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Abstract

Since December 2001 the scientific investigations of the Mallik Gas Hydrate Production Research Well Program in the Canadian Mackenzie Delta were supported by a new Data and Information System. Due to the particular conditions and characteristics of methane drilling projects, we were able to elaborate a data management system in three main phases. These phases were realized very close in time and space to the activities and operations at the drill site, and in the laboratories of the Inuvik Research Center: 1. The first approach was to set up a database structure supported by the ICDP Drilling Information System (DIS) during the planning phase since fall 2001. This system encompasses various components helping in administration and operation of the system as well as in presentation of the data. 2. During the second phase, the drilling period of the main well hole (Mallik5L-38), we installed the Mallik-DIS in a small local network at the Inuvik Research Center, and maintained this system for data acquisition and core scanning. Each day we transferred all digital core pictures and archiving information of the core runs to the confidential Mallik Web sites, under extremely high security precautions. 3. While the scientific evaluation phase still continues since end of March 2002, several data sets have been already collected, prepared and incorporated into the Mallik Data Warehouse. These processed data have been made available on the Mallik Web sites within the ICDP Information Network (http://www.icdp-online.de/html/sites/mallik/index/index.html). Until now it comprises lithological descriptions, geophysical borehole measurements, gas monitoring data and an archive of all core runs and samples. A request started from the Internet generates results dynamically which accomplish the needs of the user. The user can generate even own litho-logs which enables him/her to compare all kinds of borehole information for his/her scientific work. All these functions and services are covered by a highly sophisticated security management due to different defined sub-groups of confidentiality within the Mallik Science Team. After the critical part of the Mallik project, which was our first involvement in the highly sensitive gas hydrate research, we gathered a lot of practical experiences. We can underline the success of the data management up to the present. In the remaining project time we intend to integrate more data from further analyses, to realise an integrative database for GSC and GFZ, to approve a general access to these data for all authorized Mallik group members, and to integrate data from previous Mallik drilling investigations (e.g. Mallik2L-38).