Contributing data to the GEOFON Data Centre @ GFZ (Marine Experiments / Ocean Bottom Seismometers)¶

1.Scope of this document¶

The present document has been prepared within the eFAIRs project in collaboration with AWI and GEOMAR with the aim to provide simple guidelines to assist data providers during the archival of their data at GEOFON DC according to the Guidelines on Research Data at the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences.

2. Request a network code at FDSN and provide DOI metadata¶

For requesting a temporary network code and minting a DOI for your project, we need the following information:

- Title of the experiment (explanation see below)

- Start year

- End Year

- Short abstract/description (max 200 words / explanation see below)

- Estimated size

- PI (with ORCID iD if existing)

- Funding Agency including AwardNumber/GrantNumber (ideally with CrossRef ID)

- Sponsor(s)

- Contributor(s)

- Deployment area

- Will the data be embargoed (then please add email list of people who should have access)

- Expected release date, default is up to 4 years after the completion of the experiment

- License (after releasing dataset), default is CC-BY

- Related references

- Keywords

Title¶

This should be about 5-10 words naming the seismic network, similar to the descriptions
found in StationXML3 and elsewhere. It is not necessary to include the FDSN network code,
as the DOI network code mapping is maintained by the FDSN DOI registration service, and
the network code will be available on the landing page. Examples: "PUNA Project, Western
Argentina 1997", "Serbian Seismic Network".

Short abstract/description¶

A short summary of the network, no more than 200-300 words in length. This should include
the number, location, and types of sensors, and the type of data collected. Permanent
networks frequently gain or lose stations, so there is little sense in being too specific
concerning these. Suggested components: Description, aim and scope, Geodynamic setting
(for temporary networks), Geographical coverage, Instrument types, (number of stations for
temporary networks), Data policy (e.g. fully open/restricted/embargoed), Any peculiarities of
the network.

Both explanations taken from FDSN DOI Recommendations

Funding Agency / Sponsor(s) / Contributor(s)¶

If the experiment is completely or substantially funded by organisations different from the one of the creator please name them, ideally with CrossRef ID.
Any organisation/project/pool/person contributing to the project only partially should be added as a sponsor or contributor.

Related References¶

For any software, scientific papers, tools you used to obtain the dataset or for any related datasets or related publications
please provide a DOI or a URL, so a related reference link, and therefore appropriate acknowledgement, can be added to the DOI metadata and the landing page.
Keep in mind to also provide information on where the raw data and ship reports are stored (e.g. PANGEA) so we can add these references, too.

License¶

As a default we apply CC BY after the end of an eventual embargo period.
If you prefer a different license let us know.

Keywords¶

For OBS datasets we insert as a default the follwowing keywords:

provided by NASA/GCMD Earth Science Keywords	EARTHQUAKES
	MARINE GEOPHYSICS
	Seismometers
	HYDROPHONES
	GEOPHYSICAL STATIONS/NETWORKS
provided by SeisData	Passive seismic
	Temporary
	Seismometers
	Hydrophones
	Velocity
	MiniSEED
	OBS
	Geophysics
	DEPAS (if appropriate)

If you would like to have additional keywords applied please explore SeisData and/or NASA/GCMD Earth Science Keywords
Please choose keywords that fit best to describe your dataset to better categorize or group the networks.
These are going to be provided in the DOI metadata and with the increasing number of networks his helps users to find the needed datasets more easily afterwards.

Dates¶

Even if data mostly are not collected from 1st of January to 31st of December network codes are assigned for whole years.
To be more precise, we add the following dates to the DOI metadata:
Collected to indicate the time span during which data was collected for the experiment
Accepted for the date when GEOFON data centre agreed to archive the data
Submitted indicates the date when the transfer of data and metadata has been completed
Issued shows the date when the data and metadata actually went online
Created contains the date when the DOI has been minted
Available indicates the first day after the embargo has ended

If you wish to see the actual metadata uploaded to DataCite just click on the JSON or XML button in the DataCite metadata section.

Please download and fill in this PDF to provide all the information needed to archive your dataset and create a DOI for it.
If you have difficulties filling the PDF please just provide the information in a different way.

Of course, if you prefer, you can request an FDSN network code yourself . In this case please be cautious, there are a few little traps. Please keep in mind that we still need the information requested in the PDF.

