Marketing

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International Research Cruise Database and
Website Status October 07
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Initiative by POGO and CoML

• POGO (Partnership for Observation of the Global
  Oceans) and CoML (Census of Marine Life) in 2006
  have undertaken the initiative to set-up an
  International Cruise Information Database and
  related website from the perspective of
  international programmes and initiatives.
• To improve information sharing on planned,
  current and past cruises and on details of
  ocean-going research vessels to enhance awareness
  of opportunities, and to improve
  cost-effectiveness of cruises.
• Co-funding by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and
  NOAA.
• Tendering was won by subgroup from the
  SeaDataNet consortium, consisting of BODC, BSH,
  MARIS and EurOcean

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SeaDataNet project

• a 5 year EU-funded project from April 2006 to
  April 2011
• further development of the Pan-European
  infrastructure for marine and ocean data
  management.
• Partners in SeaDataNet are National
  Oceanographic Data Centres (NODCs) from 35
  countries that are part of major marine and
  oceanographic institutes, well experienced and
  engaged in many national and international data
  management projects and programmes, and also
  active in international organizations, such as
  IOC/IODE and ICES.

www.seadatanet.org
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Agreed set-up

• Development started end 2006
• Dedicated website with 3 major databases of
  global fleet of Research Vessels gt 60 m
• Cruise Programmes (BODC MARIS)
• Research Vessel directory (EurOcean MARIS)
• Cruise Summary Reports (BSH)
• Supported by common vocabularies, and ICES
  Shipcode as linking pin between directories
• Embedded in SeaDataNet infrastructure
• Website launched in May 2007
• www.pogo-oceancruises.org

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2 Phase approach

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Research Vessel Directory

• Technical and functional characteristics of RVs
  with owner and operator contact details and link
  to RVs website (if existing)
• Started with European RV Directory by EurOcean
• Expanded with other RVs gt60 m worldwide now 149
  RVs
• In June 2007 new functionality was added enabling
  RV operators to edit and maintain the details of
  their RVs themselves via an online Content
  Management System
• All identified operators have been invited and
  are encouraged regularly to validate and maintain
  their RV details

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Research Vessel Directory

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Cruise Programmes database

• Information on planned cruises per Research
  Vessel and operator
• Compilation of information is coordinated by BODC
• Survey format with instructions have been defined
  and have been distributed to operators (ISOM,
  UNOLS, JAMSTEC, NODCs, ..) for collecting their
  cruise programmes as Excel sheets
• Versatile user interface launched in March 2007,
  developed by MARIS
• Response by operators must be improved operators
  return incomplete forms which need extra work by
  BODC before these can be loaded into the database
  

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Cruise Programmes database

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Cruise Summary Reports

• Details of completed cruises and providing a
  first level inventory of oceanographic
  measurements made and samples taken
• Based upon the ROSCOP (Report of Observations/
  Samples Collected by Oceanographic Programmes),
  conceived by IOC/IODE in the late 1960s. Revised
  in the 90s by ICES and since then named Cruise
  Summary Report (CSR).
• As part of the SeaDataNet project BSH has
  developed a database with online entry and
  retrieval facilities, focussing on European RVs.
  Present CSR database contains gt 35.000 CSRs
• For POGO-CoML work underway for including also
  non-European vessels and making a dedicated
  POGO-CoML retrieval interface. Will be
  operational end 2007.

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Cruise Summary Reports

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On-going activities

• Validation and maintenance by RV operators of the
  RV Directory coordinated by EurOcean extra
  efforts needed for the non-European vessels,
  because present info is taken over from Oceanic
  and not up-to-date difficulties in identifying
  operator contacts and uniq ICES shipcodes
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• Collecting and compiling of the Cruise Programme
  database coordinated by BODC in dialogue with the
  RV operators
• Development of online entry and maintenance
  facility for the Cruise Programme database by
  MARIS (end 2007) to support the process
• Launching a dedicated POGO-CoML user interface
  for the Cruise Summary Reports, coordinated by
  BSH (end 2007), and inviting also non-European
  institutes by their chief scientists to report on
  cruises using the online CSR entry facility

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EuroFleet proposal

• These POGO-CoML activities should be integrated
  into the EuroFleet proposal with an extension to
  all European Research Vessels of all lengths,
  thereby also looking at possible new useful
  functions
• POGO-CoML initiative is already embedded in the
  Pan-European SeaDataNet infrastructure therefore
  the integration and cooperation is easy to
  achieve, moreover because SeaDataNet is already
  functioning as data management infrastructure for
  the European RV activities