WP 6 – Data and Sample Management

The primary goals of this work package are to manage and facilitate the long-term storage of and access to the generated data, to initiate and organize the collection and distribution of sample material to partners who are not able to join the SONNE cruise or individual legs, and to enhance the exchange of data and information between WPs within the JPIO collaboration and beyond.


In this project, huge volumes of data will be recorded across all work packages and especially in WP 1 and 4 with a considerable variety of sensors, such as high-resolution multibeam sonars, imaging, video cameras, acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCP), thermistors. In WP 2 and 3 a large variety of different data types, such as concentrations of chemical compounds, fauna diversity and abundances or microbial parameters, are collected. All data need to be geo- and time-referenced, and will be combined with legacy data from earlier surveys and experiments. This very heterogeneous data collection needs to be stored and maintained for scientific investigations and also for repeated evaluations and comparison studies of potential mining activities in the future. The same applies to all samples taken during the SONNE cruise, which will be subject to a large variety of subsequent analyses and studies in different laboratories. In order to guarantee a sustainable collection and archival of these samples as well as a safe distribution to the different partner laboratories involved in their post-cruise analyses, the samples need to be prepared and stored accordingly.


This WP will provide effective management and archiving of the collected samples and generated data, based on already established protocols and best practices for research expeditions, the specific code of conduct for marine sciences, and the EU principles of data and knowledge sharing.