What quality-control measures are in place for dbSEABED?
• Initially, by selecting which data sets to enter; • By personnel scrutinizing the data at time of import, virtually item by item, for such things as implausible values and positions not conforming to a report’s survey pattern on a map; in some cases special filtering programs are written, for example, to detect implausible ship speeds between stations; • By testing in programs whether the data entries are text (string), numeric, or a special formatted code as specified in the data model; • In programs, testing if values lie within their plausible ranges, for example, between -8 and 12 phi for grain sizes; • By comparing site locations to land areas; • In a more sophisticated way, comparing reported site water depths to a regional or global topography (such as etopo2); • Screening the program output values, also using plausibility filters; and • By having end-users of the data report any problems and having them fixed at source; this is exercising or working the datasets. As each new
