Information Management Manual

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I. INTRODUCTION
Information Management Challenges

II. APPROACH TO INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
Role of Information Management Committee

III. STANDARDIZED DATA TRANSFER PROTOCOLS
Relational Model Structure

Figure III-1. Coastal Ecology table structure.
Figure III-2. Shoreline Microbiology table structure.
Figure III-3. Water Quality table structure.

IV. DATA FLOW AND QUALITY ASSURANCE
Data Entry Templates
Data storage

Table IV-I. ASCII submission protocols
Table IV-1. Data change request form

V. DATA ACCESS
Metadata

Data Type

APPENDIX A. TABLE STRUCTURES
A. Coastal Ecology tables

Station Table
Station Occupation
Grab Event
Infaunal Abundance
Infaunal Biomass
Sediment Toxicity Data
Sediment Toxicity Test
Sediment Toxicity Water Quality
Biomarker and Comet Field Data
Biomarker and Comet Lab Data
Trawl Event
Trawl Fish Abundance
Trawl Fish Biomass
Trawl Invertebrates Abundance
Trawl Invertebrates Biomass
Trawl Debris Data
Whole Fish Composites
Chemistry

B. Microbiology Tables

Microbiology Stations
Microbiology Station Occupation
Microbiology Results

C. Water Quality Tables

Water Quality Stations
Water Quality Station Occupation
Water Quality Cast Data
Water Quality Discrete Water Samples Table

APPENDIX B. LOOK UP TABLES
List 1. Agency Codes
List 2. Analysis Type Copes
List 3. Has been deleted.
List 4. Sample Codes
List 5. Sampling Equipment
List 6. Sediment Composition Codes
List 7. Sediment Odor Codes
List 8. Weather Codes
List 9. Failure Codes
List 10. Species List
List 11. Benthic Species Groups
List 12. Fish Tissue Codes
List 13. Qualifier Codes
List 14. Debris Types
List 15. Debris Abundance Codes
List 16. Debris Weight Estimates
List 17. Fish Bioaccumulation Test Material
List 18. Chemical Parameter Codes
List 19. QA Codes
List 20. Sediment Toxicity Species
List 21. Sediment Toxicity Protocol
List 22. Sediment Toxicity Matrix
List 23. Sediment Toxicity End Point
List 24. Sediment Toxicity Water Quality
List 25. Toxicity Test Acceptability Codes
List 26. Sediment Colors
List 27. Biomarker Fish Maturity Codes
List 28. Biomarker Analysis Methods
List 29. Biomarker Parameters
List 30. Biomarker Units
List 31. Fish Anomaly Codes
List 32. Invertebrate Anomaly Codes
List 33. Chemistry Analysis Method Codes
List 34. Chemistry Preparation Codes
List 35. Microbiology Method Codes
List 36. Microbiology Parameters
List 37. Microbiology Sample Types
List 38. Microbiology Surf Conditions
List 39. Microbiology Sea State
List 40. Microbiology Units

The Southern California Bight (SCB), an open embayment in the coast between Point Conception and Cabo Colnett (south of Ensenada), Baja California, is an important ecological and recreational resource. The SCB has a complex topography, with offshore islands, submarine canyons, ridges and basins, that provide a variety of habitats for more than 500 species of fish and 1,500 species of invertebrates. World renowned for its recreational waters, more than 100 million people visit Southern California beaches and coastal areas annually to sunbathe, surf, swim, skin- and SCUBA-dive.

Southern California is also one of the most densely populated coastal regions in the country, which creates stress upon these resources. Nearly 20 million people inhabit coastal Southern California, a number that is expected to increase another 20% by 2010 (NRC 1990). Population growth generally results in conversion of open land into non-permeable surfaces. This "hardening of the coast" increases the rate of runoff and can impact water quality through addition of sediment, toxic chemicals, microbial pathogens and nutrients to the ocean. Besides the impacts of land conversion, the SCB is home to fifteen municipal wastewater treatment facilities, eight power generating stations, 10 industrial treatment facilities, and 18 oil platforms that discharge to the open coast.

Each year, local, state, and federal agencies spend in excess of $10M to monitor the environmental quality of the SCB. Most of this monitoring is associated with National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits and is intended to assess compliance of waste discharge with the California Ocean Plan and the Federal Clean Water Act, which set water quality standards for effluent and receiving waters. While these monitoring programs have provided important information, they were designed to evaluate impacts near individual discharges. Today, resource managers are being encouraged to develop management strategies for the entire SCB. To accomplish this task, they need regionally-based information to assess cumulative impacts of contaminant inputs and to evaluate relative risk among different types of stresses. It is difficult to use existing data to evaluate regional issues because the monitoring was designed to be site-specific and is limited to specific geographic areas. The monitoring provides substantial data for some areas, but there is little or no data for the areas in between. Beyond the spatial limitations, data from these programs are not easily merged to examine relative risk. The parameters measured often differ among programs. Even when the same parameters are measured, the methodologies used to collect the data often differ and interlaboratory quality assurance (QA) exercises to assess data comparability are rare.

To begin addressing these concerns, twelve agencies joined in a cooperative sampling effort in 1994, called the Southern California Bight Pilot Project (SCBPP). The SCBPP involved sampling 261 sites, using common methods, along the continental shelf between Point Conception and the United States/Mexico border. Assessments were made of water quality, sediment contamination, the status of biological resources and species diversity, and the presence of marine debris. The SCBPP provided a much-needed first "snapshot" of the state of the SCB.

The proposed Southern California Bight 1998 Regional Monitoring Project (Bight'98) is a continuation of the successful cooperative regional-scale monitoring begun in southern California in 1994 during the SCBPP. Bight'98 expands on the 1994 survey by including more participants, sampling more habitats, and measuring more parameters. Fifty-five organizations, including international and volunteer organizations, have agreed to participate (Table I-1).

Information Management Challenges

The inclusion of new participants in cooperative regional monitoring provides several benefits, but it also provides additional challenges, one of which is information management. Bight'98 involves the simultaneous sampling of a wide range of biological, chemical and physical parameters by many project participants. Each organization will use its own equipment to collect and analyze the samples (using standardized methods), and most will use their own information management systems to record, process and report the data they collect. A cooperative information management system is necessary to meet the goal of sharing data among participants in order to conduct a regional assessment.

Information management within Bight'98 must occur on several levels. First, a process must be developed to ensure the quality, compatibility, and timeliness of the data each organization collects. Once the information has been collected and organized, it must be readily available to the project scientists for review, analysis and interpretation. Eventually this information will be made available to other interested organizations and the general public. Perhaps most important, the information collected during Bight'98 must persist in a usable form for future analyses of the long-term, broad-scale processes occurring in the Bight.

This document describes the information management system (IMS) that will support Bight'98. The document focuses on four major functions of the Bight'98 IMS:

· The standard protocols each participating agency will use to transfer the measurement and supporting data from their IMS to the Bight'98 IMS.

· The process by which data will be submitted to the Bight'98 data manager (SCCWRP), including the path and quality control procedures the data will follow until it has been accepted.

· The technical specification of how the data will be organized in the Bight'98 database.

· The milestones and mechanisms by which the data in the Bight'98 database will be made accessible to project participants, other organizations, and the general public.

Additional details about Bight'98 are available in work plans that describe the technical aspects of the three study components: 1) Coastal ecology, 2) Shoreline microbiology, and 3) Water quality. The Coastal Ecology component is also supported by companion documents detailing Field Methods and Logistics, Quality Assurance (QA), Benthic Laboratory Procedures.

