Sediment echosounder

Page content (please note)


Please note, sediment echosounder data curation SOPs in PANGAEA with respect to FAIR data principles (https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2016.18) are currently revised within the scope of of the German Marine Research Alliance (DAM) Underway research data project (https://www.allianz-meeresforschung.de/). This page and the information provided here is adressed to PANGAEA users and data submitters. PANGAEA's Metaheader (https://wiki.pangaea.de/wiki/Metaheader) explicitly for sediment echosounder datasets and other data curation requirements are explained on this page. In addition, data management at PANGAEA and requirements for sediment echosounder data submission to PANGAEA are documented. “Please note, that this page may still be revised in the future" 

DAM Underway research data project background
The German Marine Research Alliance (DAM) is a combined effort to exploit the full potential of German research vessels as mobile measuring platforms and currently involves 19 institutions and research facilities in Germany. The Underway research data project is part of DAM core area data management and digitalization (https://www.allianz-meeresforschung.de/en/activities/data-management-and-digitisation/).



DAM data portal
It is planned that all submitted sediment echosounder data (SBES) (raw data) are being semi-automatically processed at PANGAEA (future developments). Tracklines of all submitted sediment echosounder data shall be extracted from the data and added to the DAM data portal https://marine-data.org/, if data have a CC BY 4.0 (or CC-ZERO) data licence. Here, the data can be explored (and are linked to the DOI). These tracklines shall also be available throughout OGC Web Map services.

Standardized content of datasets
All files will be archived individually (no zip files).

Standardized language
To make data FAIR, “to speak” a common language is required. PANGAEA specifically uses for sediment echosounder data the Natural Environment Research Council's Data (NERC) Catalogue for describing data. https://www.bodc.ac.uk/resources/inventories/nerc_data_catalogue/ https://vocab.seadatanet.org/search

Standardized Authors
The Authorship of (national/German) datasets is currently revised with respect to the Guidelines for Safeguarding Good Research Practice of the German Research Foundation https://www.dfg.de/download/pdf/foerderung/rechtliche_rahmenbedingungen/gute_wissenschaftliche_praxis/kodex_gwp_en.pdf. (more information is provided as soon as possible.....)

Standardized Title
To ensure the reusability (R) and interoperability (I) of datasets, metadata of similar datasets such as sediment echosounder data gathered from similar research missions, research vessels or research platforms should follow a common template and a common vocabulary (Generally speaking; they should look alike!). This also includes the title. Therefore, the title of sediment echosounder data which are entrusted to PANGAEA shall follow a certain template “construction kit”. This “construction kit” was developed within the DAM efforts (Project Underway research data) for sediment echosounder data and used for sediment echosunder data. Key elements of each dataset title are incorporated, such as data type, device, platform type, platform, cruise (& area). To guarantee and fulfil FAIR standards, PANGAEA is encouraging data submitters to follow this template (also covering none German research data).

Example:

Sediment echosounder raw data (Atlas Parasound P70 echosounder entire dataset) of RV SONNE during cruise SO278

Sediment echosounder raw data (Atlas Parasound P70 echosounder entire dataset) of RV METEOR during cruise M156, Fictional Bank canyon, North Atlantic Ocean

The “construction kit” - incorporating all feedback - is shown below.:

Construction kit: Further information about the entries can be found here:

Examples:

Standardized Abstract
Intending to make data more FAIR, PANGAEA requires a compact Abstract for each dataset. For more information regarding abstracts, see https://wiki.pangaea.de/wiki/Abstract.

Please note that cruise summary reports or other reference must not be cited exclusively in the abstract because references are also included in the metaheader (references) of the dataset. However, to provide credit and cite e.g. raw data if processed data are submitted to PANGAEA, you might add to the abstract: "Raw data for this study were published open access (Authors, YYYY)." (followed by the full citation of the dataset in the list of references). If reference shall be linked, please inform the data editor.

If you would like to provide other contact information related to this dataset (e.g. Email address), please inform the data editor.

Please specify in the abstract whether sound velocity profiles are part of the raw dataset publication or not. Comparatively for processed data publications, please describe your processing steps.

Standardized usage of Reference
Typically, processed datasets, which are all based of the same raw dataset (also archived in PANGAEA), are submitted to PANGAEA. These datasets will be linked to each other as a Reference Currently, all sediment echosounder datasets already archived in PANGAEA are reviewed and checked for relations. If a relationship is found, a linkage between both datasets is being created and is shown as Related to. More information can be found here https://wiki.pangaea.de/wiki/Reference

Standardized Coverage
Coverage is an automatic entry into PANGAEA calculated from Events or PANGAEA GEOCODE (see below): https://wiki.pangaea.de/wiki/Metaheader. Please note, that Minimum Elevation und Maximum Elevation does not represent min / max depth values measured from SBES data contained in this dataset. It is rather in this case the reference height on earth from the instrument used for the measurements.

Note: Currently, the Coverage will be visible on PANGAEA website with points having an GoogleMaps image in the background (right upper corner). It does not show the actual coverage of the surveyed area. The visible points are, instead, representing the Events (see below).

Standardized usage of Events
Sediment echosounder datasets contain so called PANGAEA Events (https://wiki.pangaea.de/wiki/Event). The Event links to the scientific Campaign and Basis (platform) containing further additional information. Please note that, if you browse with your mouse cursor on Campaign or Basis, a field will pop up (do not click). In some datasets, it is possible to click on these fields and a link with detailed information will be provided.

Further information for sediment echosounder related events is given below.

Underway event
(update of this section is in progress)

For sediment echosounder data (e.G. Parasound), a so called "Underway" Event is created on board of the research vessel. The "Underway" Event is named CruiseID_0_Underway-number(undefined, ) e.g. M127_0_Underway-1. The event shows the starting and end point (coordinates & datetime) of the first and last data record of the MBES device acquired during the cruise. Also, the Methods/device used to record the data is included for Event description. Please note, that PANGAEA specific vocabulary is used here. Providing further detailed information using standard common vocabulary such as the NERC catalogue (https://www.bodc.ac.uk/resources/inventories/nerc_data_catalogue/) is currently being prepared (more information is provided as soon as possible.....).

If available, an additional link to the Sensor description hosted on https://sensor.awi.de is provided.

If the dataset is compilation of many datasets (only possible for processed data), several "Underway" Events will be used.

Note, that the prefix of the Event name contains the official cruise ID (cruise label, e.g. https://www.pangaea.de/expeditions/bybasis/Meteor%20%281986%29), not the campaign name. The suffix number does not follow any specific rule, as this number is usually chronologically created on board, which is why the numbering can differ from cruise to cruise.

Standardized usage of Parameter
Which PANGAEA parameter (https://wiki.pangaea.de/wiki/Parameter) for sediment echosounder datasets will be used & added to the data files, depend on whether raw or processed data are being submitted.

Raw data curation
Standard parameters for sediment echosounder raw data also include PANGAEA’s so called Geocodes (https://wiki.pangaea.de/wiki/Geocode). These are standard important parameters, which are mandatory to keep the data georeferenced. These metadata for each file will be automatically (future development) created while data curation process.

Raw data
Bohrmann, Gerhard; Gaide, Stefanie (2021): Sediment echosounder raw data (Atlas Parasound P70 echosounder entire dataset) of RV SONNE during cruise SO278. PANGAEA, https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.927444