Subject: Re: TOPPS pinniped data Date: Fri, 23 Sep 2011 01:12:35 -0700 From: Patrick Robinson To: Tim Boyer CC: NODC.DataOfficer@noaa.gov Hi Tim, Thanks again for your response. I started uploading the TOPP elephant seal temperature cast data files to the NODC server via FTP. There is about 7 gigabytes of data, so it looks like it will be done by ~Saturday. The files are named as follows: "(Animal ID)_Eseal.csv" I also included the Electronic Data Documentation Form (EDDF_TOPP_ESEAL_20110922.pdf) and metadata description text file. Here is the publication reference that includes the time-depth recorder calibrations: Simmons, S.E., Tremblay, Y. & Costa, D.P. (2009) Pinnipeds as ocean-temperature samplers: calibrations, validations, and data quality. Limnology and Oceanography: Methods 7, 648.656. Please let me know if there is anything else you need from me. Thanks for all of your help in making these data accessible! -Patrick _____________________________ Patrick W. Robinson, Ph.D. University of California, Santa Cruz Center for Ocean Health Long Marine Lab 100 Shaffer Road Santa Cruz, CA 95060 Phone: 831.708.8094 On Wed, Sep 21, 2011 at 12:54 PM, Tim Boyer wrote: > Patrick, > > We dont include position error information with the data > in the World Ocean Database (WOD). Information about the different > data types in WOD is found in the WOD Introduction > ftp://ftp.nodc.noaa.gov/pub/WOD09/DOC/wod09_intro.pdf > > The section on pinniped mounted sensors is section 12. Subsection > 12.2 does give information on how the geographic position is recorded, > but does not note any error. One solution would be to add > the error information along with your reference to the introduction > or to an update to this introduction. Can you send me the reference? > > There are many different instrumentation accuracies which are noted > in the introduction, but not with the data. For instance, MBT > data is much less accurate than CTD data with respects to > temperature. It is not the perfect system, but the assumption > is that the user will know the limitations of the data, or get > to know the limitations based on the introduction and the > references therein before deciding whether to use the data > for their intended purpose. > > So, the short answer to your question, is to send the data without > position error information specific to each individual cast. > > Regards, > Tim > > > On Mon, 19 Sep 2011, Patrick Robinson wrote: > >> Hi Tim, >> >> Thanks for your last email. I prepared all of the data and received >> approval from my supervisor to upload it, but we wanted to ask one >> additional question: >> >> Our primary goal is, of course, to provide accurate data that will be >> useful for other researchers. We understand the accuracy of the >> location estimate associated with each temperature cast is quite >> important, but animal-derived position data are much less accurate >> those obtained from a ship station. Our tracking data consists mostly >> of ARGOS PTT data (and some GPS) that we then process using a >> state-space model (which takes the error structure of the locations >> into consideration). We have previously published a paper in which we >> measured the error to be about 10km (68th percentile) for most >> positions. I have the capability to provide a more precise error >> estimate for each individual cast (although this will require >> considerable additional work). In your opinion, Is that something >> that I should do, or is it sufficient to simply state an approximate >> error for all animal-derived casts? >> >> Thank you for your input on this! >> >> -Patrick >> _____________________________ >> Patrick W. Robinson, Ph.D. >> University of California, Santa Cruz >> Center for Ocean Health >> Long Marine Lab >> 100 Shaffer Road >> Santa Cruz, CA 95060 >> Phone: 831.708.8094 >>