The Information Management System (IMS) has several purposes, the primary of which is to provide a mechanism for sharing of data collected within a single project (Bight'98) among project participants; data sharing is required if the Bight'98 goal of producing an integrated regional assessment of the condition of southern California's coastal waters is to be achieved. While this is the primary focus, the IMS has been developed in recognition that Bight'98 represents an unprecedented level of data standardization among the many monitoring organizations in the SCB and there is a possibility that the protocols adopted here may be later used for other purposes or future regional surveys. Thus, the system was designed to be flexible to future adaptation. In addition, while the system was constructed primarily to serve the project scientists, the system was also designed in recognition that the data produced will provide a significant baseline for comparing future conditions in the SCB. Therefore, the IMS needs to include a mechanism for transmitting data to non-project scientists and the interested public.

The Bight'98 IMS will be based on a centralized data storage system. A centralized system was selected because Bight'98 is an integrated project and the typical data user will be interested in obtaining the whole data set (or large parts thereof ), rather than the smaller units of data (individual parameters, subset of the geographic range) that would reside at individual participating laboratories. The centralized system was selected over the alternative of a distributed system linked through a series of FTP sites because of an inconsistent level of computer and internet sophistication among the participating organizations, plus the difficulty of maintaining a linked-distributed system over an extended number of years.

Standardized data transfer protocols (SDTP) will be used for inputting data into the centralized data storage system (Appendix A). SDTP detail the information to be submitted with each sample collection or processing element, the units and allowable values for each parameter, and the order in which that information will be submitted. They are necessary to ensure that data submitted by the many participants are comparable and easily merged, without significant effort or assumptions by the organization responsible for maintaining the centralized data system. Use of SDTP allows each participating organization to retain their existing data management system, yet output the data in a format that allows sharing among organizations.

Role of Information Management Committee

The IMS was developed and will be administered by the Information Management Committee (IMC; Table II-1), which is one of eight technical committees supporting the Bight'98 Steering Committee. Membership on the IMC is open to all Bight'98 participating organizations through appointment by a Steering Committee member (Table II-2). Open membership is intended to provide a framework of communication and consensus. The IMC makes recommendations and presents draft documents to the Steering Committee. The Steering Committee is responsible for assessing whether these recommendations and documents are consistent with the project objectives, and for assessing whether the costs of the recommendations are consistent with the resources available for conducting the project.

The IMC will implement its activities primarily through an Information Management Officer (IMO), who will also serve as the chairperson of the Committee. The IMO will be responsible for checking data as it is submitted, concatenating data from participating organizations, and serving as the focal point for data distribution. Larry Cooper of the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project (SCCWRP) will serve as the IMO at the project's outset and the data base will be housed at SCCWRP.

The SDTP used in Bight'98 represent an extension of the formats developed for the SCBPP and in previous efforts by the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Program. The number of SDTP were expanded for Bight'98 to incorporate new data types, such as those collected in the Shoreline Microbiology survey. Existing protocols were modified to add parameter fields that scientists felt were necessary (e.g. latitude and longitude for every sampling event, rather than a single latitude/longitude for the site) and to delete fields that were found to be superfluous or repetitive.

The SDTP were constructed to capture data at the level of individual replicate, rather than in a summarized format. This level was selected because the primary clients for the data are the project scientists, who need individual replicate information in order to conduct statistical analyses. In some cases, data summarization is desirable to achieve inter-laboratory comparability. For instance, sediment grain size analysis will be conducted by laser technology that provides approximately 100 different size fractions, but the number of size fractions differs among machines; the project scientists recommended that the raw data be summarized into 40 size categories that allow comparison among machine outputs. All decisions about data summarization were made by project scientists through the project's Technical Committees, rather than by information managers. When the SDTP call for summarized data, the original data will be archived in machine output format by each participating laboratory.

The SDTP include fields for summary quality assurance (QA) information, though routine laboratory QA procedure data (e.g. blanks, spikes) will be retained at the individual laboratory. Our objective in selecting which QA data to carry within the IMS was to provide the user enough information to evaluate the data.

The SDTP also include fields for sampling design information, which will be populated by the project designers, rather than by the field or laboratory crews. A stratified random sampling design was used to select sample sites for the Coastal Ecology and Shoreline Microbiology components of Bight'98; this means that the data are not equally weighted in their contribution to an overall project mean. The inclusion probability for each sample type at each sample site will be included to ensure that samples are properly weighted in data analysis.

Relational Model Structure

The IMS is based on a relational structure in which 25 data tables (Appendix A), each containing different types of data, are linked by one or more common fields. Use of multiple data tables allows data created at different times (e.g., lab vs. field data) to be entered at the time of data production, minimizing the possibility of data loss. Linking tables that contain data recorded at different frequencies also minimizes redundant data entry.

The relational structure is based on a four-level model. The first level is a station table, which contains a single data record for each site that is sampled in the survey. The table includes station descriptors, such as latitude, longitude and landmarks, that can be used to locate the site, as well as sample design information, such as sampling strata and inclusion probability.

The second level is the station occupation table, which contains a record for each visit to a sampling site. This level includes data describing sampling date, time, and environment descriptors such as weather and sea state. The station occupation table is linked to the station table by a StationID field.

The third level is the sampling event table, which contains a record for each sampling activity during a visit to a site. This level exists only within the Coastal Ecology portion of Bight'98, in which multiple trawls or benthic grabs may be conducted on a site visit. This level is used to record information about each of these events (e.g. trawl duration, observations about sediment type in the grab). For the Shoreline Microbiology and Water Quality components, event information is merged into the station occupation level because each visit to a site involves a single sampling event.

The fourth level includes a series of results tables, which contain a record for every laboratory result. There are multiple results tables corresponding to the different types of laboratory analyses. The results tables are linked to the sampling events tables by StationID and Date.

While the same basic structure is used across all three of the Bight'98 project components (Coastal Ecology, Shoreline Microbiology, and Water Quality), each component will have their own relational structure. The three project components are treated separately because each contains data of different types and is based on its own sampling design. Each component has a unique geographical set of sampling stations and the Water Quality component has a distinct temporal schedule, offset by several months from the others.

show the table structure for each of the three components. The station table is shown Figures III-1 through III-3at the highest level, while the lower levels appear as "children" of the "parent" levels. While the relational model is not truly hierarchical, as chemistry data and fish chemistry data can be linked directly, a hierarchical model is presented to illustrate relationships between the tables.

Appendix A of this document contains the particulars of the standard table formats. Each table structure is defined in terms of field name, field order, and field data type. There is also additional description of the intent of each table and a definition of a record in that table. Appendix B contains the values for each of the constrained lists where specified in the table structures. There are 18 tables in the Coastal Ecology component, three in the Microbiology component, and four in the Water Quality component.

Each field crew or laboratory generating data will initially enter it into their own data management system and subject it to their internal QA/QC procedures. Recommended QA will include double entry of data and range checks. Data will next be reformatted following the SDTP and submitted to the Information Management Officer in comma-delimited, ASCII format. Submission protocols are detailed in Table IV-1.

Standardized data files will be submitted to the IMO by diskette, e-mail, or FTP. Each file will be named using the conventions described in Appendix A. Each submitting agency will retain a copy of each ASCII file it submits as a back-up at least until the central database is declared complete by the IMO.

