CPR Survey data philosophy

The CPR Survey has an open and transparent approach to data availability, data requests and data citation. The Survey believes its plankton observation, ancillary datasets and associated metadata should be freely available to collaborating researchers. Increasing the number of scientists that can access and work with CPR Survey datasets will accelerate the progress of marine ecological science and understanding; enhancing the societal benefit derived from Survey data.

Explore our data

Chart data Monthly mean data for CPR standard areas
Here you can explore monthly mean data of a few variables across the CPR database, within the CPR standard areas.

Map DataGeospatial representation of CPR data
The strengths of a CPR dataset are its geospatial and temporal variance, providing a uniquely valuable dataset of planktonic information.

The Plankton Lifeform Extraction Tool:

A digital tool to increase the discoverability and usability of plankton time-series data, it brings together disparate European plankton datasets into a central database from which it extracts abundance time series of plankton functional groups, called “lifeforms”, according to shared biological traits. This tool has been designed to make complex plankton datasets accessible and meaningful for policy, public interest, and scientific discovery.

The Plankton Lifeform Extraction Tool currently integrates 155 000 samples, containing over 44 million plankton records, from nine different plankton datasets within UK and European seas, collected between 1924 and 2017

https://www.dassh.ac.uk/lifeforms/

Data request process

The process to request access to CPR Survey data is as follows:

  1. Enquiries for access to CPR data and samples should be made via the Data Request Form
  2. Within one week of submission we will contact the request originator to clarify the request and/or provide a data licence agreement for signature
  3. Data will be extracted and the dataset specified in the data licence agreement will be produced by the CPR Survey Data Product Team
  4. A custom Digital Object Identifier (DOI) will be minted and a copy of the dataset archived by the CPR Survey
  5. On receipt of the signed data licence agreement the dataset will be released. It is only for use as set out by the terms and conditions of the data licence agreement
  6. The data request originator will be paired with a member of CPR Survey staff who will act as on-going point of contact and collaborator once the requested dataset has been released. The Survey staff collaborator will also provide expertise and advice in data use and interpretation

The CPR Survey data licence grants permissions for users to work on a specified Survey dataset for a limited period of time. At the expiry of this permission, the original and all copies of the dataset must be destroyed.

Your obligation

Datasets are provided with an embedded CPR Survey attribution, suggested citation and Digital Object Identifier (DOI) which must be used to acknowledge the dataset as specified in the data licence agreement.

The CPR Survey requires individuals in possession of CPR Survey data to report to the Survey, for the lifetime of the data licence agreement, on the use of the data, its inclusion into data products and dissemination through publication.

The CPR Survey expects that co-authorship will be offered to Survey staff in response to their active collaboration on projects requiring the use of CPR Survey data products.