first progress report
This report gives and overview of the activities undertaken during the first two months of the project (4th of June – 3rd of August).
first progress report
This report gives and overview of the activities undertaken during the first two months of the project (4th of June – 3rd of August).
This period was mainly devoted to the project start-up. Two meetings were held, the first EMODNET General Assembly, organised by EU in Brussels, and the Chemical lot kick-off meeting, organised in Trieste the 2nd and 3rd of July. The last one was attended by the Coordination Group; the report of the meeting and the Action list produced if given below.
According to the project planning of activities, the WP2 and WP3 tasks are supposed to start during the first two months of the project. As a result, the proposal for Metadata and Data Collection Methodology for EMODNET Chemical lot was prepared by the WP2 leader (NERI-MAR) and was reviewed by the partners. It gives the general description on the activities to undertake for executing WP2 tasks and the related deadlines.
In addition, the proposal for Parameter Selection for EMODNET Chemical Lot was prepared by WP3 leader (ICES). It includes the table describing the most relevant parameters in relation to the selection criteria.
Finally, the Excel file with the Data Inventory was revised and updated by the partners. Two new columns were added, to fill in with the Regional Convention (OSPAR / HELCOM / Barcelona / Black Sea) and/or EEA, if data are reported.
Second progress report
This report gives and overview of the activities undertaken during the two months of the project (4th of August – 3rd of October).
This period was mainly devoted to set-up the project activities. The Coordination Group participated to the SeaDataNet Technical Task Team meeting, organised by Ifremer in Antibes the 3rd and 4th of September. One session was dedicated to introduce the project activity, and the following points were added to the agenda:
- Short overview of on-going EMODNET pilots - by Alessandra Giorgetti
- Adoption of SeaDataNet V1 for Chemical Lot – data collection – proposal by Anders Windelin; technical options – proposal by Dick Schaap; specification of pool databases – proposal by Neil Holdsworth.
SeaDataNet and EMODNET participants deeply and constructively discussed the technical solution for data and metadata collection and validation. The conclusions are reported in the Appendix and where circulated to all EMODNET partners to start up data collection.
In parallel, the proposal for Parameter Selection for EMODNET Chemical Lot was finalised and circulated as well.
All updating related to the Chemical lot activities and all documents produced are available on the web site http://nodc.ogs.trieste.it/nodc/projects/emodnet.
third progress report
This report gives and overview of the activities undertaken during the two months of the project (4th of October – 3rd of December).
This period was mainly devoted to start the data and metadata collection by partners, according to the instructions defined during the SeaDataNet Technical Task Team meeting and subsequently distributed to the partners (see Second Progress Report for the period August-September 2009). The work done, including the summary of data collected, has been presented to the progress meeting for ur-EMODNET preparatory actions, held in Brussels the 24th of November 2009. The PowerPoint presentation is attached.
In parallel, promotion to EMODNET activities has been done to EIONET workshop (5th of November 2009) and to ICAN workshop (16th of November 2009).
All presentations related to EMODNET activities and all documents produced are available on the web site http://nodc.ogs.trieste.it/nodc/projects/emodnet.
fourth progress report
This report gives and overview of the activities undertaken during the two months of the project ( 3rd of December 2009 - 4th of February 2010).
This period was mainly devoted to the negotiation of local data with the data originators and to start the mapping between the EMODNET parameters to the SDN standard vocabularies (the Parameter Discovery P021 covers all the 17 chemicals, started the work on Parameter Usage P011) according to the spreadsheet defined during the EMODNET coordination group of 24th November 2009 in Bruxelles. This in order to harmonize the EMODNET data flow to the SDN infrastructure.
During the 2nd Coordination Group meeting of 21st January 2010, the status of work done has been presented and we had an open discussion about the mapping done, the searching criteria through the BODC vocabularies, the measurement units included into P061 vocabulary, and new parameters to be added to the P021 vocabulary. A summary of the discussion is presented together with the document produced and circulated to all partners.
All presentations related to EMODNET activities and all documents produced are available on the web site http://nodc.ogs.trieste.it/nodc/projects/emodnet.
fifth progress report
The conclusions of the report were
The EMODnet Chemical pilot represent a great challenge. In fact:
- • It is undertaken by a large partnership, that on one side needs coordination but on the other side brings long-term expertise in collecting, processing, management and giving access to datasets and products;
- • The complexity of the measurements covering 8 groups (pesticides, antifoulants, pharmaceuticals, heavy metals , hydrocarbons, radionuclides, fertilisers, organic matter) on 3 matrices (sediment, water column and biota)
To face this last point, data collection was approached with a priority list to get a first release ready (as a proof of concepts).