Upon receipt, the IMO will update a data submission log to document the data received from each submitting agency. The IMO will then create a temporary data table and initiate a series of error checks to ensure the data: 1) are within specified ranges appropriate to each parameter measured, 2) contain all required fields, 3) have encoded valid values from constrained look-up lists where specified, and 4) are in correct format (text in text fields, values in numeric fields, etc.).

If the data emerge from the error check routine with no errors or suspected outliers, the IMO will append the temporary table to the appropriate table for that data type. If there are only a few, easily correctable errors, the IMO will make the changes, with the consent of the submitting agency, and send a list documenting the changes back to the submitting agency. If there are numerous errors or the corrections are difficult to implement, the IMO will send the data file back to the submitting agency with a list of necessary corrections. The submitting agency will make the corrections and resubmit the file within one week to the IMO, who will subject the file to error checking again. Each of these paths will be documented by the IMO as part of the submittal tracking process.

When all data of a particular type (e.g. sediment toxicity) have been submitted, error checked, and corrected, the IMO will certify that the file is consistent with the SDTP format requirements and complete. The IMO will then notify the chairperson of the Technical Committee responsible for that data type that the data are ready for technical review. The IMO will distribute the file to the chairperson as a comma-delimited ASCII file in the SDTP format. The Technical Committee Chair (TCC), with assistance of their Technical Committee, will review the data with respect to scientific content. This review will involve plotting of data and examining interrelationships among individual parameter responses and will address more extensive data quality issues than can be accomplished by range checking alone. Any further corrections resulting from this review process will be documented by the Committee and returned to the IMO, who will determine whether he can make the changes or if the data must be returned to the submitting agency for correction and resubmittal. The IMO will continue to include any data correction paths resulting from Technical Committee review in his documentation of submittal tracking

As data updates become necessary after the initial submittal and review process, project participants can initiate a request for changing data by notifying the IMO, who will contact the IMC to assess the degree to which the change may impact prior data analysis. If the change is minor, the IMO will have authority to make it; if major, the IMO will make a proposal for review by the Steering Committee. Any changes will be documented on a Request for Change form (Table IV-2). No attempt will be made as part of Bight'98 data maintenance to update species names in order to keep the taxonomy current with future name changes.

All corrections to the data will be made by the IMO; access to the database for other users will be in read-only form. Prior to making any changes, the IMO will document the changes and receive (written or electronic) concurrence from the organization that originated the data. The IMO will only make changes in the centralized data base; originating organizations will be responsible for making corresponding changes in their own internal data storage systems. All changes to the data will be documented in a computerized file available to all data users.

Data Entry Templates

Not all organizations participating in Bight'98 have sophisticated computer capability. To assist these organizations and improve the efficiency of data input for others, the IMC has created a series of computerized data entry templates that automatically output the data in SDTP. These templates provide drop-down lists for station designation, fish and invertebrate species, sea surface, weather, sediment quality observations, and most other data types. They reduce errors through the elimination of hand entry and the reentry of hand entered data into the database. The templates also eliminate spelling errors, ensure that the data entered is appropriate for that field, and that the data are complete.

Data entry templates are available for the coastal ecology (fish trawling and benthic sampling) field sampling effort, in which the system links to a shipboard global positioning system to automatically download date, time, location and trawl direction/speed. They are also available for the Shoreline Microbiology component, the water quality field component and for toxicology laboratory data. Updated versions of these templates will be maintained for download at www.sccwrp.org.

Data storage

Project data will be stored in Microsoft Access at the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project (SCCWRP). Original data submissions that pass initial QC will be stored in the Bight'98 database and will also be archived onto another media type such as a CD-ROM which has a higher degree of temporal stability than other storage media such as tape and floppy disks. A copy will be stored in a fireproof safe at SCCWRP and an additional copy will be stored off-site.

Any other information collected, including summary datasets generated during scientific analysis, will not be stored in the database. Satellite imagery, archival data files, GIS maps, CADD drawings, and voucher sheets will be stored as hard copies and computer files and perhaps cross-referenced from the database. Similarly, any textual information, including reports, project documents, etc. will be stored in digital form and made available on-line to project members and eventually other users. It is envisioned that this information will be made available to the public on an interactive Web site that can be queried.

All measurement and supporting data gathered during Bight'98 will be made available to all participating agencies and the general public, though the schedule of availability will vary by user class. The different schedules recognize the differing levels of quality assurance and data documentation that will have been completed at various stages in the project. Four classes of user have been identified:

• Information Management Officer: All organizations will submit their data in accordance with the SDTP to the IMO within one month of completing their assigned sample collection or laboratory processing tasks. The schedule for this initial submission of data to the IMO is summarized in Table V-1. Upon receipt of an organization's data, the IMO will subject the data to the review procedures outlined in Section III. Once the IMO has certified the data meet the SDTP criteria, the data will be available for release to the Technical Committees. It is anticipated that the review and certification process by the IMO will take approximately one month.

• Technical Committee Members: The Technical Committee Chairs will be provided data of the type for which they are responsible immediately following certification by the IMO that the data is complete. The TCCs will work with their technical committee members to review the scientific content of the data.

• Steering Committee Members: All project participants will have access to data once the TCC has conducted initial scientific review for data quality. TCCs will be asked to complete this review within three months.

• General Public: Data will be released to the general public once the TCC has conducted initial data analysis and the Steering Committee has accepted an oral report from the TCC that summarizes the major project results for that data type. TCCs will be asked to make this presentation, and provide summary results tables from the presentation, within six months of releasing data to the Steering Committee.

The primary method of data release will occur by way of the SDTP, but the SDTP contain data at the level of individual replicate, which may not be the most appropriate way to transmit data to the general public. In addition, there may be many calculated variables not contained in the SDTP that are of value to the public. The Technical Committees will have the opportunity to define alternate data sets that may be made available to the public once the committee's analysis and reports are finished. Release of alternative data sets will be accompanied by documentation detailing the manipulations that have been performed.

While the SDTP will be the primary mechanism for data distribution, the data will be distributed as a group of files relevant to a particular project data type. For instance, one group of files will providing trawl data will include comma delimited ASCII files for the trawl event, fish abundance, fish biomass, trawl inverts, trawl debris and station tables. Because of the relational structure, these files will be of limited value alone. Users will have the opportunity to download groups of files for: trawls, benthic infauna, toxicity, chemistry, water quality or microbiology.

Metadata

Each release of data will include comprehensive documentation about Bight'98 and the accompanying data sets. Referred to as metadata, this documentation will include lookup tables used to populate specific fields in specific tables, access control, and database table structures (including table relationships). It will also include quality assurance classifications of the data and documentation of the methodologies by which the data were collected.

A second type of metadata will document changes that are made to the data over time. As the data are used, we anticipate that errors will be found. As changes to the data are made, they will be documented in a file organized by date and data table. Including this file with each data download will allow users to reconcile potential differences in analysis output that result from using different versions of the data.

Metadata will be automatically included with each data retrieval. The related data files, including an ASCII narrative text file of the metadata, will be distributed through download of single compressed (zipped) file. In this manner, the data user must receive the accompanying metadata file, maximizing the likelihood that the data will be used properly.

Figure III-1. Coastal Ecology table structure.

Figure III-2. Shoreline microbiology table structure.

Figure III-3. Water Quality table structure.

TABLE I-1. Participants in the Bight'98 Regional Monitoring Program.

AES Corporation
Algalita Marine Research Foundation
Aliso Water Management Authority (AWMA)
Aquatic Bioassay and Consulting Laboratories (ABCL)
Center for Environmental Cooperation (CEC)
Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board
Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary (CINMS)
Chevron USA Products Company
City of Long Beach
City of Los Angeles Environmental Monitoring Division (CLAEMD)
City of Los Angeles Stormwater Division
City of Oceanside
City of Oxnard
City of San Diego
City of Santa Barbara
City of Ventura
Columbia Analytical Services
Divers Involved Voluntarily in Environmental Rehabilitation & Safety (DIVERS)
Encina Wastewater Authority
Goleta Sanitation District
Granite Canyon Marine Pollution Studies Lab
Houston Industries, Inc.
Instituto de Investigacione, Oceanologicas (UABC)
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP)
Los Angeles County Dept. of Beaches & Harbors
Los Angeles County Dept. of Health Services
Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board
Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts (LACSD)
Marine Corps Base - Camp Pendleton
National Fisheries Institute of Mexico (SEMARNAP)
NOAA International Programs Office
NRG Energy, Inc.
Orange County Environmental Health Division
Orange County Public Facilities and Resources (OCPFRD)
Orange County Sanitation District (OCSD)
San Diego County Dept. of Environmental Health
San Diego Interagency Water Quality Panel (Bay Panel)
San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board (SDRWQCB)
San Elijo Joint Powers Authority
Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board
Santa Barbara County Health Service
Santa Monica Bay Restoration Project
Secretaria de Marina (Mexican Navy)
Southeast Regional Reclamation Authority (SERRA)
Southern California Coastal Water Research Project (SCCWRP)
Southern California Edison (SCE)
Southern California Marine Institute (SCMI)
State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB)
Surfrider Foundation
University of California, Santa Barbara
USC Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies (WIES)
US EPA Region IX
US EPA Office of Research and Development
US Geological Survey
US Navy, Space & Naval Warfare Systems Center, San Diego (USN)

Table IV-1. ASCII Submission Protocols

The first line in the ASCII file will be the entire string of Field Names in the order specified by the for the particular data type (refer to Appendix A for these lists). Data in any text or character field will be in quotes. Because all the Field Names are text, each will appear bounded by quotation marks and separated by commas.

Example: For a TrawlFishBiomass file, the first line would be:
"StationID","Species","Qualifier","NetWeight","Units","Comments"

The next line following the Field Names will be the first data record. If a field is null or blank, it will be represented by successive commas with no text, values, or spaces between them (unless the null field is last in the order). Required fields by definition are not null and will never appear in this manner; instead they will always have the appropriate type text, number, or date/time information filled in. Only character fields will have bounding quotes; numeric and date/time information will not appear with quotes.

Example: For a TrawlFishBiomass file, the second line may be:
"StationID","Microstomus pacificus",,1.2,"kg","None"

The double comma after "Microstomus pacificus" indicates absence of a qualifier for this record.

Table IV-2. Data Change Request Form

PARENT DATABASE
circle one	TRAWL	CTD	BENTHIC	MICRO
TABLE IN DATABASE
Debris, Inverts, etc.
GLOBAL
circle one	Y/N	Do we need to change the entire database?
DATA
REQUESTER:
CHANGER:
STATION ID:
REQUESTING AGENCY:
STATION:
ORIGINAL DATA:
CHANGED DATA:
COMMENTS:

Table V-1. Expected elapsed time between the end of sampling and the transfer of data to the Information Management Officer (IMO), including the time required for sample processing, internal QC checks, and data entry using the SDTP.

Data Type	Transfer to IMO
Benthic infauna	12 mo.
Grain size	6 mo.
Total organic carbon	6 mo.
Mineralogy	9 mo.
Sediment organics	12 mo.
Sediment metals	6 mo.
Sediment acid volatile sulfides	6 mo.
Interstitial water metals	6 mo.
Amphipod survival	3 mo.
Microtox	6 mo.
QwikLite	3 mo.
RGS 450	12 mo.
Fish biomarkers	6 mo.
Fish and megabenthic invertebrate assemblages	3 mo.
Fish pathology	3 mo.
Fish tissue chemistry	12 mo.
Debris	3 mo.

Many agencies are participating in this project and each one has a unique way of storing and distributing data. In order to facilitate data exchange all participating agencies have agreed to submit and exchange data in Standardized Data Transfer Protocol formats (STDP). These formats include tables with fields arranged in specific order as well as specific values allowable for each field where only a constrained list of values is allowed. These values come from a source list in Appendix B of this document.

There are three distinct portions of the project: Coastal Ecology, Microbiology, and Water Quality. The Coastal Ecology portion includes data collected using otter trawls and grabs and the resulting chemistry data. The Microbiology component includes shoreline sampling of bacteriological samples and shoreline trash surveys. The Water Quality component includes samples taken with remote sensing gear and discrete water samples.

All tables will be submitted to the Information Management Officer (IMO) in comma delimited ASCII format and all text fields will be further delimited by quotation marks to indicate that the filed contains text type data. This format lends itself to use by virtually all existing commercial database management and spreadsheet software. The following table definitions specify the format for each of the data types collected in the Bight'98 project.

A. Coastal Ecology Tables

Station Table

The station table is created by SCCWRP and is central to data relations in the Bight'98 database. Each record represents a description of a geographical location including a label and latitude and longitude data. Each record also contains information necessary to determine the analysis sub-population to which the station belongs and acompanying inclusion probabilities and area weight for the various sub-populations.

Name	Type	Required	Description
StationID	Text	Y	A geographic location label
Strata	Text	Y	The subpopulation to which the sample belongs
Lat	Number	Y	Degrees of Latitude (NAD 83)
LatMin	Number	Y	Decimal Degrees of Latitude (NAD 83)
Lon	Number	Y	Degrees of Longitude (NAD 83)
LonMin	Number	Y	Decimal Degrees of Longitude (NAD 83)
Level1IP	Number	Y	Inclusion Probability
Level1AW	Number	Y	Area Weight
Level2IP	Number	Y	Inclusion Probability
Level2AW	Number	Y	Area Weight
Level3IP	Number	Y	Inclusion Probability
Level3AW	Number	Y	Area Weight
Level4IP	Number	Y	Inclusion Probability
Level4AW	Number	Y	Area Weight
Level5IP	Number	Y	Inclusion Probability
Level5AW	Number	Y	Area Weight
Level6IP	Number	Y	Inclusion Probability
Level6AW	Number	Y	Area Weight

Station Occupation

There is one file that is used for both benthic and trawl sampling regimes to describe occupation of a station for sampling. Each agency will submit a copy of the station occupation file to SCCWRP.

The station occupation table holds data that is descriptive of station occupation during sampling events. Each record contains a characterization of the station at the time of sampling in terms of the weather, sea state, sample type, vessel name, agency, and quality of the GPS signal at the time of sampling. A record can also contain information about station sampling failures where the station is abandoned due to one of the acceptable reasons for station abandonment. The NavType field allows the collecting agency to record the loss of the differential GPS signal. Additional comments may be included as well with up to 80 characters. This file will be provided to the IMO with the name STATION.MST by each agency.

