SCAR (Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research)

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Addendum 1.0 to SCAR Report #9 (August 1992)
January 22, 2002

Data-collector costs and data submission for CD-ROM production

Addendum 1.0	Appendix A	Appendix I	Appendix II	Appendix III
Appendix B	Appendix C	Appendix D	Appendix E	Appendix F

Appendix A: Report for SDLS Workshop

Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR)
Antarctic Offshore Stratigraphy Project (ANTOSTRAT)

Report for a Workshop
on the
Seismic Data Library System for Cooperative Research (SDLS)
Wellington, New Zealand -- July 11, 1999
Conveners: Alan Cooper and Giuliano Brancolini

I. Participants:

Name	Country	Organization
P. Barker	UK	BAS
J. Behrendt	USA	USGS
S. Borg	USA	NSF
G. Brancolini	Italy	OGS
A. Cooper	USA	USGS
W. Jokat	Germany	AWI
Y. Kristoffersen	Norway	UB
R. Larter	UK	BAS
G. Leitchenkov	Russia	GOCEAN
A. Maldanado	Spain	CSIC/UG
F. Murakani	Japan	GSJ
A. Nishimura	Japan	GSJ
P. O'Brien	Australia	Australia

II. Agenda
The detailed agenda is given in Appendix I. The one-day workshop included a range of topics: implementation and accomplishments, current status, future plans, and outstanding issues and questions. The workshop concluded with discussion and acceptance of a consensus statement (see Appendix B) for continuation of the policies and procedures of the SDLS under the guidelines of ATCM Recommendation XVI-12.

III. Discussion notes and recommendations
Past operations: Alan Cooper and Giuliano Brancolini reviewed the origins, structure, and use of the SDLS since its inception in Oslo, Norway in 1991 by consensus of the community and adoption under ATCM Recommendation XVI-12 -- in response to a geopolitical need for open access to MCS data. The SDLS lies under the general auspices of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) Joint Working Groups on Geology and Solid Earth Geophysics and the oversight of the ANTOSTRAT project.
From 1991 to 1995, the SDLS was overseen and operated principally by the U.S. Geological Survey, which also provided funding for production of 27 CD-ROMs. Since 1996, the SDLS has been operated jointly by Osservatorio Geofisica Sperimentale, which produces the SDLS CD-ROMs and the USGS, which is responsible for SDLS management and oversight. Since 1996, funding for the SDLS has come principally from OGS, PNRA (Italy) NSF (US), and USGS. SCAR does not provide funds for operation of the SDLS.

Present: The SDLS now has branches, at 12 locations in 10 countries, that are supervised by a senior Antarctic researcher, as listed at the SDLS website: http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/sdls/. The library branches have been used on a limited basis by researchers in all countries where branches are located. Besides library visits, the SDLS is recognized as having other benefits that include:
• promoting and facilitating cooperation in science studies through

•	access to MCS data, with intellectual property oversight.
•	support for Antarctic drilling proposals, like the ODP data bank.

• providing protection for our geoscience studies from political and environmental groups concerned about use of MCS data in Antarctica for exploration for non-living resources:

•	the threat of exploitation of hydrocarbon and mineral resources has passed BUT
•	the threat of controls on use of seismic systems, due to mammals still exists.

At present, new software is being developed at OGS for the display of MCS data under the Windows environment. Old software only operated under DOS, and the file formats for the navigation and seismic data cannot be used for the new Windows-based software. The software development has encountered problems and been slow, hence CD-ROM production has been delayed.

•	Germany: Have submitted a data set, but have not received back a CD-ROM with those data, hence have withheld further submission of data due at the library.
•	Norway: 1985 data (newest) have mostly been submitted. The older data have been reprocessed but are in a DISCO internal format, and not the SEGY format needed by the SDLS.
•	Russia: The newer data are in SEGY format but many of the older data are only available on paper records.
•	France (comment by Cooper): Some MCS data have been lost from the Wilkes Land cruise.
•	UK: The 1993 Bellingshausen Sea data (stacks) and the 1998 Antarctic Peninsula data have not yet been submitted to the SDLS.
•	Spain: Have much data that need to be copied for submission to SDLS.

Future: Several items on future SDLS operations were discussed and included:
Data types to be included in the SDLS:

•	Metadata and navigation information should be available for all data sets shortly after the completion of the cruise (i.e., within 1 year);
•	All Antarctic seismic data that have more than 1 channel should be submitted;
•	MCS data from land operations should be included if they can be provided in SEGY format (e.g., snow-streamer data, but not land-station refraction data); and
•	Other geophysical data (e.g., gravity, magnetics, etc.) are not to be included.

CD-ROM data

•	A beta copy of the new SDLS CD-ROM Windows software was demonstrated.
•	The CD-ROMs display data directly from the SEGY data and navigation data
•	The software will operate under all Windows PC systems now in use at SDLS branches

Web-access to SDLS data

•	Several types of images of MCS data (e.g., jpg, tif, pdf) were displayed on a laptop computer (and in overheads) from existing publications and ones in preparation;
•	Images on the computer screen can readily be "captured" using the software program "SNAG-IT", and saved as image files for use in graphics programs, printing, and display in browsers such as was done at the workshop with Netscape 4.07 browser;
•	Software is likely to be available soon that will readily convert SEGY data to image-file formats, which would allow image data to be put on CD-ROMs or on the web;
•	There was strong interest in improving web pages and capabilities for the SDLS, initially with the display of navigation data and then later with images of seismic data;
•	There are still issues of protection of intellectual property rights for data younger than 8 years if the MCS data are to displayed on the web. The details of such display will have to be worked out if the SDLS is to move to the web.

IV. Other SDLS issues
Data input to the library:

•	There is a large backlog of cruises to be submitted to the SDLS;
•	Data collectors are still faced with the same difficulties as before in limited resources to cleanup data, change data formats (e.g., DISCO to SEGY), copy tapes, etc. to submit their data
•	Some groups (e.g., Germany) have MCS data that are already in final SEGY format and now are in institutional data bases from which data could be submitted to SDLS;
•	Once the new CD-ROM software is functional, and CD-ROMs are again being produced -- then strong emphasis should be placed on data submission; and
•	The issue of data submission will be discussed again at the next workshop.

SDLS funding:

• The current guidelines from SCAR Recommendation XXIII-13 (Polar Record, 1995, v.31, n. 177, p. 280) are that

•	"MNAPs [Managers of National Antarctic Programs] of countries presently holding data not yet provided to SDLS consult on the method of financing the preparation and production of the CD-ROMs for these data" (item 5). The amount is US$5000/CD produced (note 6).
•	"organizations that plan to collect MCS data in Antarctica should notify their MNAP now, or as part of future cruise planning, so that adequate resources can be provided by MNAP's (via COMNAP) to SCAR for production and distribution of CD-ROMs for the SDLS" (item 6).
•	The recommendation also encourages production of CD-ROMs by a central group (e.g., OGS) or by data collection institutions, if they meet the standards set by the central group (item 3).

• Workshop participants supported the SCAR recommendation, and agreed that the US$5000/CD-ROM-produced continue.

V. Consensus Statement:
The workshop concluded with a discussion and acceptance of a consensus statement, tailored after the first consensus statement approved in Oslo, 1991 -- to continue the policies and procedures of the SDLS under the guidelines of ATCM Recommendation XVI-12. The full text of the Wellington, 1999 consensus statement is given in Appendix II. For reference purposes, the full text of the Oslo, 1991 consensus statement is given in Appendix III. The Oslo consensus statement formed the basis of ATCM Recommendation XVI-12.

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