Besides, the cooperation with EEA and Marine Conventions (OSPAR, HELCOM and BSC) is crucial for data assembling, products definition and QC/QA.
The main difficulties faced during the first year of activities are represented by:
- complexity of the measurements, which are related to different environment;
- heterogeneity of the sampling (coastal points in time), which makes it critical the use of DIVA standard interpolation.
Experts and potential users opinion is expected to define the final set of product from chemical data.
This first year of activities was dedicated to set up the system components (that is to say the regional pools, the SDN vocabs which were extended for chemical parameters mapping, the EMODnet portal core services – CDI, discovery, viewing).
The second year is planned to be focused on:
- Continuing with data population and products generation,
- Increase portal functionalities (in the viewing and harmonisation),
- Finalise QC/QA and ask expert opinions (with ICES support),
- Finalise products validation based on feedback from experts and potential users.
Sixth Progress Report
The Fourth EMODNET Chemical lot Coordination Group meeting was held at the StarHotels Savoia Excelsior Palace in Trieste (Italy), the 5th and 6th of July 2010. Participants were the Coordination Group members and a representative of the GHER group, referent for products publication on the EMODNET portal.
The first day was dedicated to recall the EMODNET Chemical lot results and the impact on the second year, to review the progress on data collection and products generation in the North Sea, in the Black Sea and in Mediterranean: results obtained, difficulties encountered and future steps (what do we have and what do we expect to produce).
The discussion was open while presenting the data availability and the connection between data sent to regional task leaders and the CDI’s sent to Maris (to be included in the CDI data discovery service). The need to synchronize data collected in the regional data pools with the CDI was underlined and the related actions were defined.
The analysis and evaluation objectives were presented, underlying the activities that will start. A questionnaire and other web consulting systems to gather information relevant for WP5 were presented by the WP leader (NERC-BODC) and discussed.
Finally, the conclusions from last Copenhagen ur-EMODNET meeting, with input from other lots and the connection with Marine Conventions and EEA were reported, including feedback from EMODNET group of experts (MODEG).
The second day opened with a brief presentation of the QC/QA Guidelines and Products and a open discussion on measurements in biota and sediments. The main focus will be the harmonization of data products in the Black Sea and the Greater North Sea, taking into consideration the procedures applied in the Mediterranean. A document will be produced. A general consensus was reached on data products generation in the three regions and the consequent work plan of activities for the second year (reported in the action list).
For the organization of the Expert group meeting for products presentation and validation, the Coordinator proposes to organise it in Venice, during the week 20-24 of September 2010. The partners present express their consensus and availability.
The afternoon closed with the review of the project work plan for the second year and the administrative issues, the partner payments, the final synthesis and the action plan.
Seventh progress report
This report gives and overview of the activities undertaken during two months of the project (4th of August – 3rd of October 2010).
This period was very busy, with the organization of the EMODNET Chemical Data Products Experts workshop, held in Venice the 20th – 21st of September 2010. Representatives from MODEG Chemicals (Çolpan Beken, TUBITAK and Gianna Casazza, APAT), DG MARE (Iain Shepherd), EEA (Trine Christiansen), OSPAR (Audrey Baconnais-rosez), HELCOM (Minna Pyhala), Bs-com (Volodymyr Myroshnychenko and Violeta Velikova), MED POL (Francesco Saverio Civili), UNEP-MAP (Jacqueline Alder or Maria Luisa Silva Mejias), IODE (Gwenaelle Moncoiffe, BODC), local agencies like CORILA (Pierpaolo Campostrini), ARPA FVG (Giorgio Mattassi, Italy), ISPRA (Cecilia Silvestri, Italy), EEA in Slovenia (Mojca Dobnikar Tehovnik, Slovenia) and all the EMODNET Coordination Group were invited to participate. Objectives of the meeting were to review and discuss EMODNET Chemical data and products availability, providing a general overview of data distribution per region (including spots); proposals how to move from data to products, what kind of products can be done with EMODNET Chemical data.
