1. The EMODnet Beach Litter database for the Baseline
Workshops on Litter Baselines and Thresholds, Larnaca (Cyprus)
28 June, 2018
Alessandra Giorgetti, OGS
Matteo Vinci, OGS
Eugenia Molina, OGS
M. del Mar Chaves, OGS
Anna M. Addamo, EC-JRC

2. Beach litter approach
The EMODnet beach litter data format is modelled after the OSPAR data format, where additional fields are included to ease data management (data originator and collator, project, reference beach...)
Flexible to merge data from 5 lists of beach litter categories:
OSPAR beach litter lists (100m, 1 km) published in ‘Guidelines for Monitoring Marine Litter on the Beaches in the OSPAR Maritime Area’ (2010)
Master List published in ‘Guidance on Monitoring of Marine Litter in European Seas’ (MSFD TSG on Marine Litter, 2013).
UNEP list of Marine litter characterization published in ‘UNEP/IOC Guidelines on Survey and Monitoring of Marine Litter’ (2009) + UNEP Marlin Baltic project list categories
Data gathered into the database maintains original data categories. Mapping tables between categories are created for products generation

3. Database workflow Input: Litter Original EMODnet Output Database data
format
Litter
Database
Input:
Original
data

4. Input data Sampling method heterogeneity :
Three data sources:
OSPAR Litter database
Litter data compiled by JRC for baselines
Litter data from EMODnet partners and other contributions
More than 20 different formats were converted to be ingested into database
Issues due to heterogeneity:
Sampling method :
Variable survey length
Different monitoring protocols
Aggregation on litter quantities and/or units
Coding/reporting:
Original language item description
Ad-hoc coding lists
Sometimes MS used TG-ML and different (OSPAR/UNEP) coding in the same survey to cover all the items found
Spatio-temporal:
Temporal references missing or heterogeneous (sometimes the complete date is provided, sometimes just the season and the year)
Spatial references (beach and/or survey) missing or incomplete
Input:
Original
data
Sampling method heterogeneity :
surveys on 100, 1000 (or both) or x (defined or unknown) meters
sometimes beach surveys are repeated along the same transect, sometimes not
sometimes data provided as sums or averages of different transects in the same beach
Spatio-temporal heterogeneity :
Not always spatial or temporal references are provided
When available spatial or temporal references are heterogeneous:
Temporal
sometimes the complete date is provided, sometimes just the season and the year
Spatial:
sometimes survey reference is provided, sometimes beach reference is provided and sometimes both.
sometimes survey length is not available

5. EMODnet format EMODnet format
The format follows OSPAR-MCS approach, adapted to manage all relevant info. It is made by 4 tables, each of them describing a different topic:
Beach metadata with 42 fields divided in General Info, Beach geography, Major usage and access, Beach Cleaning, Other
Survey metadata with 56 fields divided in General info, Nearest town/development/outlets/line/harbour/river, Additional Info
Animals with 7 fields: SurveyCode, Animal, State, Sex, Age, Entanglement, EntanglementNature
Litter data with 7 fields: SurveyCode, LitterReferenceList, ItemCode, ItemName, ParameterOriginalName, NoItems, Notes
Description of format and templates can be found at:
EMODnet
format

6. The database structure
Relational database with spatial capacities (PostgresSQL + PostGIS)
37 tables for beach litter containing information about:
Beaches (2): name, position, country, other metadata
Surveys (5): beach, survey id, date, position, surveyor, other metadata
Animals (1): survey id, animal description and retrieve conditions
Items (1): survey id, original name given, quantity, code, list or lists used
Reference lists (14): item description, codes, relationship between lists
Accessory vocabularies and lists (13) referenced in the EMODnet format
Import log (1): record of entry date into the database
EMODnet
Litter
Database
Simplified database schema

7. The database No. countries 27 No. beaches 509 No. surveys 6289
Data are validated before ingestion to ensure compliance with EMODnet format and to avoid duplicates. This is performed by java webservice validation tool (in beta testing)
EMODnet
Litter
Database
No. countries 27
No. beaches
509
No. surveys
6289
No. insertions
448883
Updated at 25/06/2018

8. Country
Collator
No. Beaches
No. Surveys
Bulgaria
JRC 8 32
Croatia 4 24
Cyprus 29
Denmark (Baltic) 3 19
Estonia 10
106
Finland 12
128
France (Med) 36
Germany (Baltic) 26
392
Greece 6 21
Italy
162
Latvia 41
187
Lithuania
Poland 15
120
Romania 9
Slovenia 5
132
Spain (Med) 16
380
Sweden (Baltic) 13
129
Belgium
OSPAR
141
Denmark 18 61
Faroe Islands 1
France
395
Germany
405
Iceland 7
Ireland
180
Netherlands
425
Norway 82
Portugal
361
Spain 14
663
Sweden
204
United Kingdom 48
1419
Georgia
PARTNER
Russian Federation
PROJECT
Database content
EMODnet
Litter
Database
Number of beaches and surveys listed by data provider and country
Updated at 25/06/2018

9. The output Output data files:
Several homogeneous output formats can be generated from the database
Baselines analysis
Maps:
Some basic example maps already generated (next slide)
Waiting for feedback of stakeholders for relevant kind of maps
Web service (next step):
Under development for officially agreed data exchanges
Output

10. Marine Litter
Map showing the distribution of the surveyed beaches specifying
the reference list used

11. Considerations
Merging data from different sources result in loss of details
E.g. multiple specific items code reduced to one generic for lack of 1:1 correspondence; no specific survey date but only season
It is critical to perform systematic analysis on the whole set of metadata and data:
E.g: survey length varying from 50 to 3000 meters. Most of the surveys are done on the following lengths: 4161 surveys at 100m, 1828 surveys at 1000m. Sometimes survey length is missing (16 times)