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Еuroseismic – key to the European seismic data
Georgijs Konshin, Inara Nulle, Tatjana Shadrina – State Geological Survey of Latvia
Access to information: first steps in the co-operation of the EU member states in the sphere of marine
geology
Studies of the geological structure of the seas of Europe are one of the spheres of international co-operation
of the geological institutions of the EU countries. Knowledge of the nature of the sea bottom is an important
factor in the modern strategy of the management of marine environment and resources. Such management
can be efficient only if there is a high degree of compatibility and accessibility of data pertaining to the
marine environment.
During the last few years, the European geological institutions have collected a lot of cores and sediment
samples, geophysical data, side-scan sonograms etc. in their archives, which are of great interest to science
and industry. Still, the practice demonstrated that the interested users came across considerable difficulties
during the search of the information they needed.
In order to solve this problem and ensure a direct and convenient access to data, two important interrelated
scientific projects were implemented during 1998 – 2001, supported by the European Commission:
Eumarsin (European Marine Sediment Information Network) [1] and Eurocore (Seafloor Samples and
Cores) [2], with the participation of 14 countries: Germany, France, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Ireland,
Denmark, the Netherlands, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Greece, Portugal.
The main target of the projects was to Internet-based establish powerful systems of storage and search of the
so-called metadata. Metadata are “secondary” data, which describe “primary” data, obtained as a result of
geological investigations. E.g., as regards cores of marine sediments, the following may serve as metadata:
water depth, co-ordinates of sampling sites, length and diameter of cores etc.
The creation of the public website www.eu-seased.net was an impressive result of the Eumarsin and
Eurocore projects, where one can easily and quickly obtain the necessary information on the sedimentology
of the European seas.
Еuroseismic – a new international project with the participation of EU candidate countries
In addition to the earlier implemented projects, a new project was initiated in 2002 - Euroseimic (European
Marine Seismic Metadata and Information Centre), with the purpose of establishment in 2004 of a metadata
bank on marine seismic investigations carried out in the European seas during the last 30 years [3]. First of
all, the metadata must incorporate seismoacoustic sections and side-scan sonograms. The Euroseismic data
bank will be an addition to the http://www.eu-seased.net/ website, and the interested users will be able to
obtain a complete set of metadata on the bottom of the European seas through the Internet. From the point of
view of geography, the Euroseimic project incorporates the Norwegian, Baltic, North, Irish and
Mediterranean seas, western part of the Black Sea, the English Channel, the Bay of Biscay and a part of the
Atlantic Ocean.
Alongside with the countries, which participated in the Eumarsin and Eurocore projects, 6 countries – EU
candidates participate in the new project, i.e. Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Bulgaria and Romania. The
Latvian side is represented in the Euroseimic Project by the State Geological Survey of Latvia (SGSL).
Еuroseismic – the status of offshore operations in Latvia
The Latvian participants in the Project had to solve the following main tasks:
 An inventory of the archive materials and selection of objects to be reflected in the Project;
 Preparation of metadata;
 Development of a working metadata base;
 Import of metadata into the Euroseismic central bank;
 Participation in the implementation of Euroseismic.
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Analysis of geological and geophysical information materials stored in the SGSL archives, and selection
of objects to be reflected in Еuroseismic
The analysis of the level of geological and geophysical knowledge, the Latvian state geological archives
store a considerable amount of marine seismoacoustic and acoustic lines, most of which have been obtained
during the last 30 years. In many cases, for the same seismic lines, different sets of equipment were used
(sparker, subbottom profiler, side-scan sonar).
In compliance with the requirements, only high-quality well-documented data were to be selected for the
system with reliable navigation data. Ten objects were selected for inclusion in the Еuroseismic system.
Three of those pertain to marine geological mapping [4-6], two – to offshore sand and gravel prospecting [7,
8], one – to the studies of geological processes in the Ventspils harbour [9], the rest – to geophysical
investigations in the central Baltic [10, 11]. All the above objects are shown in Fig. 1. Most of them
incorporate both seismoacoustic and sonar data. Approximately 1,000 individual seismic lines with the total
length about 18,000 km were selected for the incorporation in the system.
Fig. 1. Geophysical investigations in the Baltic Sea and Gulf of Riga, included in the Euroseismic system
Preparation of metadata
The description of the selected seismoacoustic materials using the metadata language was the most difficult
tasks for the participants in the Project.
