Cruise Summary Reports - CSR
Cruise Summary Reports (CSR = former ROSCOPs) are the usual means for reporting on cruises or field experiments at sea. Traditionally, it is the Chief Scientist's obligation to submit a CSR to his/her National Oceanographic Data Centre (NODC) not later than two weeks after the cruise. This provides a first level inventory of measurements and samples collected at sea.
Within the EU Sea-Search project an innovative infrastructure has been installed by the Deutsches Ozeanographisches Datenzentrum (DOD) to streamline the entering and updating of CSRs (CSRONLINE) and the searching and presenting of CSRs (CSRRETRIEVAL) by means of the internet. As part of its successor project EU SeaDataNet this is being extended in coverage to all 35 countries, participating in SeaDataNet. Also a major upgrade is undertaken: the CSR user interface and maintenance system have been upgraded to Version 1, which is better in line with the other SeaDataNet directories and makes use of the common vocabularies, that have been introduced for SeaDataNet.
Currently, the Cruise Summary Reports database covers cruises from 1873 till today from 30 coastal states in Europe - a total of more than 37 000 cruises, in all European waters and global oceans. This also includes historic CSRs from European countries, that have been loaded from the ICES database from 1960 onwards.
Maintenance and formats
The compilation and maintenance of entries for CSR is coordinated by the partners of the SeaDataNet network, who contact and communicate with chief scientists in their countries to submit their CSR forms. NODC is partner for the Netherlands and coordinates the national collation and maintenance of CSR entries by the NODC member institutes. This can be done directly via the SeaDataNet CSR database using the online Content Management System or else by submitting CSR forms to the NODC, that then will transfer the CSR updates in XML format to the SeaDataNet CSR database.
For purposes of standardisation and harmonisation with other metadatabases within SeaDataNet and NODC the CSR V1 XML schema and XML exchange format have been formulated using tags from the ISO19115 metadata standard. The CSR XML format makes use of the Common Vocabularies, that have been initiated within SeaDataNet and that are kept operational via Web Services and a User client. By using the ISO tags and common vocabularies interoperability with the other metadatabases is ensured.
As part of the SeaDataNet project also the entry tools have been upgraded. A new entry tool has been developed, MIKADO, for stand-alone use, that works with the revised CSR V1 XML format and makes use of the SeaDataNet common vocabularies. Furthermore the CSR Online entry tool and user interface have been upgraded to the V1 format.