Hallvard Strøm

Sebastien Descamps

Vidar Bakken

The data quality is "best available", and highly variable as the database contains historical data, as well as data from recent surveys and censuses. A few, selected colonies are revisited and counted annually, while others are rarely revisited due to their remote locations.

A substantial number of colonies are registered with historically recorded positions that are not accurate.

A brief explanation of all the fields in the seabird-colony database:

colony_name - Colony's name.

colony_alternative_name - Colony's alternative name.

region - the region the colony belongs to.

zone:The zone the colony belongs to which could be f.ex. Hornsund, Bellsund, Isfjorden, Prins Karls Forland etc. From a collection of names.

latitude: The colony's latitude.

longitude: The colony's longitude.

location_accuracy: How accurate is the given latitude/longitude? Measured in meters, by GPS or on digital map.

conservation_type: Is the colony located in an area which holds a particular conservation status?

colony_type: The type of terrain the colony is situated in.

ownership: Who owns the colony location.

island: Name of island if colony not situated on the mainland.

island_size: Size of island if colony not situated on the mainland.

island_archipelago: The island belongs to this archipelago.

length: Length of coastline where the colony is situated - usually applies to coast colonies.

distance: Distance from colony to closest coastline.

distance_mainland: Distance from colony to the mainland.

exposure: Direction of the colony- south, west, etc.

area: Area of cliff wall if situated on a vertical cliff (or hillside).

confirmed: Year the colony first were described in literature.

map: The map that shows the colony place, for Svalbard typically numbered maps f.ex. "E8-BARENTSJØKULEN".

comment: Comment about the colony.

geometry: GeoJSON object outlining the colony

historical_colony: Where the colony first was described - field used f.ex. if colony can't be found anymore to keep old data.

colony_area: 1 if there exists a location area polygon for the colony an 0 if not.

predators: Who is predating the colony.

access_id: The corresponding MS access database id for count.

species: Which species.

start_date: Start date of counting.

end_date: End date of counting.

mean: Mean count value for the species in the colony.

max: Max count value for the species in the colony.

min: Min count value for the species in the colony.

accuracy: Count accuracy.Exact or rough estimate.

unit: Unit used for counting - pair, individual, nest, apparently occupied nest etc

method: Counting method used - direct count, from photograph, extrapolated, combination etc.

platform: Viewed from platform - land, boat, helicopter etc.

breeding: Stage of breeding - pre-laying period, eggs only, hatching period etc.

useful: Useful as total count.

count_comment: comment about the count.

colony_reference: This is one or more literature references where the colony has been described.

colony_reference.ref_id: RefenceID from MS database.

colony_reference.ref_unique_id: refence id most likely from the old DBase database.

colony_reference.authors: Publication authors.

colony_reference.title: Publication title.

colony_reference.year: Year publication was published.

colony_reference.volume: Publication volume.

colony_reference.pages: Publication pages.

colony_reference.journal: Publication journal.

CEOS IDN DIF

9.8.4