Name	Type	Required	Description
StationID	Text	Y	A geographic location label from the station table
Date	Date/Time	Y	the date the sample was collected dd/mmm/yyyy
Time	Date/Time	Y	the time the sample was collected expressed in 24 hour time
SampleType	Text	Y	the type of sample (Grab, Trawl)
AgencyCode	Text	Y	A two letter agency code from list 1
Vessel	Text	Y	Vessel Name
NavType	Text	Y	DGPS for diffential / GPS for non-differential
WeatherCode	Text	Y	predetermined weather codes from list 8
WindSpeed	Number	Y	Meters/second
WindDirection	Text	Y	N,NE,E,SE,S,SW,W,NW
SwellHeight	Number	Y	meters
SwellPeriod	Number	Y	seconds
SwellDirection	Text	Y	N,NE,E,SE,S,SW,W,NW
SeaState	Text	Y	Description from calm, choppy, or rough
StationFailCode	Text		acceptable failure codes from list 9
Comments	Text		additional remarks

Grab Event

This table carries records of each grab taken at a station. Each record contains data used to describe the characteristics of the sediment collected in terms of composition, odor, penetration and the presence or absence of shell hash as well as the time and latitude and longitude of the sampling event. Each record can also represent a failed sampling attempt. The yes/no fields indicate whether or not the individual grab provided an infaunal, chemical, toxicity or TOC sample. Additional comments may be recorded in the comments field. This file will be provided to the IMO with the name GRAB.MST.

Name	Type	Required	Description
StationID	Text	Y	A geographic location label from the station table
Depth	Number	Y	the sample depth expressed in meters
Date	Date/Time	Y	the date the sample was collected dd/mmm/yyyy
Time	Date/Time	Y	the time the sample was collected expressed in 24 hour time
LatDegrees	Number	Y	Degrees (0 decimal places)
LatMin	Number	Y	Decimal Minutes (3 places)
LonDegrees	Number	Y	Degrees (0 decimal places)
LonMin	Number	Y	Decimal Minutes (3 places)
Penetration	Number	Y	The penetration of the grab expressed in cm
Color	Text	Y	The color of the sediment from list 26
Composition	Text	Y	The composition of the sediment from list 6
Odor	Text	Y	The odor of the sediment from list 7
ShellHash	Yes/No	Y	Is shell hash present in the sediment?
BenthicInfauna	Yes/No	Y	Was this grab used for benthic infauna?
SedimentChemistry	Yes/No	Y	Was this grab used for sediment chemistry?
Toxicity	Yes/No	Y	Was this grab used for sediment toxicity?
Interstitial	Yes/No	Y	Was this grab used for Interstital AVS-SEM?
GrabFailCode	Text		if the grab failed record a code from List 9, FailCodes
Comments	Text		additional comments

Infaunal Abundance

The infaunal abundance table carries information about benthic infauna species abundance collected from the grab samples. Each record represents the abundance of a particular infaunal species at an individual station and the agency that collected the species. The “Exclude” field is used to flag species that should be excluded from the certain analyses based upon the guidelines set forth in the Benthic QA document. Additional remarks can be carried in the comments field. This file will be transmitted by each agency to the IMO with the file name INFAUNA.ABN.

Name	Type	Required	Description
StationID	Text	Y	A geographic location label from the station table
Species	Text	Y	the species of infauna collected from luList_10_SpeciesList
Abundance	Number	Y	Number of animals
Exclude	Yes/No		Flag to exclude from analysis
LabCode	Text	Y	A two letter agency code from list 1
Comments	Text		Additional comments

Infaunal Biomass

This table contains infaunal phyla biomass data for each phyla group collected at each station. Each record represents the total biomass of each phyla collected at a station. A record may also represent a biomass outlier species where an individual or several individuals were collected but have higher than acceptable biomass due to a shell or an individual that is not strictly considered infauna such as a sea star or sea cucumber. The units field will contain a “g” for grams and is carried for historical documentation of the mass units in this table. The Qualifier field carries information pertaining to special circumstances where the biomass is less than a certain value or greater than a certain value. If the outlier flag is “yes”, then the remaining fields must be filled out, while a “no” value will cause all of the outlier fields to be left blank. The species identification of the outlier, the number of individuals of that species, and the total biomass of those individuals will be recorded for outlier species. Additional remarks may be carried in the comments field. The file will be transmitted to the IMO with the file name INFAUNA.BMS.

Name	Type	Required	Description
StationId	Text	Y	A geographic location label from the station table
GroupCode	Text	Y	phyla group code from luList_11_BenthicSpeciesGroups
Qualifier	Text		any applicable qualifier from luList_13_QualifierCodes
Biomass	Number	Y	the collective biomass of the group in GroupCode
Units	Text	Y	default “g” for grams
OutlierFlag	Text		is this an indiviual biomass outlier?
LabCode	Text	Y	The two digit labcode from list 1
OutlierSpecies	Text		the spcecies name of the outlier from list10
NumIndividOut	Number		number of individuals in outlier species
OutlierBioMass	Number		Biomass of individuals
Comments	Text		additional comments

Sediment Toxicity Data

The Sediment Toxicity table carries data relevant to sediment toxicity tests and their replicates. Each record represents the results of an individual replicate for an individual species processed in a batch of replicates The QA Batch field refers to the batch processing of samples and will be the same identifier for all samples processed in the same batch. Species/TestType refers to the species used for the test (e.g.. Eohaustorius) or the type of test (e.g.. qwiklite, microtox). Dilution is the factor by which the test material was diluted. The Concentration field is used only for reference toxicant test sample records. EndPoint refers to the type of end result of a particular test. For example the Microtox Luminescence value for a particular sample. Units are entered for the appropriate test. The Value is the numerical value for the end point of the test. The QAcode describes the confidence in the test result. Additional remarks may be entered in the Comment field. The file will be submitted to the IMO with the file name SEDTOX.DAT in comma delimited ASCII format.

Name	Type	Required	Description
StationID	Text	Y	A geographic location label from the station table
SampleType	Text	Y	Sample Type from list 4
QABatch	Text	Y	batch number for batch processed samples
Labcode	Text	Y	The two digit labcode from list 1
Species/TestType	Text	Y	from list 20
Dilution	Number		the dilution factor expressed as a proportion
Concentration	Number		Concentration in mg/L
Endpoint	Text	Y	the type of end point for the test from list 23
Units	Text	Y	the units for the endpoint
LabRep	Number		count
Value	Number	Y	the numerical result of the test
QAcode	Text	Y	The quality assurance code from list 19 QACodes
Comment	Text		additional comments

Sediment Toxicity Test

This table is used to record information specific to each test batch processed in the laboratory and is used as supporting documentation for the Toxicity Test data. Each record represents specific information common to a group of samples processed at the same time and is pertinent to all replicates processed. This is QA/QC data needed to document the test results. The QABatch field is used to create the relationship with the Sediment Toxicity Data table. LabCode is the two digit code for the processing lab. Species is the species name of the test animal. Protocol is the protocol from list 21. Test date is the date the test started. Matrix refers to the material being tested (e.g. sediment or pore water). Test duration is the length of the test expressed in days. Temperature is the temperature at which the test was conducted and is expressed in degrees Centigrade. TestAcceptability describes the confidence in the test results from a constrained list of descriptors (list 25). The file will be submitted to the IMO with the name SEDTOX.TST in comma delimited ASCII format.

Name	Type	Required	Description
QABatch	Text	Y	The batch code for the sample processing batch
Labcode	Text	Y	A two digit code form list 1
Species	Text	Y	The species from list 20
Protocol	Text	Y	The test protocol from list 21
Testdate	Date/Time	Y	The date of the text expressed as dd/mmm/yyyy
Matrix	Text	Y	The test matrix from list 22
Testduration	Number	Y	The duration of the test expressed in days
Temperature	Number	Y	The temperature at which the test was conducted expressed in degrees C
TestAcceptability	Text	Y	Evaluation of test results from list 25

Sediment Toxicity Water Quality

This table is used to document water quality during the course of a toxicity test. Each record represents a measurement of an individual water quality parameter at a specific time interval during the course of the test batch. The Parameter field describes the water quality parameter for the record (e.g. pH, NH₃, etc.). The Matrix field describes the test matrix used in the test. The Dilution field is the number describing the degree of dilution in the water sample. The Concentration field is used only for reference toxicant test sample records. The TimePoint field documents the time point from the beginning of the test at which the parameter was measured in terms of days. The value field is the numerical result of the parameter being measured. The file will be submitted to the IMO with the file name SEDTOX.WQ in comma delimited ASCII format.

Name	Type	Required	Description
LabCode	Text	Y	a two digit code from list 1
QABatch	Number	Y	the batch code for the sample processing batch
StationID	Text	Y	A geographic location label from the station table
Parameter	Text	Y	the water quality parameter from list 24
Matrix	Text	Y	the test matrix from list 22
Dilution	Number		the dilution factor expressed as a proportion
Concentration	Number		Concentration in mg/L
Timepoint	Number		the number of days from the start of the test
Qualifier	Text		From list 13
Value	Number	Y	the numerical result for the parameter

Biomarker and Comet Field Data

The Biomarker and Comet Field Data table contains data documenting samples collected in the field for analysis. Each record represents the results of an individual tissue dissected from and individual fish at a particular station.. The Species field documents the species of fish from which the sample was dissected. Replicate samples are numbered in the "Replicate" field. The Size field contains the length of the fish in millimeters. The TissueType field describes the tissue type from which the sample was taken (i.e. blood, etc. from list 17). SampleID is a 12 digit code used to create a unique record in the database. The SampleID is represented in the form SSXXXXTTSP00 where SS is the two digit agency code, XXXX is the station number, TT is the tissue type and 00 is the number. The gender of the fish will be recorded in the "Sex" field as Male, Female, or Indeterminate. The "maturity" field is an estimate of the fish's reproductive maturity and is described by the values in list 27. The DissectionTime field documents the time of dissection. The "condition" field describes the fish's condition at time of dissection. Additional remarks may be carried in the "Comment" field. The file will be submitted to the IMO with the file name BIOMARKER.FLD in comma delimited ASCII format.

Name	Type	Required	Description
StationID	Text	Y	A geographic location label from the station table
Species	Text	Y	the species from list 12
Replicate	Number	Y	count
Size	Number	Y	The size of the fish expressed in mm standard length
TissueType	Text	Y	the type of tissue dissected from the fish from List 17 FishBioaccumulationTestMaterial
SampleID	Text	Y	12 digit code
Sex	Text	Y	M (male), F (female), or I (indeterminate)
Maturity	Text	Y	estimated from list 27
DissectionTime	Date/Time	Y	the time the dissection was performed expressed in 24 hour time hh:mm
Condition	Text	Y	condition of the fish at the time of dissection (Dead/Alive)
Comment	Text		additional comments

Biomarker and Comet Lab Data

The Biomarker and Comet Lab Data table contains data documenting samples analyzed in the laboratory. Each record represents the results of a measurement on a specific parameter in a tissue type. The SampleID is represented in the form SSXXXXTTSP00 where SS is the two digit agency code, XXXX is the station number, TT is the tissue type and 00 is the number. The "LabCode" field contains the two digit laboratory code from list 1 for the laboratory processing the samples. The "AnalysisDate" field contains the date the analysis was preformed where dd is the day, mmm is the abbreviation for the month and yyyy is the year expressed in 4 digits. The "parameter" field contains a valid parameter code from list 29. The "Value" field is the numerical result for the measured parameter. Each parameter has a particular unit associated with it and is included in the "Units" field using values from list 30. The "Dilution" field documents the degree of dilution for the sample. The "CellType" filed contains the cell type of the sample. The "CellNumber" field documents the number of cells in the sample. The "QA field" describes the level of confidence for the measured parameter using a code from list 19. Additional remarks may be included in the Comments field. The file will be submitted to the IMO with the file name BIOMARKER.LAB in comma delimited ASCII format.

Name	Type	Required	Description
StationID	Text	Y	A geographic location label from the station table
Species	Text	Y	Species from list 12
SampleID	Text	Y	12 digit code
LabCode	Text	Y	two digit agency code from list1
AnalysisMethod	Text	Y	method from list 28 BiomarkerAnalysisMethodCodes
AnalysisDate	Date/Time	Y	the date of the analysis expressed as dd/mmm/yyyy
Parameter	Text	Y	The measured parameter from list 29
Value	Number	Y	a numerical value for the parameter result
Units	Text	Y	units from list 30
Dilution	Number		dilution factor
CellType	Text		the type of cell
CellNumber	Number		the number of cells
QA	Text		qualifty assurance code from list 19
Comments	Text		additional comments

Trawl Event

The trawl data table carries station identification, date, and trawl position data. Each record represents a record of a particular trawl track. A record may represent either at successful or failed trawl. There are four positions recorded during a trawl, net over, net on the bottom, end of trawl, and net on deck. The time is recorded for each of these positions. The latitude and longitude are recorded for the net over position in terms of degrees and decimal minutes. All of the other positions latitude and longitude are reported only in decimal minutes. This reporting procedure is based on the assumption that trawls are short distances and it is unlikely that any degree lines of latitude or longitude will be crossed in the course of a trawl. Depth is recorded at the net on the bottom position and at the end of trawl position. The amount of wire paid out for the trawl is recorded and expressed in meters. The fields "Assemblage", "Bioaccumulation", and "Biomarker" are all yes/no fields that indicate if an individual trawl produced samples of any of those three types. The "TrawlFailCode" field allows for documentation of failed trawls. A constrained list of trawl failure codes in included in list nine of the appendix. Additional remarks may be recorded in the "Comments" field. The file will be transmitted to the IMO with the file name TRAWL.MST.

Name	Type	Required	Description
StationID	Text	Y	A geographic location label from the station table
Date	Date/Time	Y	the date sample taken expressed as dd/mmm/yyyy
TrawlNumber	Number	Y	Number of trawl taken at station
OverTime	Date/Time	Y	the time the net was deployed 24 hour time hh:mm
OverLatDegree	Number	Y	degrees (0 decimal places)
OverLatMin	Number	Y	decimal minutes (3 decimal places)
OverLonDegree	Number	Y	degrees (0 decimal places)
OverLonMin	Number	Y	decimal minutes (3 decimal places)
BeginTime	Date/Time	Y	hh:mm
BeginLatMin	Number	Y	decimal minutes (3 decimal places)
BeginLonMin	Number	Y	decimal minutes (3 decimal places)
StartDepth	Number	Y	The depth at the start of trawl expressed in meters
WireOut	Number	Y	the amount of wire deployed for the trawl expressed in meters
EndTime	Date/Time	Y	the time at the end of the trawl expressed in 24 hour time hh:mm
EndLatMin	Number	Y	decimal minutes (3 decimal places)
EndLonMin	Number	Y	decimal minutes (3 decimal places)
EndDepth	Number	Y	the depth at the end of the trawl expressed in meters
DeckTime	Date/Time	Y	the time the net is back on deck expressed in 24 hour time hh:mm
DeckLatMin	Number	Y	decimal minutes (3 decimal places)
DeckLonMin	Number	Y	decimal minutes (3 decimal places)
Assemblage	Yes/No	Y	was this trawl used for assemblage?
Bioaccumulation	Yes/No	Y	was this trawl used for Bioaccumulation?
Biomarker	Yes/No	Y	was this trawl used for biomarker?
TrawlFailCode	Text		failure code from list 9
Comments	Text		additional comments

Trawl Fish Abundance

The trawl fish abundance table carries information about fish abundance and fish anomalies collected in the trawls. Each record represents the number of individual fish of a particular species in a specific size class at a particular station and a record of any anomalies observed on fish within that size class. Each fish is measured individually and examined for anomalies. The fish abundance table includes station identification, species, size information in terms of size class (described in the field manual), a qualifier code numerical abundance within each size class and encountered anomalies (from list 31 of the appendix). Although this table is simple in structure, the actual application is sometimes confusing and so an example is included to clarify the use of this table. This file will be transmitted by each agency to the IMO with the file name FISH.ABN.

In this example the collected species will be Paralabrax nebulifer. There will be five fish in size class 10, one of which has a lesion. There will be 2 fish in size class 11, both of which have no anomalies.

StationID	Species	Size Class	Qualifier	Abundance	Anomaly	Comments
2500	Paralabrax nebulifer	10		4
2500	Paralabrax nebulifer	10		1	L
2500	Paralabrax nebulifer	11		2

Name	Type	Required	Description
StationID	Text	Y	A geographic location label from the station table
Species	Text	Y	The species being measured from list 10
SizeClass	Number	Y	the size class into which the fish falls expressed in cm
Qualifier	Text		any necessary qualifier from list 13
Abundance	Number	Y	the number of fish in the size class
Anomaly	Text		any present anomalies from list 31
Comments	Text		additional comments

Trawl Fish Biomass

The trawl fish biomass table contains biomass of fish collected at a particular station. Each record represents the collective biomass of all fish of a single species collected at a particular station. The species names are expressed using the scientific name The "units" field default value is kg and is carried to document the units used in this survey for historical purposes. Additional remarks may be carried in the comments field. This file will be transmitted by each agency to the IMO with the file name FISH.BMS.

Name	Type	Required	Description
StationID	Text	Y	A geographic location label from the station table
Species	Text	Y	the species measured from list 10
Qualifier	Text		any necessary qualifier from list 13
NetWeight	Number	Y	The weight of the collected members of the species in kg
Units	Text	Y	kg
Comments	Text		Additional comments

Trawl Invertebrates Abundance

The trawl invertebrate Abundance table is used to document information about megabenthic invertebrates collected in trawls. Each record represents the abundance, and occurrence of anomalies in an individual species. The abundance qualifier field may carry and "A" indicating that the abundance was estimated by aliquot. In the case of certain species like urchins, where very large numbers of individuals may be encountered, a number (100 or 200) may be weighed and the total haul number is estimated from the total weight. Additional remarks may be carried in the comments field. This file will be transmitted by each agency to the IMO with the file name INVERT.ABN.

Name	Type	Required	Description
StationID	Text	Y	A geographic location label from the station table
Species	Text	Y	The species being counted from list 10
Qualifier	Text		any necessary qualifier from list 13
Abundance	Number	Y	the number of indiviuals collected
Anomaly	Text		any present anomalies from list 32
Comments	Text		additional comments

Trawl Invertebrates Biomass

The trawl invertebrate Biomass table is used to document information about megabenthic invertebrates collected in trawls. Each record represents the biomass of an individual species. Additional remarks may be carried in the comments field. This file will be transmitted by each agency to the IMO with the file name INVERT.BMS.

Name	Type	Required	Description
StationID	Text	Y	A geographic location label from the station table
Species	Text	Y	the species measured from list 10
Qualifier	Text		any necessary qualifier from list 13
NetWeight	Number	Y	The weight of the collected members of the species in kg
Units	Text	Y	kg
Comments	Text		Additional comments

Trawl Debris Data

The trawl debris table carries data concerning debris collected in the trawl. Each record represents the presence of a particular debris type and estimates of its weight and abundance. The debris descriptions are included in list 14 of the appendix. Codes for abundance and weight estimates are carried in lists 15 and 16 of the appendix. Additional remarks may be carried in the comments field. This file will be transmitted by each agency to the IMO with the file name DEBRIS.DAT.

Name	Type	Required	Description
StationID	Text	Y	A geographic location label from the station table
DebrisType	Text	Y	Debris type from List 14 DebrisType
AbunEstimate	Text	Y	Estimated numerical abundance from list 15
WtEstimate	Text	Y	Estimated weight of debris from list 16
Comments	Text		Additional comments

Whole Fish Composites

This table contains fish size and weight data. Each record represents an individual fish that was included in a composite sample on a certain date. Species names are expressed as scientific names. The units of weight are expressed in grams and are carried to document the units used for historical purposes. Composite ID is the sample identifier into which a number of individuals are placed for chemical analysis. This file will be transmitted by each agency to the IMO with the file name COMPOSIT.DAT.

Name	Type	Required	Description
StationID	Text	Y	A geographic location label from the station table
Species	Text	Y	collected species name from list 12
SizeClass	Number	Y	size class into which the individual falls expressed in cm
Weight	Number	Y	weight of the individual expressed in grams
Units	Text	Y	g (grams)
CompositeID	Text	Y	A four digit code assigned by SCCWRP
HomoginizationDate	Date/Time	Y	The date the fish was homogenized expressed as dd/mmm/yyyy

Chemistry

The chemistry table will hold all of the chemical data from sediment chemistry, fish tissue analysis, Mineralogy, Acid Volatile Sulfides, and sediment grain size analysis. Each record represents a result from a specific analysis for a particular parameter at a single station. Some of the fields may not be relevant to sediment grain size and need not be completed (MDL, RL, Preparation code, and dilution). The "units" field is important because different compounds and analysis types produce values with various units associated with the method or result. Dilution is intended to document the whole fish composite chemistry data where water is added in the homogenization process. To distinguish the dates of sample processing, preparation date and analysis date are included. The field QA Type is used to distinguish QA and blank data from actual sample results. This file will be transmitted by each agency to the IMO with the file name CHEM.DAT.

Name	Type	Required	Description
StationID	Text	Y	A geographic location label from the station table
TestMaterial	Text	Y	Sediment/Tissue
ParameterCode	Text	Y	the measured parameter from list 18
QA Batch	Text	Y	the code for all of the samples processed in the same batch
QAType	Text	Y	the type of result from list 19
Lab Rep	Text	Y	count
Qualifier	Text	Y	any necessary qualifier from list 13
Result	Number	Y	the numerical result expressed in dry wt.
Units	Text	Y	Units for result
True Value	Number		QA samples only
MDL	Number	Y	method detection limit
RL	Number	Y	reporting limit
Dilution	Number		Dilution factor
PreparationCode	Text	Y	preparation code from List 34
PreparationDate	Date/Time	Y	the date the sample was extracted expressed as dd/mmm/yyyy
AnalysisMethod	Text	Y	the analysis method from list 33
Analysis Date	Date/Time	Y	the date the sample was processed by the instrument expressed as dd/mmm/yyyy
QACode	Text		any necessary quailfier from list 13
LabCode	Text	Y	the two digit agency code from List 1
Comments	Text		Additional comments

B. Microbiology Tables

The following three tables are used in the Microbiology component of the project.

