The Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) Biogeochemical (BGC) Sensor Data Best Practices and User Guide is the result of an NSF-funded (OCE2033919) grass-roots community effort to broaden the use of OOI biogeochemical sensor data and increase community capacity to produce analysis-ready data products. The guide includes five chapters: The Introduction (Chapter 1) provides information on the OOI program, including  data access, processing, and recommended end user QA/QC relevant to all OOI biogeochemical sensors, and Chapters 2-5 cover the following groups of BGC variables and associated sensors: Dissolved oxygen, nitrate, carbonate chemistry, and bio-optics.

This effort brought together an international group of 39 ocean observing experts, across all career stages, from 19 institutions and 5 countries, each of whom brings expertise on biogeochemical sensors, data analysis and ocean observing infrastructure, as well as research expertise in ocean biogeochemistry. The initial OOI Biogeochemical Sensor Data (OOI BGC) Working Group was formed in July 2021 through an open application process. A three-day virtual meeting in July 2021 launched the Working Group, with consensus-building activities to develop the scope and structure of the Best Practices and User Guide. From July 2021 to June 2022, the Working Group drafted a beta version of the Best Practices and User Guide that went through two rounds of internal review within the Working Group. A draft version of this document was beta-tested by 14 current and prospective OOI BGC data users, who joined the Working Group members for a 3-day workshop in June 2022 to provide  feedback that was subsequently used in revising and finalizing Version 1.0.0 of the document.

Version 1.0.0 was disseminated for open review by the scientific community, and we received reviews from 10 community members during the review period from December 19, 2022 to February 28, 2023. All comments received by the reviewers, as well as changes made to the Best Practices and User Guide in response to these reviews, can be found in our response to the reviewers and in the marked-up copy of the Best Practices and User Guide including tracked changes.The finalized and updated Version 1.1.0 with all changes incorporated is available here. These materials have been submitted to the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) Biogeochemistry Panel to be reviewed for endorsement, following which the revised version will be updated in the Ocean Best Practices System repository.