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MEDATLAS 2002: database and data management

system for the long term monitoring of Mediterranean

and Black seas

EC-MAST Concerted Action (MAS3-CT98-0174/ERBIC20-CT98-0103)

37th CIESM CONGRESS (Barcelona, 7-11 June 2004)

C. MAILLARD, E. BALOPOULOS, N. MIKHAILOV, M. FICHAUT, G. MAUDIRE, M-J. GARCIA, B. MANCA, A. SUVOROV, A. GIORGETTI, A. IONA, M. RIXEN and MEDAR Group

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MEDAR GROUPMEDAR GROUP

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Background and ObjectivesBackground and ObjectivesLong term monitoring requires long time series of marine observations, especially vertical profiles of temperature, salinity and bio-chemicals which represent basic environmental parametersLong time series of data are also necessary to compute statistics that will be used to qualify new dataSuch data are collected by scientific teams of many countries, but in most cases they remain dispersed in heterogeneous formats and systems. Their access is difficult, and due the lack of appropriate archiving, they are frequently in danger to be lost.Under the frame of the GODAR (Global Ocean Data Archaeology and rescue) and following two pilot projects MODB and MEDATLAS I, the EU regional sconcerted action MEDAR/MEDATLAS-II (MAS3-CT98-0174 & ERBIC20-CT98-0103), was launched in 1998 with the overall objective to make available a comprehensive data product of multi-disciplinary in-situ data and information in the Mediterranean and Black Sea, through a wide co-operation of the bordering countries.

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CD-ROM 4: climatology Black Sea + E-Mediterranean

CD-ROM 3: ClimatologyGlobal + W-Mediterranean

Result : a database on Result : a database on A set of 4 CD-ROMs

CD-ROM 2: DatabaseObserved data + SELMED interface for extraction (according to various criteria), interpolation and visualization - export formats: MEDATLAS, CSV or ODV.

CD-ROM 1: Documentation on the project and its resultsCruise inventorySoftware

QCmedarODV

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DATA BASE CONTENTDATA BASE CONTENT(Observed PARAMETERS)

Parameter Nb of Profiles

Parameter Nb of Profiles

Temperature

284 371 Nitrite 10 508

Salinity 118 009 Ammonium 5 239

Oxygen 44 928 Chlorophyll 4 672

Phosphate 20 761 Alkalinity 2 548

Silicate 15 920 Total Phosphorus

2 381

PH 14 512 H2S 1 843

Nitrate 10 572 Total Nitrogen

153

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DATA BASE CONTENTDATA BASE CONTENT(DATA TYPE)

Data type Nb of Profiles in MEDATLAS 2002

(MEDATLAS 1997)

MBT, XBT Thermistor

chains

161 877(156 503)

CTD 35 679(15 778)

Bottle Casts 88 323(33 977)

Oldest data set: 1889

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TEMPERATURETEMPERATURE

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SALINITYSALINITY

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DISSOLVED OXYGENDISSOLVED OXYGEN

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PHOSPHATEPHOSPHATE

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CHLOROPHYLLCHLOROPHYLL

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QUALITY CHECKSQCO : Automatic check of the formatQC1 : Automatic and visual check of the headers QC2 : Automatic and visual check of the data points

a quality flag to each numerical value (GTSPP flag scale)

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DATA QUALITYDATA QUALITY

GOOD FALSEDOUBTFULOUT OF STATISTICS NO QC

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CLIMATOLOGY: Methodology

Computation of Climatological Analysis by Variational Inverse Model (VIM) algorithms

Computation made on finite elements and then re-interpolated on a regular grid (0.2 degrees in Latitude and Longitude), with smaller scales for local computations

T, S and bio-chemical climatology reviewed by regional experts and modellers

http://modb.oce.ulg.ac.be/Medar

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CLIMATOLOGY - CLIMATOLOGY - ResultsResultsSelected numerical fields depending on data availability:

Annual , seasonal and monthly climatology Temperature, Salinity

Annual and seasonalOxygen, Silicate, Phosphate Hydrogen sulphide (H2S) in the Black Sea

Annual onlyNitrate, Nitrite, pH, Ammonium, Alkalinity, Chlorophyll

No climatologyTotal Phosphorus, Total Nitrogen

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CLIMATOLOGY – CLIMATOLOGY – ResultsResults2500 horizontal maps, vertical sections and stations

location SOME EXAMPLESSOME EXAMPLES

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SALINITY at 10m SALINITY at 10m DepthDepth

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VERTICAL SECTIONSVERTICAL SECTIONS and surface zoom

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Conclusion 1: Present Conclusion 1: Present ServicesServices

MEDAR network disseminate MEDATLAS 2002, presently the best available integrated data base for the Mediterranean & BLack Seas. It provides also further data services:Extraction and distribution of regional or thematics subsets, to answer specific requests, Implementation of the common protocols and practices for data formatting and checking for quality,Additional services at the national levels: continuous compilation, quality checking with feedback to source scientists, perennial archiving and dissemination of new data.

Visit our distributed web site: www.ifremer.fr/medar

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Conclusion 2: Further needs to Further needs to meetmeetDirect internet access to the more complete available data sets :

historical data + data released in recent projects including real time data - Use of up-to-date communication technology for data disseminationIncrease in quantity and quality the data and products availability such as estimates of the mean, decadal, seasonal, monthly statistics at basin, regional and shelf scales – requires a large quantity of data of good qualityImprove and document the QC standards and protocols, especially for bio-chemicals and productsIncrease efficiency through enhanced international cooperation & capacity building activities - requires more portable software, meetings and training coursesIncrease of the public awareness on the data heritage

New concerted actions in preparation: SEA-DATANET

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