Data Management Plan
GUID: gov.noaa.nmfs.inport:25298 | Published / External
Data Management Plan
DMP Template v2.0.1 (2015-01-01)
Please provide the following information, and submit to the NOAA DM Plan Repository.Reference to Master DM Plan (if applicable)
As stated in Section IV, Requirement 1.3, DM Plans may be hierarchical. If this DM Plan inherits provisions from a higher-level DM Plan already submitted to the Repository, then this more-specific Plan only needs to provide information that differs from what was provided in the Master DM Plan.
1. General Description of Data to be Managed
The geospatial, temperature and depth data included in this dataset are from towed-diver surveys (also referred to as towboard surveys) of coral reef ecosystems conducted during Pacific Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program (RAMP) cruises to the Hawaiian and Mariana Archipelagos, American Samoa, and the Pacific Remote Island Areas from 2000 to 2017 by the Ecosystem Sciences Division (formerly known as the Coral Reef Ecosystem Division) at the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC).
Generally, the towed-diver survey method involved towing a pair of SCUBA divers—one benthic and one fish—behind a small boat for 50 minutes, approximately following the ~15-m depth contour and covering a linear distance of about 2-3 kilometers per survey. A complete 50-minute towed-diver survey is divided into ten 5-minute segments, and up to 6 towed-diver surveys are conducted per day.
Each diver was equipped with a towboard outfitted with instrumentation and used to record observations, and the divers attempted to maintain position ~1 meter above the surface of the reef for the duration of the survey. Both towboards were equipped with a SeaBird™ SBE39 temperature/depth sensor that recorded water temperature and depth every 5 seconds. The survey tracks were also recorded every 5 seconds using a GPS receiver located on the small boat. The survey tracks were georeferenced and a script was applied to adjust the GPS waypoints from the boat's position to the estimated positions of the divers while conducting the surveys, correlate the associated temperature and depth data, and lace the waypoints together into 5-min segments and tow tracks. The dataset includes the adjusted dive points, and the segments and tow tracks are provided as shapefiles.
Notes: Only a maximum of 4000 characters will be included.
Notes: Data collection is considered ongoing if a time frame of type "Continuous" exists.
Notes: All time frames from all extent groups are included.
Mariana Archipelago including Guam, Rota, Tinian, Aguijan, Saipan, Sarigan, Guguan, Alamagan, Pagan, Agrihan, Asuncion, Maug, Supply Reef, Farallon de Pajaros, Anatahan, Arakane, Pathfinder, Santa Rosa, Stingray, and Tatsumi.
W: -160.54519, E: -154.80475, N: 22.23715287, S: 18.90733Main Hawaiian Islands (MHI), including Hawaii, Kauai, Kaula, Lanai, Lehua, Maui, Molokai, Molokini, Niihau, and Oahu.
W: -178.3859, E: -161.91425, N: 28.45932075, S: 23.0554Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI), including French Frigate, Gardner, Kure, Laysan, Lisianski, Maro, Midway, Necker, Nihoa, Pearl & Hermes, and Raita
W: -171.09329, E: -168.13673, N: -11.0449, S: -14.91070487American Samoa including Tutuila, Manu'a (Ofo, Olosega, and Ta'u), Rose Atoll, South Bank, and Swains.
W: 166.59343751, E: -159.97139278, N: 19.32654, S: -0.38306238Pacific Remote Island Areas, including the Phoenix (Baker and Howland), Line (Jarvis, Kingman, and Palmyra), and Wake Islands , and Johnston Atoll.
Notes: All geographic areas from all extent groups are included.
(e.g., digital numeric data, imagery, photographs, video, audio, database, tabular data, etc.)
(e.g., satellite, airplane, unmanned aerial system, radar, weather station, moored buoy, research vessel, autonomous underwater vehicle, animal tagging, manual surveys, enforcement activities, numerical model, etc.)
Platform(s): In Situ Ocean-based Platforms > SHIPS
2. Point of Contact for this Data Management Plan (author or maintainer)
Notes: The name of the Person of the most recent Support Role of type "Metadata Contact" is used. The support role must be in effect.
Notes: The name of the Organization of the most recent Support Role of type "Metadata Contact" is used. This field is required if applicable.
3. Responsible Party for Data Management
Program Managers, or their designee, shall be responsible for assuring the proper management of the data produced by their Program. Please indicate the responsible party below.
Notes: The name of the Person of the most recent Support Role of type "Data Steward" is used. The support role must be in effect.
4. Resources
Programs must identify resources within their own budget for managing the data they produce.
5. Data Lineage and Quality
NOAA has issued Information Quality Guidelines for ensuring and maximizing the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of information which it disseminates.
(describe or provide URL of description):
Lineage Statement:
Methodology to process the geospatial data (GPS points) from towed-diver surveys, including the associated SBE39 temperature and depth data, to generate the resulting files/shapefiles (Dive Points, Segments, and Tows). The geospatial data are processed using a layback script written in Python that uses various GIS functions to estimate the position of the diver.
Process Steps:
- During towed-diver surveys, a pair of divers was towed approximately 60 m behind a small boat, with 1 diver tasked with benthic data collection and 1 diver tasked with data collection on large fishes (>50 cm in total length). Each diver made observations over a visually estimated 10-m swath (5 m out on each side of their respective tow lines, which act as transect lines). Towed at typical speeds of 0.5-1.3 m s-1 (1-2.5 knots), divers attempted to maintain their position ~1 m above the seafloor. Divers recorded observations every 5 minutes over a survey segment length of ~200 m, summarizing the benthic composition, ecologically and economically important fishes, and macroinvertebrates encountered throughout each survey segment. Each survey takes 50 minutes and includes a total of 10 segments, although the actual time and length of surveys occasionally varied depending on environmental conditions and diving or logistical constraints. Four to six surveys were generally completed during each field day. To georeference all data collected during towed-diver surveys, a GPS receiver located on the small boat was programmed to record every 5 seconds. The towed-diver platforms, or towboards, used by the divers were constructed of StarBoard (King Plastic Corp., North Port, Fla.) marine polymer sheets ~100 cm x 50 cm x 2 cm. Each tow board was outfitted with an SBE 39 temperature and pressure (depth) recorder set to record at 5 second intervals. All timing devices were set to Greenwich Mean Time and synchronized each morning using the calibrated clock on the research vessel. (Citation: Lino K, Asher J, Ferguson M, Gray A, McCoy K, Timmers M, Vargas-Ãngel B (2018) Ecosystem Sciences Division standard operating procedures: data collection for towed-diver benthic and fish surveys. Pacific Islands Fish. Sci. Cent., Natl. Mar. Fish. Serv., NOAA, Honolulu, HI 96818-5007. Pacific Islands Fish. Sci. Cent. Admin. Rep. H-18-02, 76 p. https://doi.org/10.25923/59sb-sy51)
- Following each day of field operations for towed-diver surveys, the GPS waypoints collected from the GPS receiver, and the temperature and depth data from the SBE39s were downloaded in text and ascii formats, respectively. A metadata file was generated in notepad listing the local time zone difference from UTC, and the start and end time (in local time) of each tow. A custom built Python script (Python Software Foundation, Wolfeboro Falls, NH) run in an ArcGIS environment was used for processing these waypoints and the corresponding depth and temperature data. This data processing generated 4 standard shapefiles: GPS points, DIVE points, SEGMENTS and TOWS. GPS points represent the raw, uncorrelated, GPS waypoints and were used to generate the other three shapefiles. The Python script: 1) clipped the GPS track points to the survey extent (based on start and stop waypoints for the towed-diver survey), 2) re-positioned the GPS track points to the divers’ location (based on the track, speed, and course of the boat and the divers’ depths), 3) imported the corresponding SBE39 temperature and depth data using the metadata time stamps, and 4) added two unique serial numbers. The serial numbers include DIVE ID that represents the date of the 50-minute tow survey (YYYYMMDD) plus the single-digit tow number for the day (1-6), and SEGMENT ID that represents DIVE ID plus the 2-digit segment (01-10) within the tow (e.g., the DIVE ID for the first towed-diver survey on May 16, 2007 is 200705161, and the SEGMENT ID for segment #5 of during the first survey of the day is 20070516105). A 50-minute towed-diver survey typically includes ten 5-minute segments/observations. (Citation: Lino K, Asher J, Ferguson M, Gray A, McCoy K, Timmers M, Vargas-Ãngel B (2018) Ecosystem Sciences Division standard operating procedures: data collection for towed-diver benthic and fish surveys. Pacific Islands Fish. Sci. Cent., Natl. Mar. Fish. Serv., NOAA, Honolulu, HI 96818-5007. Pacific Islands Fish. Sci. Cent. Admin. Rep. H-18-02, 76 p. https://doi.org/10.25923/59sb-sy51)
