
and access limitations (if any). Geospatial metadata from this 
information collection also supports multiple search and discovery 
catalog services, such as data.gov, NASA Global Change Master Directory 
(GCMD), and many others.
    Information will be collected from data producers (primarily 
university, private industry, and government-funded scientific 
researchers) in multiple fields of geosciences, biological and 
atmospheric sciences, and socio-economic sciences. Geospatial metadata 
typically includes descriptive information about specific observed, 
calculated, or modelled data (e.g., title, abstract, purpose statement, 
descriptive discovery keywords), characteristics of the described data 
(e.g., date and spatial range of data collection activities, data 
processing steps, collected/measured variables and units of measure for 
those variables) and administrative information (e.g., who collected or 
created data and metadata, how to cite data when used in scientific 
analyses). Information collected by the listed tools is used to inform 
the appropriate use of data described by related geospatial metadata.
    The existing OMB control number is being revised to include 
additional information collection instruments that collect similar 
kinds of geospatial metadata as Send2NCEI, but that have different 
community-based practices or standards that provide for more or less 
details in the metadata requested. Additionally, the title of this 
collection of information is being revised from National Centers for 
Environmental Information (NCEI) Send2NCEI Web Application to NOAA 
Geospatial Metadata to more accurately reflect the revised collection 
of information.

II. Method of Collection

    All of the listed information collection instruments use a series 
of guided web page (html) forms to collect specific elements of 
geospatial metadata (e.g., start/end date of data observations, 
descriptive discovery keywords, file format types and file-naming 
conventions).

III. Data

    OMB Control Number: 0648-0024.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Review: Regular. [Revision and extension of a current 
information collection.]
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit organizations; Not-
for-profit institutions; State, Local, or Tribal government; Federal 
government; Research universities.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 665 respondents per year,
    Send2NCEI--300 respondents/year,
    ATRAC--100 respondents/year,
    CoMET--50 respondents/year,
    InPort--15 respondents/year,
    SDIS--200 respondents/year.
    Estimated Time per Response: 1.95 hours,
    Send2NCEI--.75 hours/response,
    ATRAC--4 hours/response,
    CoMET--3 hours/response,
    InPort--1 hour/response,
    SDIS--1 hour/response.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 990 hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Cost to Public: $0 in recordkeeping/
reporting costs.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary. NMFS and OAR internal policies 
related to availability of future funding options may apply to users of 
InPort and SDIS tools, respectively.
    Legal Authority: Executive Order 12906, NOAA Administrative Order 
212-15, 2013 Office of Science and Technology Policy Memorandum `Public 
Access to Research Results', NOAA Response to OSTP Memorandum `Public 
Access to Research Results'.

IV. Request for Comments

    We are soliciting public comments to permit the Department/Bureau 
to: (a) Evaluate whether the proposed information collection is 
necessary for the proper functions of the Department, including whether 
the information will have practical utility; (b) Evaluate the accuracy 
of our estimate of the time and cost burden for this proposed 
collection, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions 
used; (c) Evaluate ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of 
the information to be collected; and (d) Minimize the reporting burden 
on those who are to respond, including the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology.
    Comments that you submit in response to this notice are a matter of 
public record. We will include or summarize each comment in our request 
to OMB to approve this ICR. Before including your address, phone 
number, email address, or other personal identifying information in 
your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment--including 
your personal identifying information--may be made publicly available 
at any time. While you may ask us in your comment to withhold your 
personal identifying information from public review, we cannot 
guarantee that we will be able to do so.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information 
Officer, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2021-01956 Filed 1-28-21; 8:45 am]
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