During WGFASTs 2010 meeting, it was recommended that a Topic Group on Acoustic Metadata (TG-AcMeta) be established to develop standardized metadata protocols for active acoustic systems. The result of this topic groups work over the past few years, SISP 3–TG-AcMeta A metadata convention for processed acoustic data from active acoustic systems, has just been updated and SISP 4–TG-AcMeta, A metadata convention for processed acoustic data from active acoustic systems.
A metadata convention is a systematic set of metadata attributes that have been developed to describe a particular genre or type of data. SISP 4 describes a metadata convention that details the attribute fields necessary to describe water column backscatter data obtained from active acoustic systems.
Updates in the latest version include:
Added new category of attributes, "data" which describe the data type being stored and its dimensions (i.e. cell size).
Altered obligations on attributes from Mandatory (M) or Mandatory if Applicable (MA) to recommended (R) for ship_breadth, ship_tonnage, ship_engine_power, ship_noise_design and ship_acknowledgements.
Changed term data_processing_transceiver_gain to data_processing_on_axis_gain
Changed term data_processing_transceiver_gain_units to data_processing_on_axis_gain_units
Minor edits to improve readability in "Purpose of this document" section.
Added new attribute of "Convention" to the Metadata category.
WGFAST, created in 1984, has been a key group internationally in developing acoustic trawl surveys. Over the years, the groups focus has shifted from solving the technical challenges of reliable acoustic measurements to the use of acoustics to observe key biological parameters such as biomass indices, behavioural metrics, and acoustic species classification. WGFAST holds state-of-the-art expertise in advanced acoustic-trawl survey techniques, and employs these techniques on a wide range of platforms including research vessels, ships of opportunity, and observatories.
