Scottish Coastal Observatory data is published under a digital object identifier for each monitoring site. No published data will be modified, but additional years of data will be added to resources after publication once Quality control is completed.
We therefore recommend that citations include information about the range of data used when citing the dataset (e.g. date or other parameter range, including filtering by quality flags)
This secchi depth data resource contains 4 columns
Data quality are based on the SeaDatanet Measurand qualifier flags vocabulary (L20) See http://vocab.nerc.ac.uk/collection/L20/current/
Some codes were replaced with numeric fields and the translation for specific vocabulary term codes are as follows
QF 0 = SDN:L20::0 - No quality control (http://vocab.nerc.ac.uk/collection/L20/current/0/)
QF 1 = SDN:L20::1 - Good value (http://vocab.nerc.ac.uk/collection/L20/current/1/)
QF 2 = SDN:L20::2 - Probably good value (http://vocab.nerc.ac.uk/collection/L20/current/2/)
QF 3 = SDN:L20::3 - Probably bad value (http://vocab.nerc.ac.uk/collection/L20/current/3/)
QF 4 = SDN:L20::4 - Bad value (http://vocab.nerc.ac.uk/collection/L20/current/4/)
QF 5 = SDN:L20::5 - Changed value (http://vocab.nerc.ac.uk/collection/L20/current/5/)
QF 6 = SDN:L20::Q - Below limit of detection (http://vocab.nerc.ac.uk/collection/L20/current/Q/)
QF 7 = SDN:L20::7 - Above limit of detection (http://vocab.nerc.ac.uk/collection/L20/current/7/)
QF 8 = SDN:L20::8 - Estimated or interpolated (http://vocab.nerc.ac.uk/collection/L20/current/8/)
QF 9 = SDN:L20::9 - Missing value ( http://vocab.nerc.ac.uk/collection/L20/current/9/)
QF 10 = SDN:L20::A - Data phenomenon uncertain (http://vocab.nerc.ac.uk/collection/L20/current/A/)
Recommendations for data use:
- Data flagged with QF 0 can be used but the user should note that it is not a finalised datapoint and could be edited in future datasets
- Data flagged with QF 1,2,5 and 8 can be used with confidence.
- It is recommended that data with flags QF 3 and QF 4 be rejected entirely.
- Data flagged with QF 6,7 - special consideration needs to be given as to how this data is treated.
- Data flagged with QF 9 - needs to be removed or ignored in any analysis.
- Data flagged with QF 10 should be treated with caution, and with the decision based on the parameter of interest and the use being made with it.
The Data columns are:
Site (Name of the Scottish Coastal Observatory monitoring site)
Date (Date of sampling YYYY-MM-DD)
Secchi_Depth (Recorded secchi depth in 0.5m steps)
Secchi_Depth_QF (Quality flag for the row observation)