The workshop was very productive. We get interesting comments on the existing products and their documentation as well as on the merging of data obtained with different methodologies and on the possibilities to show the chemical data. The general conclusions from EMODNET Chemical Data Products Experts workshop were the following:
- Availability maps can be shown (with dots and related CDI metadata)
- Availability can also be shown by making an extra interface that gives a coloured matrix with sea regions at one axis and chemical parameters groups on the other axis. The colour indicates the intensity of CDI entries. Click on a cell and you go to the specific CDI query.
- Interpolated maps can be produced for parameters measured on a basin scale (mainly nutrients and organic matter, oxygen, possibly heavy metals but check the data distribution);
- For coastal points repeated in time, show station on a map and show time series with link to the method used for data collection.
At the end of the workshop, the 21st of September 2010 we organised the Fifth Coordination Group meeting, with the objective of review the conclusions from EMODNET Chemical Data Products Experts workshop and define the necessary next steps.
The conclusions of the meeting are summarised in the Action list, given in the following.
Besides, all partners continued with the data collection, the data formatting (including mapping with SDN standard vocabularies to harmonize the EMODNET data flow to the SDN infrastructure) for the production of ODV data files and CDI metadata files. In fact, during this period the regional task leader improved the first release of DIVA maps production to discuss it at the Experts workshop.
Eighth progress report
This report gives an overview of the activities undertaken during two months of the project (4th of December 2010 – 3rd of February 2011). For continuity with the previous report we summarise also the activities undertaken during the previous two months of the project ( 4th of October 2010 – 3rd of December 2010 ), when the second interim report has been produced.
This period was very active, mainly focused to the definition and development of the new data products as suggested during the EMODNET Chemical Data Products Experts workshop, held in Venice the 20th – 21st of September 2010. In fact, as general conclusion we were asked to:
- produce a summary with the availability of chemical parameters groups maps sea per regions (with information from CDI metadata);
- produce interpolated maps for parameters measured on a basin scale (mainly nutrients and organic matter, oxygen, possibly heavy metals but after checking the data distribution);
- produce time series for coastal points repeated in time. These plots are new for SeaDataNet community and need to be properly defined.
In parallel, data collection continued for all partners. In particular, additional chemical data of the Black Sea were prepared and released by IMS-METU and UkrSCES. The Turkish and Ukrainan institute were included as an associated partners to EMODNET Chemistry partnership.
Moreover, we organised the sixth coordination group meeting as a video conference the 15th of November 2011. Main topics discussed were linked to the incoming EU meeting in Brussels (29/11/2010):
- Progress on data harvesting and product generation (HCMR, NERI, MHI)
- Progress on technical development (GHER and MARIS)
- Finalizing discussion on the representation of station maps with points linked to time series plots, checking possibilities suggested by IFREMER and HCMR
- Two short questionnaires specifically on discovering, ordering and using data from the project and on the products derived from the data were developed by BODC and are available on line
(http://www.emodnet-chemistry.eu/portal/portal/emodnet/Feedback).
The results obtained in this third semester of the project, corresponding to the ‘Development phase’ , including the summary of data collected in the three regions, the demonstration of the Chemical portal, the overview of all available products and functionalities, the description of the difficulties encountered mainly linked to the complexity of the measurements related to different environments and to the heterogeneity of the sampling, has been presented to the third six-monthly progress meeting for ur-EMODNET preparatory actions, held in Brussels the 24th of November 2010.
Ninth Progress report
This report gives and overview of the activities undertaken during two months of the project (4th of February 2011 – 3rd of April 2011).
This period was very active, mainly focused to the development and operation of the new data products as suggested during the EMODNET Chemical Data Products Experts workshop, held in Venice the 20th – 21st of September 2010. In fact, to answer to the Experts workshop conclusion, we developed the following elements:
- a matrix of Variables vs Marine Regions was defined with the EMODNET Chemical CDI metadata and made available under the section Metadata & Data;
- a prototype of time series linked to a station map is made available in the EMODNET Chemistry Data Products Viewing and Downloading Service by Gher and IFREMER as WMS Server.
These elements and all the last projects implementations were presented at the EMODNET Chemistry Second year plenary meeting, held in Ispra the 31 March - 1 April 2011. The conclusions of the meeting, as summarised in the Action list, are given in the following. The meeting agenda, all partners presentations and action list are available on the EMODNET portal under the section Meetings.
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