| Citation |
Thompson, L.A., Baudry, V., Moore, B., Hague, M.J., Senciall, D., Mercer, S., and Patterson, D.A.. 2010. A standardised process for the rescue, archival and quality control of historic water temperature data for the Fraser River Watershed, British Columbia. Can. Tech. Rep. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 2863 vii + 50 p. |
| Abstract/Description or Keywords |
Accessibility to a long time series of quality controlled water temperature data is of increasing importance with respect to investigations regarding the impact of climate change on aquatic organisms and ecosystems. The purpose of this technical report is to outline the steps taken and the tools built to rescue, archive and quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) multi-locations and multi-years of water temperatures in the Fraser River Watershed, B.C. Over 3,500 original water temperature data sheets were rescued, containing data for 498 locations throughout the Fraser River watershed beginning in the 1930’s. Rescuing the data sheets was conducted by transcribing these paper records into electronic forms and importing the data into Microsoft Access®. Displaying user-friendly interfaces, the MS Access® database is a useful tool for efficiently storing, verifying and exporting datasets. Quality control levels and 18 quality assurance controls have been implemented to standardize the automated checking procedures and provide verified datasets. The design of the database is flexible enough to accommodate changes in sampling regimes and the data design is portable to other platforms, thus the process from rescuing data to downloading verified data can be mimicked by other regions nationally. Additionally, the water temperature database design will ensure multi-regional compatibility of water temperature data. |