• Please make sure to choose Do nothing right now if you do not already have a DOI minted for your network. GFZ will mint a DOI for you and afterwards insert it into the FDSN network mask.
• Be sure to enable access to the FDSN network page for geofon_dc@gfz-potsdam.de by adding this in the comment area.
• Please also make sure that you choose the right institution at Operating institution . You can also insert a new institution if you can't find yours in the drop-down menu. Please do not choose GEOFON Program here!
• Choose GEOFON as your webservice in order to enable FDSN to get your station metadata from our webservices automatically.
  If you prefer to request an FDSN network code on your own, please make sure to forward the response message to geofon_dc(at)gfz-potsdam.de !

3. Data Preparation¶

For data preparation we recommend the GIPPtools from the Geophysical Instrument Pool Potsdam by Christof Lendl or msmod by Chad Trabant.
The receiver program on our server expects MiniSEED data with the following configuration.
Header containing the final network code (assigned by FDSN), appropriate station code, channel naming, location code and timing information flags (depending on the applied timing correction method) -> see also Wayne Crawford - OBS data/metadata proposal (in this document the author proposes three options to apply the calculated time corrections: RAW; SHIFTED; RESAMPLED with the latter being the preferred at GEOFON DC to facilitate mixed usage of land and OBS data for users. PIs can still opt for one of the other options).
Please also choose:
Blocksize 512 or 4096
ByteOrder: BigEndian
Compression: Steim1 or Steim2 (please be consistent stationwise to avoid different compressions in one day file)
Since the conversion can be very time consuming especially for large datasets, we strongly recommend to try first with a small amount of data.

4. Send Station Metadata¶

FDSN Station.xml or SeisComp3 inventory.xml or dataless seed or a table containing the following information:

For creating station.xml for OBS deployments we recommend the use of obsinfo by Wayne Crawford.

Please provide information on applied timing correction method -> see also Wayne Crawford - OBS data/metadata proposal (in this document the author proposes three options to apply the calculated time corrections: RAW; SHIFTED; RESAMPLED with the latter being the preferred at GEOFON DC to facilitate mixed usage of land and OBS data for users. PIs can still opt for one of the other options). This has to be inserted into obsinfo.

If you provide station.xml, please make sure that your streams have start-date and end-date of deployment (for temporary networks). Even if we also may store data from before and after deployment time, only the data during the deployment epoch will be available for the user.
Please ensure that you also provide azimuths if your instruments have not been properly oriented.

Most of the above columns are self explaining but not all of them.
• Place / Country means nearest village or spot that helps to distinguish stations or otherwise be left empty
• AziCHan1/AziChan2 only necessary if instruments are not oriented, otherwise it’s Z,N,E
• ChanH means the hydrophone channel
• Start / End means start and end of the deployment of the station
• Device means the serial number of the instrument which gets more and more important because of the increasing use of persistent identifiers (PIDs) for instruments. The serial numbers provide the reference to the e.g. GIPP instrument database or the AWI instrument database.

5. Data Transfer via Ringserver¶

Now you have to download and install the Ringserver Client software miniseed2dmc
Please read the manual . It‘s possible to do Dry Runs (without server connection) for testing purposes, in order to find out if the data is recognized as miniSEED.
The next step should be the transfer of a small amount of data to see if all criteria have been met.
Call miniseed2dmc -v 139.17.3.77:port with port number being assigned by our data centre.

Your data and metadata will be checked several times:

• while preparing the metadata and data, parsers are checking the consistency of the generated StationXML
• after archiving PSD files are computed
• measures will be taken to make sure that data will stay untouched after final archival

Of course, errors and mistakes will always be corrected also much later, whenever they may be detected.

6. Special note for data collected in Germany (02.2024)¶

All geophysical data collected in the Economic Zone (EEZ) and the continental shelf of the Federal Republic of Germany must be made available according to the rules defined in the GeolDG law Geologiedatengesetz in force since 30.06.2020 thus:

• PI must provide all information necessary to request network code and mint DOI latest 4 weeks in advance of the expected start date of the experiment.
• Data must be provided to the data centre latest 1 month after completion of the experiment and available within 3 months.
• PI while providing the information about the experiment must also inform about the "Bundesland" (if more than one indicate all of them); GEOFON DC will take care of registering the experiment/dataset (DOI Identifier) at the relevant "Bundesland" latest 2 weeks before start (Verification data), send a notification to the land authority when data are archived (Technical data), latest 3 months after start.
• Derived data, papers/related results(Assessment data) must be notified to the relevant "Bundesland" by the PI directly.

In any case, should you have difficulties with one or more of the steps described above, please contact us at geofon_dc(at)gfz.de. Most probably we‘ll find a solution.

Looking forward to hosting your data at our data centre,
The GEOFON DC operators