- The DIVE points file results from these initial post-processing steps, and includes 1) the adjusted LATITUDE and LONGITUDE, 2) the temperature and depth data recorded from the benthic and fish SBE39s, 3) the mean temperature and mean depth of the combined benthic and fish SBE39 data, and 4) the two serial numbers (DIVE ID and SEGMENT ID). The DIVE points are then laced together and 1) grouped by SEGMENT ID to generate the SEGMENTS polyline shapefile, and 2) grouped by DIVE ID to generate the TOWS polyline shapefile. These serial numbers are the link between the geospatial data described here (SEGMENTS and TOWS) and the fish or benthic observation data (i.e., the observation data is mapped to specific geographic locations, or georeferenced). The mean benthic and fish temperature and depths provided in the SEGMENTS and the TOWS shapefiles are both calculated from the benthic and fish temperature and depths in the DIVE points file, and the standard deviations for the means are also provided. (Citation: Lino K, Asher J, Ferguson M, Gray A, McCoy K, Timmers M, Vargas-Ãngel B (2018) Ecosystem Sciences Division standard operating procedures: data collection for towed-diver benthic and fish surveys. Pacific Islands Fish. Sci. Cent., Natl. Mar. Fish. Serv., NOAA, Honolulu, HI 96818-5007. Pacific Islands Fish. Sci. Cent. Admin. Rep. H-18-02, 76 p. https://doi.org/10.25923/59sb-sy51)
- Upon return from each cruse, a GIS analyst reviewed the output files, flagged any anomalies, and made corrections, when possible, based on the available information from the physical data sheet. The data was then migrated to the Oracle database. (Citation: Lino K, Asher J, Ferguson M, Gray A, McCoy K, Timmers M, Vargas-Ãngel B (2018) Ecosystem Sciences Division standard operating procedures: data collection for towed-diver benthic and fish surveys. Pacific Islands Fish. Sci. Cent., Natl. Mar. Fish. Serv., NOAA, Honolulu, HI 96818-5007. Pacific Islands Fish. Sci. Cent. Admin. Rep. H-18-02, 76 p. https://doi.org/10.25923/59sb-sy51)
(describe or provide URL of description):
A GIS analyst reviews the tow tracks and waypoints to flag any anomalies and, if possible, makes corrections based on the available information from the physical data sheet. The data is then migrated to the Oracle database.
6. Data Documentation
The EDMC Data Documentation Procedural Directive requires that NOAA data be well documented, specifies the use of ISO 19115 and related standards for documentation of new data, and provides links to resources and tools for metadata creation and validation.
(describe or provide URL of description):
7. Data Access
NAO 212-15 states that access to environmental data may only be restricted when distribution is explicitly limited by law, regulation, policy (such as those applicable to personally identifiable information or protected critical infrastructure information or proprietary trade information) or by security requirements. The EDMC Data Access Procedural Directive contains specific guidance, recommends the use of open-standard, interoperable, non-proprietary web services, provides information about resources and tools to enable data access, and includes a Waiver to be submitted to justify any approach other than full, unrestricted public access.
None
Notes: The name of the Organization of the most recent Support Role of type "Distributor" is used. The support role must be in effect. This information is not required if an approved access waiver exists for this data.
Notes: This field is required if a Distributor has not been specified.
https://accession.nodc.noaa.gov/0189889
https://accession.nodc.noaa.gov/0189889
https://accession.nodc.noaa.gov/0189889
Notes: All URLs listed in the Distribution Info section will be included. This field is required if applicable.
Data can be accessed online via the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Ocean Archive.
Notes: This field is required if applicable.
8. Data Preservation and Protection
The NOAA Procedure for Scientific Records Appraisal and Archive Approval describes how to identify, appraise and decide what scientific records are to be preserved in a NOAA archive.
(Specify NCEI-MD, NCEI-CO, NCEI-NC, NCEI-MS, World Data Center (WDC) facility, Other, To Be Determined, Unable to Archive, or No Archiving Intended)
Notes: This field is required if archive location is World Data Center or Other.
Notes: This field is required if archive location is To Be Determined, Unable to Archive, or No Archiving Intended.
Notes: Physical Location Organization, City and State are required, or a Location Description is required.
Discuss data back-up, disaster recovery/contingency planning, and off-site data storage relevant to the data collection
The data is captured in several locations: output files from the instruments, MS Access cruise database, and PIFSC Oracle database. The output files and MS Access cruise database reside on the cruise server and regularly backed up by the cruise data manager while at sea. The PIFSC Oracle database is regularly backed up by PIFSC ITS.
9. Additional Line Office or Staff Office Questions
Line and Staff Offices may extend this template by inserting additional questions in this section.