Two metadata levels are singled out within the system – the survey level and the line/polygon level. A
survey may contain one or several lines and/or one or several polygons.
Metadata regarding surveys incorporate such features as the year, geographic co-ordinates, type of obtained
data, name of vessel, positioning method etc. Metadata regarding lines/polygons, incorporate, first of all, a
list of co-ordinates in the WGS 84 system, defining the position of a line in space, and, secondly, information
on the equipment, which was used during the investigations of a line/polygon, frequency of the seismic
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source, number of channels, data output format etc. According to the system guidelines, some data are used
based on the previously approved list (e.g., type of equipment); other data are used according to the accepted
format of description of data (e.g., recording length).
During the transformation of the available co-ordinates in the Pulkovo 42 system into the WGS 84 system
the following software was used: PCTrans, Version 3.2a (the Royal Netherlands Navy Hydrographic
Service).
Development of the working database “Euroseismic Latvia”
For the convenience of collection, storage and accounting of the metadata to be transferred into the central
bank of the system the working database “Euroseismic Latvia” was established based on the Microsoft
Access software. It consists of 4 main tables: Survey_metadata, Lines_ID, Line_coordinate and
Line_equipment. They contain metadata on the surveys, line designations, line co-ordinates and equipment
used. Interrelations between the tables were arranged so (Fig.2), that it would be possible to output the
necessary data without problems, based on any queries.
Fig.2. Interrelations between the tables of the data base “Euroseismic Latvia”
Import of the metadata into the central bank
The next stage incorporated the transformation of the Latvian offshore data into the xml format and import of
the files by e-mail into the central database located at the Marine Information Service (Maris) in the
Netherlands. The xml language is a new universal language of data marking, supported by Microsoft Internet
Explorer It is the experts’ opinion that, in the near future, xml will become the principal language of
information exchange for the information systems, thus replacing HTML. In order to prepare the Latvian xml
files, special software was used, developed by the Bulgarian partners. A fragment of the metadata file in the
xml format for geological mapping in the Gulf of Riga is given below as an illustration.
<survey>
<survey_id>GM91</survey_id>
<survey_project>3</survey_project>
<survey_year>1991</survey_year>
<survey_positioning_method>1</survey_positioning_method>
<survey_data_type>1</survey_data_type>
<survey_data_type>7</survey_data_type>
<survey_data_holder>18</survey_data_holder>
<survey_data_contact_name>Uldis Nulle</survey_data_contact_name>
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<survey_data_contact_email>uldis@vgd.gov.lv</survey_data_contact_email>
<survey_metadata_provider>18</survey_metadata_provider>
<survey_metadata_contact_name>Georgij Konshin</survey_metadata_contact_name>
<survey_metadata_contact_email>konsin@vgd.gov.lv</survey_metadata_contact_email>
<survey_coverage>Gulf
of
Riga,
western
part
and
adjacent
part
of
Baltic
Sea</survey_coverage>
<survey_report_native>Stiebrinš O., Juškevičs V., Baraškovs V. Informatīvs pārskats par
lapu 0-34-XXII un 0-34-XXIII akvatoriālo daļu 1:200000 mēroga ģeoloģisko kartēšanu. VĢD,
1993, Inv. Nr. 11041</survey_report_native>
<survey_report_english>State Geological Fund, Reg. No. 11041
Information Report on geological mapping, Sheets 0-34-XXII and 0-34-XXIII (offshore
part).Riga, Department of Geology, 1993 (in Latvian).
</survey_report_english>
<survey_vessel>Olev, Malle, Salme, Kabli, Sulev</survey_vessel>
<survey_period_start>01/07/1991</survey_period_start>
<survey_period_end>31/08/1991</survey_period_end>
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………
<line>
<line_id>504SR1</line_id>
<line_equipment>
<l_equip_equipment_type>3</l_equip_equipment_type>
<l_equip_frequency_indicator>3</l_equip_frequency_indicator>
<l_equip_channels>3</l_equip_channels>
<l_equip_output_format>1</l_equip_output_format>
<l_equip_recording_length>0.180</l_equip_recording_length>
</line_equipment>
<line_coordinates>
<l_count>2</l_count>
<l_coord>57.322128 21.329771</l_coord>
<l_coord>58.009304 21.335899</l_coord>
</line_coordinates>
</line>
<line>
In the central Euroseismic data bank, the files, received by e-mail, are checked and, if there are errors, are
returned to authors for editing.
