standardization of environmental data and information - International ...

Various kinds of equipment were being used to examine the deepsea
environment, Sibuet continued. Some gear had been initiated and built
by her group, with help from the IFREMER Marine Technology and
Information Systems Division. One example was the MAP (Module
Autonome Pluridisciplinaire), a complex device that incorporated a camera
to photograph the bottom on a regular basis over the course of one year; a
nephelometer to analyze turbidity near the bottom and 10 m from the
bottom, and current meters. It also held sediment trap moorings for the
sequential capture of organic particles; during a year on the bottom, it
collected two weeks of samples in each of its 24 bottles. One of the first
models, built 10 years ago, was still considered the best because the
structure of the new one was too large; to measure currents, a structure
was needed that did not disturb the measurements. The long-term
multiparameter monitoring that became possible with this module allowed
for the simultaneous recording of particle flux, concentration of fine
particles, current readings and bottom photography.
Displaying some of the results obtained with this multidisciplinary
gear, she said the sediment trap had allowed researchers to identify an
April 1988 event with a large amount of particle flux. A month later, the
transmissometer had recorded a flow of fine particles in the water. The
current meter, measuring the orientation and intensity of the current, had
shown an eddy at exactly the time of the turbidity. Thus, with simultaneous
measurement of the different environmental parameters, the event could
be precisely localized.
Biocean database
Having data on all these parameters, and in collaboration with many
people in France and elsewhere in Europe, IFREMER had decided 15 years
ago to create a database on the taxonomy of the species collected. The
Biocean database had since been improved by the installation of more
modern computer software, Oracle. This had cost a lot of money, of course,
but IFREMER now had a database organised the way it liked. In the first
place, it worked on board, where data on each sample was placed in an
initial data set, including information on the environment, fauna, water and
sediment. It incorporated all the measurements made in situ, as well as the
continuous ones from the autonomous vehicles. Photographs could also be
added when available. In the second phase, all the data filed on board
were imported on land into a real database – Biocean. Thus, the laboratory
now had access to all the information about the various species, fitted into
a zoological classification scheme and using classification management
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