Cruise Letter Data Extraction
April 7, 2009 (04/04/09, 08/08/06)
The Calliope data collection software on our ships is configured to receive cruise letter
Emails and extract useful metadata for inclusion in the data logs. In order for this to
work, the three data collectors are included in the cruise letter distribution. The addresses
are:
Calliope@Oceanus.whoi.edu
Calliope@Atlantis.whoi.edu
Calliope@Knorr.whoi.edu
Additionally, in order for the software to find and extract the useful data, some critical
formats and key words or phrases have been standardized and are used consistently.
Subject
1) the subject line must include "Cruise Letter" or "Cruise Ltr." so the software can detect
cruise letters (case is not important).
2) The name of the vessel must be in the subject.
Body
1) The four line paragraph providing the basic cruise parameters is particularly important.
It must not be located before the salutation line (i.e. Dear Captain Bligh”) and it must
begin with “R/V”. It must contain the vessel name, voyage ID, dates, and ports in the
format shown in the examples below. The location of this paragraph within the letter is
not important provided it is not within one of the other principal paragraphs. The order of
the line containing the dates and ports is not important.
2) The code locates the words associated with cruise objectives by searching for a
paragraph containing "object", "objective" or "objectives" within the first sentence.
3) The code finds the description of the activities and operations area by locating a
paragraph that contains "planned activity", "planned activities", "planned research
activities" or "planned scientific activities" in the first sentence.
4) Cruise participants are located by looking for a sentence containing "personnel
participating". If this line ends with a colon, a list of names is expected to follow (there
can be a blank line before the list starts). The personnel list is expected to end with a line
containing at least five dashes. The participants entry in the cruise information file will
contain the leading sentence and, if this sentence ends with a colon, all additional lines up
to the five-dash terminating line.
Delimiters
The code looks for blank lines to decide when a particular paragraph ends so these are
needed preceding and following the objectives and activities paragraphs. If it exists, the
personnel list must be followed by a line containing at lease five dashes.
Examples (critical components are in Red):
Subject: R/V ATLANTIS, Voyage #11, Leg XXVIII - Cruise Ltr.
Captain George Silva
R/V Atlantis, Voyage #11, Leg XXVIII
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Mail Stop #27
Woods Hole, MA 02543
Dear Captain Silva:
On or about 7 June 2005, your vessel being ready for sea and weather permitting, you
will depart Puntarenas, Costa Rica, on Voyage #11, Leg XXVIII. Upon completion of
the science activities the vessel shall return to Puntarenas, Costa Rica, on 16 June 2005.
The research objective is to collect bacterial cells and ancillary data from three sites to
investigate carbon sources fueling various microbial communities in the water column
and to record changes in microbial community structure associated with water column
methane gradients.
The planned activities include Alvin dives, instrument deployment at cold seeps,
chemistry on proximal push cores, and CTD casts. The operations area will be the East
Pacific Rise in the vicinity of 09-01N, 84-34W.
Scientific marine research within the exclusive economic zone of Costa Rica is
authorized.
R/V Atlantis
Voyage #11, Leg XXVIII
7 June 2005 – 16 June 2005
Puntarenas, Costa Rica – Puntarenas, Costa Rica
The scientific personnel participating on this voyage under the direction of Dr. Kevin
Brown, Chief Scientist, are:
Dr. Kevin Brown, Chief Scientist, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Dr. David Hilton, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Dr. Michael D. Tryon, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Ms. Alison LaBonte, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
………
Dr. Karl Gronvold, University of Iceland
Mr. Barrie Browning Walden, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Ms. Alexandra Nicole Hangsterfer, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Mr. Helge Niemann, Max Planck Institute, Germany
---------------The ship’s agent in Puntarenas, Costa Rica will be:
Vasile Tudoran Transport
819 Ohio Ave.
Long Beach, CA 90804
I wish you a pleasant and successful voyage.
Very truly yours,
Approved and Signed by
Robert B. Gagosian
President and Director
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Captain George Silva
R/V Atlantis
20 February, 2006
Dear Captain Silva:
On or about 31 March 2006, your vessel being ready for sea and weather permitting, you
will depart Jacksonville, Florida, on Voyage #14, Leg II. This leg shall carry the vessel
in transit to Woods Hole, Massachusetts. You may transit at your discretion to arrive in
Woods Hole, Massachusetts, on or before 3 April 2006.
R/V Atlantis
Voyage #14, Leg II
Jacksonville, FL – Woods Hole, MA
31 March 2006 – 3 April 2006
The objective of this leg is to carry the vessel in transit to Woods Hole, Massachusetts.
There will be no planned scientific activities during this transit.
There will be no scientific personnel participating on this leg.
{Note – since this line does not end with a colon, the code does not look for a list
of participants.}
The ship’s agent in Jacksonville, Florida, will be:
Amelia Maritime Services Inc.
1887 S. 14th St., Suite 105
Fernandina Beach, FL 32034
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Captain Sheasley:
On or about 10 June 2006, your vessel being ready for sea and weather permitting, you
will depart San Diego, California, on Voyage #182, Leg XV A&B. This leg shall carry
the vessel in transit to Woods Hole, Massachusetts. You may transit at your discretion to
arrive in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, on or before 29 June 2006.
The objective of this leg is to carry the vessel in transit to Woods Hole, Massachusetts.
The planned activity is to tow the Video Plankton Recorder from Panama to Woods Hole,
Massachusetts.
Scientific marine research clearance within the exclusive economic zone of Panama has
been approved. Research clearances within the exclusive economic zone of Jamaica and
Turks & Caicos are pending. Research clearance within the exclusive economic zone of
Colombia has been denied.
R/V Knorr
Voyage #182, Leg XV A&B
10 June 2006 – 29 June 2006
San Diego, CA – Woods Hole, MA
The scientific personnel participating on this voyage under the direction of Dr. Cabell
Davis, III, Chief Scientist, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, are:
Transit - San Diego to Panama
Knorr #182, Leg XV-A
Ms. Irma Sacha Wichers, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
{This separation line can be blank but it should not have five or more dashes}
Transit/Cabell Davis Panama to WHOI Knorr #182, Leg XV-B
Dr. Cabell Davis, III, Chief Scientist, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Ms. Colleen Petrik, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Mr. Joshua Eaton, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Dr. Dennis McGillicuddy, Jr., Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Mr. Nicholas Loomis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Ms. Irma Sacha Wichers, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
-------------------{This five+ dash line marks the end of the list}
The ship’s agent in San Diego, CA, will be:
Paxton, Shreve & Hays Inc.
2191 Main St.
San Diego, CA 92113