Data submission
The guidelines provided are intended to streamline data submission and you are encouraged to adhere to them when providing data to GEOTRACES. They catalogue data standards, file formats and information that should accompany data to ensure their long-term usefulness.
Before any data submission, each data originator requires to connect on the GEOTRACES Data for Oceanic Research (DOoR) Portal and follow the steps described there, in order to generate customised data template. This data file must be used when submitting data to Geotraces Data Assembly Center (GDAC) together with a completed GDAC metadata file, by email to geotraces.dac@bodc.ac.uk, or to your national data centres (i.e. French, British and US). While preparing your data submission, or even before this step, remember that preparing and submitting your S&I report following the instructions described in DOoR, is very important to intercalibrate your data. Please, contact GDAC if you need any help to register your data.
The general guide for data submission contains information on the mechanisms for delivering data to the GEOTRACES International Data Assembly Centre (GDAC), plus formatting and a description of the information required for all types of data.
A series of guides for specific types of data, based on guidelines from the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) Working Group on Marine Data Management (WGMDM) are provided below.
- Water sample data (all water samples including CTD bottle data and underway sampling)
- CTD data
Note that these guides provide a target standard for data submissions to GEOTRACES. Please do not be discouraged from sending us data even if some of the information is unavailable. We fully understand that there are many reasons why the standards specified may not be completely achieved.
It is not necessary to double up on the metadata you provide, some of the requirement data fields will have already been supplied in the metadata form.
For information on the steps to follow in order to ensure your data is included in the Intermediate Data Product (IDP) please access the following:
