Metaquality refers to the accompanying information used to describe the collection, scope, requirements in the data during acquisition and delivery.
A minimum set of metadata is required to perform QA checks:
Checks
Minimum metadata present with the dataset.
Recommended metadata present.
Optional metadata present.
Pass Requirements
Depending on the metadata received with the dataset:
A pass will require all the minimum metadata.
A good rating will require all the minimum and some of the recommended metadata.
A Very good rating will require all the minimum and all of the recommended metadata.
An excellent rating will require all the minimum, all of the recommended metadata and all the optional metadata.
Failed: if metadata received does not contain the minimum metadata fields.
Recommended metadata fields are required depending on the data level.
L0 (raw data) needs fields 13 to 17 from the table below (Number of sensor heads for the survey, sensor number of beams, sensor transducer degree, sensor Receiver degree, sensor acquisition mode) for processing.
L3 (processed grid) does not need fields 13 to 17 to publish and can be considered as optional.
Metadata Levels
Preferred Name
Source
Definition
Example
1- Survey Title
Data Supplier
Survey Name or Project as supplied by the Contributor
RV Investigator Voyage IN2019_T03
2- Survey ID
Data Supplier
The ID assigned to the survey by the Collecting organisation
IN2019_T03, GA4870/FK210409
3- Abstract
Data Supplier
Narrative summary of the survey including survey purpose
Geoscience Australia undertook a marine survey of the Leveque Shelf (survey number (GA-0340/SOL5754), a sub-basin of the Browse Basin, in May 2013 onboard the RV Solander using a Kongsberg EM2040 multibeam sonar. The bathymetry survey was led by Dr. Scott Nichol (Geoscience Australia). This survey provides seabed and shallow geological information to support an assessment of the CO2 storage potential of the Browse sedimentary basin
4- Lineage
Data Supplier
Provenance Information and references for sources and processes that were used to create the Survey/Dataset
The Leveque Shelf Survey, GA-0340 SOL5754 was acquired by Geoscience Australia onboard the RV Solander from the 01st of May to the 30th of May 2013.
The Chief scientist onboard was Dr. Scott Nichol and Dr. Riko Hashimoto.
This dataset was acquired and processed onboard by Justy Siwabessy, Kim Picard and Olivia Wilson and further processing was conducted in the office by Michele Spinoccia, using CARIS HIPS & SIPS ver 7.1.2.
1. First a vessel configuration file was created where the co-ordinates of the motion sensor and DGPS antenna and patch test offsets were recorded.
2. A new project was then created and the vessel configuration file was attached to the project file.
3. The raw swath sonar data, in raw.all format, for each line was then imported into the project and the vessel information assigned to the data.
4. The motion sensor, DGPS and heading data were then cleaned using a filter that averaged adjacent data to remove artifacts.
5. Different sound velocity profiles data for each block were attached to the corresponding raw swath sonar data files to correct the depths for changes in the speed of sound through the water column.
6. Then a new blank field area was defined that specified the geographic area of study and the co-ordinate system used. The co-ordinates for the study areas were WGS84 UTM-51S.
7. The data was cleaned by applying several filters that removed any remaining spikes in the bathymetry data using user defined threshold values. A visual inspection of the data for each line was then undertaken where artifacts and noisy data not removed by the filtering process were removed manually using Swath and subset editors modules of the Caris HIPS/SIPS software.
8. All the data for each bathymetric, motion sensor, DGPS, heading, tide and sound velocity profile data were merged to produce the final processed data file. A weighted grid of the processed data was then created for each Block.
In GA the tide was applied to the grid to correct for tidal variations and velocity corrections were performed to correct for different artifacts and mismatches.
9. The processed data was finally exported as grids soundings or false colored images for presentation and reporting and as final processed data in ASCII XYZ at the optimum resolution the data can provide.
10. Hips file created from steps 1-9 was opened into CARIS HIPS & SIPS 11.3 to import all survey lines and a 3 m resolution, regular gridded surface was created.
11. The final processed grid was exported as a 32 bit Geotif format at 3 m resolution, georeferenced to EGM2008 vertical datum and EPSG:4326 coordinate system.
5- Data Owner
Data Supplier
The person and/or organisation that owns the submitted data for the purpose of empowering AusSeabed to act as custodian
Commonwealth of Australia - Geoscience Australia
6- Custodian
Data Supplier
The person and/or organisation that owns the submitted data for the purpose of empowering AusSeabed to act as custodian
Commonwealth of Australia - Geoscience Australia
7- Country
Data Supplier
The country that owns the data, not the country where the data is collected.
The person and/or organization that owns the submitted data for the purpose of empowering AusSeabed to act as custodian
CSIRO; Deakin
11- Attribution Citation/ citation
Data Supplier / Contrib Hub
Statement of attribution that must be included whenever the data being provided is distributed/redistributed or used by another organization.
2021. Bill and Ben Plateaux bathymetry survey (FK210206/GA4869). Geoscience Australia, Canberra.
12- Legal Constraints
Data Supplier
The URL to a standard or specific licence, enter "CCBY 4.0", "Freely Distributed" or "None", or describe any restrictions to data access and distribution in free text.
Details of any constraints that are not determined under the licence constraints regarding the access to the information being provided. Access constraints are applied to assure the protection of privacy or intellectual property, and any
special restrictions or limitations on obtaining the resource or metadata
As per license
14- Use Constraints
Data Supplier
special restrictions or limitations on obtaining the resource or metadata
As per license
15- Survey area (general)
Data Supplier
Description of the location of the survey.
Indian ocean approximately 1100nm off the coast of Perth Australia.
16- Min X
Data Supplier
The most western X value of the survey area, used to define a bounding box (units as defined by the CRS)
+78
17- Max X
Data Supplier
The most eastern X value of the survey area, used to define a bounding box (units as defined by the CRS)
+116
18- Min Y
Data Supplier
The most northern Y value of the survey area, used to define a bounding box (units as defined by the CRS)
-12
19- Max Y
Data Supplier
The most southern Y value of the survey area, used to define a bounding box (units as defined by the CRS)
-42
20- Bounding Box CRS
Data Supplier
The Coordinate Reference Systems (EPSG) used to define the Bounding Box. The CRS defines the projection, zone if applicable and Horizontal datum. Some CRS include the Vertical datum.
EPSG:4326 (based on WGS84)
21- Survey Feature CRS
Data Supplier
The Coordinate Reference Systems (CRS) (geodetic) used to define the Feature Geometry. The CRS defines the projection, zone if applicable and Horizontal datum. Some CRS include the Vertical datum.
EPSG:4326 (based on WGS84)
22- Geodetic Datum of the Survey
Data Supplier
The reference datum of the data collected
WGS 84
23- Horizontal Datum
Data Supplier
The horizontal reference datum configured in the operating parameters
UTM
24- Vertical Datum
Data Supplier
Identify the vertical control, if Tides Applied (supply tide file), or Geoid Tide details (supply model)
MSL, Tides Applied
25- Platform Name
Data Supplier
Registered Name or TagID of the ship, vessel, plane, satellite, etc
Investigator, Bluefin
26- Platform Type
Data Supplier
The platform hosting the instruments and sensors used to collect the data. e.g. Ship / Research Vessel / AUV / Satellite / Drone / Plane.
Research Vessel, Fishing Vessel
27- Instrument Type
Data Supplier
The family of sensors described (Multibeam, Single-beam, LADS, etc)
Multibeam echo sounder
28- Sensor Brand Model
Data Supplier
The brand and model of the sensor (Kongsberg EM2040c)
Kongsberg EM710
29- Sensor Frequency (kHz)
Data Supplier
Operating frequency measured in kHz.
100
30- Auxiliary Sensors
Data Supplier
Brand model of auxiliary sensors
Navigation: CNAV; Attitude: POSMV
As mentioned in the definition paragraph: if we received L0 (raw dataset) some extra required metadata is needed for processing if vessel configuration file is not delivered:
Number of heads.
Number of beams/soundings.
Transmitter beam width (0.5x1, 1.5 or 2 degrees).
Receiver beam width (0.5x1, 1.5 or 2 degrees).
All parameters as required by the processing software for the creation of the vessel configuration file such as: Normal mode versus single sector for (EM2040), High resolution for (Teledyne Reson SeaBat T50P and depth range for Reson SeaBat 8160)
Preferred Name
Source
Definition
Example
1- Keywords
Keywords or Tags used to aid search and discovery. It is Recommended to have Earth Science Oceans and at least one Data Type that is associated with the Survey. Contributions to AusSeabed will also automatically have ‘AusSeabed’ added as a keyword.
Multiple responses identifying the data types collected.
Bathymetry | Backscatter | Sound Velocity Profile SVP | Acoustic Water Column WCD | Raw Navigation | Tide | Vessel Configuration | Sub bottom Profile | Sidescan | Imagery | Video | Physical Properties | Samples
3- Start Location
Data Supplier
The location, departure point or Port the survey or entire data collection started from
Henderson, WA
4- End Location
Data Supplier
The location, arrival point or Port the survey or entire data collection ended at
Hobart, TAS
5- Start DateTime
Data Supplier
The Date and Time the Survey or the specific data collection commenced in local time to be converted to UTC for storage
26-AUG-2020 2PM (2020-08-26T14:00:00Z)
6- End DateTime
Data Supplier
The Date and Time the Survey or the specific data collection ended in local time to be converted to UTC for storage
11-SEP-2020 2PM (2020-09-11T14:00:00Z)
7- Bounding Box Coordinate Epoch
Derivable
Temporal metadata. Recording the Coordinate Epoch is important for propagating coordinates through time when data is gathered on a dynamic datum such as the Australian Terrestrial Reference Frame (ATRF2014) - This field can be Derived from Start and End DateTimes captured for the Survey.
2020-08-26T14:00:00Z - 2020-09-11T14:00:00Z
8- Survey Feature Geometry Line
Data Supplier
The preferred and alternative shape/geometry to a Bounding Box for the Survey area. A clean, generalised line that identifies the track of the platform/ship from start to end (port to port)
Line (as supplied in an ESRI Shapefile, Personal Geodatabase or in GML, WKT or GeoJson)
9- Survey Feature Geometry Poly
Data Supplier
The preferred and alternative shape/geometry to a Bounding Box for the Survey area. A clean, generalised polygon that sufficiently encompasses the area of the survey for all data types collected.
Polygon (as supplied in an ESRI Shapefile, Personal Geodatabase or in GML, WKT or GeoJson)
10- Metadata URL
Contrib Hub
The URL to a specific online metadata record held by the Custodian.
Used to define the Primary and subsequent Platform Tiers. For a Bathymetry Survey the 'Primary" platform may be a Ship, but the Ship may also have 'Secondary Platforms' like an AUV or an ROV.
Primary Platform, Secondary Platform
13- Number of sensor heads for the survey
Data Supplier
Number of sensor heads used for the survey
One, two or part of survey used one head and another part used two heads (to mapped the shore line)
14- Sensor number of beams
Data Supplier
Number of beams for the sensor
Reson 7101 (101, 239 or 511 beams)
15- Sensor Transducer degree
Data Supplier
Along track beamwidth
(0.5 degree)
16- Sensor Receiver degree
Data Supplier
Across track beamwidth
(1 degree)
17- Sensor acquisition mode
Data Supplier
Which mode the bathymetry was acquired
Normal mode, single sector mode for (EM2040) or High resolution mode for (Teledyne Reson SeaBat)
Preferred Name
Source
Definition
Example
1- Operator
Data Supplier
The organisation that manages and operates the Platform used to perform the Survey
Schmidt Ocean Institute (SOI)
2- DOI
Data Supplier / Contrib Hub
The DOI or Digital object identifier provide a persistent interoperable identifier for the Survey, Dataset or Publication
One or more collaborating organisations and parties
Organisation A, Organisation B
4- Sea Areas
Data Supplier & Contrib Hub
Ocean, Sea, Water Body names. Note: Make additional rows for each unique entry
Southern Ocean
5- Sea Country Name
Data Supplier & Contrib Hub
Sea country doesn't just refer to a geographical area. It includes all living things, beliefs, values, creation stories, spirits and cultural obligations associated with it. The boundaries of different sea country areas are often clearly defined by features like river mouths
Yuin
6- Survey Line Length (km)
Data Supplier / Contrib Hub
The total line kilometres traversed by the Survey, this will include Transit periods and detailed data collection areas
151.5
7- Survey Area (square km)
Data Supplier / Contrib Hub
The total area in square kilometres covered by the Survey, this will include Transit periods and detailed data collection areas
30052 (km2)
8- Survey Depth Descriptor
Data Supplier / Contrib Hub
Simple binary descriptor for depth as Shallow (200m or less) or Deep (greater than 200m), based on 80% or more of the survey area. 200m is where the photic zone ends and marks the 5m resolution boundary.
Shallow, Deep
9- Restriction Date
Data Supplier
A date field used to constrain the release date of a Survey or a specific data types.
26-AUG-2030 2PM (2020-08-26T14:00:00Z)
10- Restriction Contact Details
Data Supplier
The point of contact for removing or refining the restricted date. (Name and email)
With the exception of the Commonwealth Coat of Arms and where otherwise noted, this product is provided under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.
