SeaLog & QA/QSea 2.2 Data Format
1ABR, Inc. - Environmental Research & Services 2842 Goldstream Rd. Fairbanks, AK 99709
2U.S. Geological Survey, Alaska Science Center, 4210 University Dr. Anchorage, AK 99508 (retired)
3National Park Service, 4175 Geist Rd., Fairbanks, AK 99709
Introduction
QA/QSea is a Shiny app written in the R environment. This app was constructed to work in conjunction with SeaLog, a data logging application developed by Department of Interior researchers in Alaska for the collection of at-sea survey data. QA/QSea can read comma delimited text files (csv) and Excel (xlsx) output from SeaLog, provide proofing tools, and generate exportable data files in multiple formats including that used in the North Pacific Pelagic Seabird Database (NPPSD). Note this app cannot read dLOG or any other csv data, as it requires JSON configuration files from SeaLog.
This document defines the data format exported by SeaLog and ingested by QA/QSea, version 2.2. If you have data from a different version or from different software, you may be able to reconfigure your CSV/Excel file so it can be processed by QA/QSea.
You will also need to set up a pair of JSON files defining the fields you were using during data collection (optionalFields.json
) and a validation list of species (speciesValidationList.json
). Links to the default versions of these files are at the bottom of this document. Details on these files can be found in the SeaLog 2.2 Manual.
Field Definition
The CSV/Excel observation file must contain these fields, in the following order. The fields where Required is Yes, must contain data. All the others are optional. If you have data in any of the optional fields, they must be set to “true” in the optionalFields.json
file or they will not be preserved in the outputs and backups.
Field | Short description | Data Type | Required |
---|---|---|---|
Vessel | Vessel name | Text | Yes |
TxWidth | Transect width (m) | Integer | Yes |
TripID | Trip ID | Text | Yes |
Transect | Transect | Text | Yes |
Record | Record number (autonumber) | Integer | Yes |
PortObs | Port observer | Text | No |
StarboardObs | Starboard observer | Text | No |
PortCondition | Port condition | Integer | No |
StarboardCondition | Starboard condition | Integer | No |
Beaufort | Beaufort code | Integer | No |
Weather | Weather | Text | No |
CloudCover | Cloud cover | Integer | No |
FogConc | Fog concentration | Integer | No |
IceType | Ice type | Text | No |
IceConc | Ice concentration | Integer | No |
On/OffTx | On/Off transect (“ON” or “OFF”) | Text | Yes |
Type | Data type (“USER” or “GPS”) | Text | Yes |
ObsSideIO | Observer inshore/offshore | Text | No |
ObsSidePS | Observer port/starboard | Text | No |
Species | Species code (4 letters) | Text | Yes |
Count | Species count | Integer | Yes |
PrimaryBehavior | Primary behavior | Text | No |
SecondaryBehavior | Secondary behavior | Text | No |
Age | Age | Text | No |
Sex | Sex | Text | No |
Plumage | Plumage | Text | No |
Distance | Distance from vessel (m) | Integer | No |
Angle | Angle from vessel course (°) | Integer | No |
Bin | Distance bin | Text | No |
UserSelect1 | Custom drop down field | Text | No |
UserSelect2 | Custom drop down field | Text | No |
UserText | Custom text field | Text | No |
UserNumeric | Custom numeric field | Float | No |
Latitude | Latitude (WGS84) | Float | Yes |
Longitude | Longitude (WGS84) | Float | Yes |
Date | Date (local) | Text | Yes |
Time | Time (local) | Text | Yes |
GPSTime | GPS Timestamp (UTC or with timezone) | Text | Yes |
Comments | Observation comments | Text | No |