As of today, all the Latvian offshore metadata files were recognised valid and incorporated in the central
Euroseismic database.
Еuroseismic –implementation policy
In accordance with the general ideology of the EU-funded projects, implementation is the most important
aspect of the Euroseismiс Project, including measures and means of facilitating the use of metadata by the
end users of the system.
It is expected that the “market” of the end product of Euroseismiс will incorporate users from institutions of
the following types:
 Regional, national and international governmental institutions of the EU countries, which are
responsible for the management of marine environment;
 Spheres of industry, dealing with marine mineral resources (including oil and gas), offshore
construction, coastal protection and remediation, commercial fisheries, navigation, offshore pipelines
etc.;
 Marine research institutions and universities;
 Some public groups.
According to a preliminary estimate, the number of potential end users of the system in Latvia is 15-20
institutions and companies, including geotechnical companies and research institutes.
The society will be informed about the capabilities of Euroseismic as follows:

by making presentations at national international conferences;

by preparing special pages on the www.eu-seased.net website and sites of each of the partners;

by special notifications by e-mail;
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

by advertising leaflets and posters;
in conference proceedings and scientific articles.
The Euroseismic Technology Implementation Plan defines the legal and financial conditions for the
exploitation of the system, responsibilities of the partners as regards servicing the clients, possible copyright
aspects etc.
Еuroseismic – end results
By the end of 2004, after the completion of the Project, the Euroseismic bank will fulfil the functions of data
entry and editing on-line, data quality control, and, what is the most important, the search of data in the
Internet. The search catalogue, incorporating metadata for offshore seismic – over 2.5 million line km, will
be the basis of the database. The search for data will be possible using both the map interface and metadata
fields in a wide range of parameters. It should be taken into account that, as a result of such a search, only a
list of metadata will be output, while the access to actual data will be based on negotiations between the
users and holders of the data.
Special information pages (Community pages) will be prepared for the users of the system on the EU-Seased
website, incorporating an information bulletin, information display and feedback window for
communications with the end users. It will allow the users to introduce their comments regarding the Project
and obtain the necessary data.
Community pages will stimulate the interest of the society in the seabed in general, providing access to the
existing information in all the EU-Seased databases. The Project will be of particular importance to
organisations/companies engaged in the exploration and development of offshore hydrocarbon resources.
It is expected that the number of Euroseismic users will be considerable. It should be mentioned that, during
2000, there were over 250,000 visits of the EU-SEASED site by 11,000 clients from 64 countries.
Literature
1.
2.
3.
4.
Eumarsin project info. -http://www.eu-seased.net/frameset_flash.asp?v0=1
Eurocore project info/ - http://www.eu-seased.net/frameset_flash.asp?v0=1
Euroseismic project info/ - http://www.eu-seased.net/frameset_flash.asp?v0=1
Report on pilot geological mapping at the scale 1:200,000 in the offshore part of Sheets 0-34-XXX (Tukums), 035-XXV. SGSL, 1987, Reg. No. 10543 (in Russian).
5. Report on geological mapping at the scale 1:200,000 in the offshore part of Sheets 0-34-XXIV and 0-35-XIX.
SGSL, 1992, Reg. No. 10888 (in Russian).
6. Information report on geological mapping at the scale 1:200,000 in the offshore part of Sheets 0-34-XXII and 0-34XXIII. SGSL, 1993, Reg. No. 11041 (in Latvian).
7. Report on the evaluation of exploration for construction sand in the Irbe Strait. SGSL, 1992, Reg. No. 10915 (in
Latvian).
8. Report on the exploration for sand and gravel deposits in the Baltic Sea from the Ovishi Cape to Pavilosta for 19801982. SGSL, 1982, Reg. No. 09902 (in Russian).
9. Studies of marine geological processes in the area of the Ventspils harbour. Riga, Latvijas geologija, 1996. SGSL,
1996, Reg. No. 11370 (in Latvian).
10. Seismoacoustic profiling during the Lithuanian - Swedish geological-geophysical expedition, data, R/V “Vejas”
materials, 1993-1995, SGSL, 1998, archive materials (in Russian; submitted by R. Seredenko).
11. Seismoacoustic profiling during the Swedish geological-geophysical expedition, R/V “Skagerrak” materials,
SGSL, 1998, archive materials (in Russian; submitted by V. Barashkovs), Reg. No. 12879.