Enhancing technical expertise and ensuring sensor harmonisation
The objective of the first part of Module 2 is to build national technical expertise and capabilities to support priority data collection and Swedish ship-based research. It comprises two main actions: development and support of a national marine technicians’ network (NMTN), and national alignment of on-board sensors. You can read more about the National Marine Technician Network here.
NMTN is open to any technician or research engineer working on Swedish research vessels and marine scientific equipment, regardless of whether their organisation is an official SWERVE organisation or not. Training opportunities will be communicated nationally, with open access to workshops where possible. If participation is limited, prioritisation will be determined by the module lead on a case-by-case basis and may, besides scientific excellence, involve a “first-come, first served” approach, or based on a technician’s job requirements. A NMTN objective is to grow the pool of trained technicians that can move between vessels either for trouble-shooting support or as on-board technicians. This enhances experience and professional development, ensures a national high-quality of technical support to all researchers, and supports efficient vessel operations. Involvement of research engineers from SMaRC and technicians from EMBRC infrastructures will ensure community collaboration, joint training, and capacity development of all national marine technicians. Technicians within the NMTN will work towards a common inventory of sensors, available through the SWERVE website.
Enhancing the delivery of data to international repositories.
The objective of the second part of Module 2 is to enhance accessibility of data to all users both nationally and internationally in accordance with FAIR principles. Users of these data include researchers, and climate and ecosystem modelling for prediction and forecasting. Other users include the international remote sensing community (through various calibration/validation efforts), the marine technology community (maritime construction, energy, sensor, and platform engineering), and industry (seafloor mapping, fisheries management).
This module will coordinate collection, quality control, standardisation, and data delivery to ensure a data flow to COPERNICUS and EMODnet (European Marine Observations and Data Network), which have well-established policies aligned with the FAIR data principles. Some data may be sensitive and will not be made publicly available unless permits have been granted through the appropriate Swedish processes.