Microbiology Stations

The Microbiology Station table contains the location and description of the sampling stations for this component of the project. Each record represents the station identifier, location, and description of an individual station. Additional stations may be assigned when results exceed a specified threshold as called for in the Microbiology Work Plan. The file will be submitted to the IMO in comma delimited ASCII format with the filename STATIONS.DAT

Name	Type	Required	Description
StationID	Text	Y	A geographic location label
StationDesc	Text		Physical description if the location
Lat	Number	Y	2 digit degree (NAD 83)
LatMin	Number	Y	Decimal minutes (NAD 83) 3 decimal places
Lon	Number	Y	2 digit degree (NAD 83)
LonMin	Number	Y	Decimal minutes (NAD 83) 3 decimal places
Comments	Text		Additional comments

Microbiology Station Occupation

The Microbiology Samples table contains data collected when is sample is taken. Each record represents the conditions at the station where the sample was collected. It may also represent a failure to collect a sample. If the "EvidenceOfSewage" field contains a "Yes" value it must be accompanied by a comment. The "WaterOutletFl" field records whether or not water was flowing from a water outlet at the station. The file will be submitted to the IMO in comma delimited ASCII format with the file name SAMPLES.DAT

Name	Type	Required	Description
StationID	Text	Y	A geographic location label from the station table
SampleDate	Date	Y	the date the sample was collected expressed as dd/mmm/yy
SampleTime	Time	Y	the time the sample was collected expressed as 24 hour time hh:mm
AgencyCode	Text	Y	the two digit agency code from list 1
WeatherCode	Text	Y	the weather code from list 8
Surf	Text	Y	the surf conditions list 38
SeaState	Text	Y	the sea state conditions list 39
EvidenceOfSewage	Yes/No	Y	Odor or floatables
WaterOutletFl	Yes/No	Y	If the station is a water outlet is water flowing?
PeopleInWater	Number	Y	Count of people in the water
StationFailCode	Text		Was the station abandoned for any reason?
Comments	Text	Y	if yes to EvidenceOfSewage

Microbiology Results

The Microbiology results table contains bacteriological results data. Each record represents the results of an individual sample including collected samples, QA samples and QA check samples. Lab code is carried in both the results table and the samples table because one agency may collect samples that are analyzed by another laboratory. The file will be submitted to the IMO in comma delimited ASCII with the file name RESULTS.DAT.

Name	Type	Required	Description
StationID	Text	Y	A geographic location label from the station table
SampleDate	Date	Y	the date the sample was collected dd/mmm/yyyy
ParameterCode	Text	Y	Parameter from list 36
Qualifier	Text	Y	any qualifier necessary from List 13
Result	Number	Y	the numerical result of the measurement
Units	Text	Y	Units for parameter
LabCode	Text	Y	a two digit code from List 1
AnalysisMethod	Text	Y	analysis method from list 35
StartTime	Time	Y	the time the analysis started expressed in 24 hour time hh:mm
SampleType	Text	Y	the type of sample from list 37
Comments	Text		Additional comments

C. Water Quality Tables

The following four tables are used in the Water Quality component of the project.

Water Quality Stations

This table contains the nominal station location for the sampling stations in the Water Quality portion of the project. Each record represents the station position, the collecting agency, and expected depth of the station. The table will be submitted to the IMO in ASCII comma delimited format with the file name STATIONS.DAT.

Name	Type	Required	Description
StationID	Text	Y	A geographic location label
AgencyCode	Text	Y	Two digit code from list 1
LatDegrees	Number	Y	Two digit degree (NAD 83)
LatMin	Number	Y	Decimal minutes (NAD 83) three places
LonDegrees	Number	Y	Three digit degree (NAD 83)
LonMin	Number	Y	Decimal minutes (NAD 83) three places
ExpectedDepth	Number	Y	meters

Water Quality Station Occupation

The master sample table holds data that is descriptive of station occupation during sampling events. Each record contains a characterization of the station at the time of sampling in terms of the weather, sea state, sample type, vessel name, agency, and quality of the GPS signal at the time of sampling. The NavType field allows the collecting agency to record the loss of the differential GPS signal. Additional comments may be included as well with up to 80 characters. This file will be provided to the IMO with the name STATION.MST by each agency.

Name	Type	Required	Description
StationID	Text	Y	A geographic location label from the station table
Date	Date	Y	dd/mmm/yy
LatDegrees	Number	Y	Two digit degree (NAD 83)
LatMin	Text	Y	Decimal minutes (NAD 83) three places
LonDegrees	Text	Y	Three digit degree (NAD 83)
LonMin	Text	Y	Decimal minutes (NAD 83) three places
StartTime	Date/Time	Y	hh:mm
AgencyCode	Text	Y	Two digit code from list 1
Vessel	Text	Y	Name of the vessel
NavType	Text	Y	DGPS, GPS
WeatherCode	Text	Y	predetermined weather codes from list 8
WindSpeed	Number	Y	Meters/second
WindDirection	Text	Y	degrees
SeaSwellHeight	Number	Y	meters
SwellPeriod	Number	Y	seconds
SeaSwellDirection	Text	Y	degrees
SeaState	Text	Y	calm, rough, choppy
StationFailureCode	Text		From list 9
ChlorophyllVolume	Text		ml
Comments	Text		Additional comments

Water Quality Cast Data

This table contains the raw qualified cast data as collected by an instrument. Each record represents a discrete set of measurements taken by the instrument during its descent throughout the water column. The "CastPortion" field flags the record as Equilibration, Downcast, or Upcast referring to its position in the cast. The "QAFlag" will be added by the Water Quality Technical Committee after a review of the data.

Name	Type	Required	Description
StationID	Text	Y	A geographic location label from the station table
Date	Date	Y	dd/mmm/yy
Seconds	Number	Y	From the instrument
DescentRate	Number	Y	Meters per second
Depth	Number	Y	meters
Temperature	Number	Y	Degrees centigrade
Conductivity	Number	Y	Siemens/m
Salinity	Number	Y	PSS
OxygenMgL	Number	Y	Mg/L
Oxygen%saturation	Number	Y	%Saturation
Transmissivity	Number	Y	%light
pH	Number	Y	Hydrogen ion concentration
Density	Number	Y	Theta
Fluorescence	Number		From the instrument
CastPortion	Text	Y	E (equilibration) ,D (downcast), U (upcast)
QAFlag	Text	Y	000000000

Water Quality Discrete Water Samples Table

This table contains chemical and particulate data collected at a subset of stations. Each record represents the result of an individual analysis for an individual parameter. This table will be submitted to the IMO in comma delimited ASCII format with the file name DISWTR.DAT.

Columns

Name	Type	Required	Description
StationID	Text	Y	A geographic location label from the station table
TestMaterial	Text	Y	Sediment/Tissue
ParameterCode	Text	Y	From list 18
QA Batch	Text	Y	batch number
QAType	Text	Y	From list 19
Lab Rep	Text	Y	count
Qualifier	Text	Y	From list 13
Result	Number	Y	(dry wt.)
Units	Text	Y	Units for result
True Value	Number		QA samples only
MDL	Number	Y	method detection limit
RL	Number	Y	reporting limit
Dilution	Number	Y	Dilution factor
PreparationCode	Text	Y	From list 34
PreparationDate	Date/Time	Y	dd/mmm/yyyy
AnalysisMethod	Text	Y	From list 33
Analysis Date	Date/Time	Y	dd/mmm/yyyy
QACode	Text	Y	From list 13
LabCode	Text	Y	From list 1
Comments	Text		Additional comments