suggesting that the survey results were 
indicative of respondents’ preferences. 
The respondents wanted data products 
with monthly or annual resolution 
(aggregated to this temporal scale) of a 
historic time series. The preference was 
for annual, quarterly, or monthly updates 
to these series (Figure 3). Respondents 
were more ambiguous about vertical 
resolution, with surface/bottom and 
vertical bins both scoring similarly. The 
majority also requested broad-spatial- 
scale aggregations of data from 10 km 
to larger (sea or region). Good-quality 
metadata on the methods used was 
also seen as important (at 60%). Many 
operational oceanographic products 
currently offer only graphical outputs 
such as maps, and this result contrasted 
greatly with the requirements of the 
respondents; 91% wanted to be able to 
download the numerical data. 
Although NetCDF files are 
becoming standard for the delivery 
and manipulation of meteorological 
and oceanographic data, the majority 
of users requested delivery in ASCII 
or spreadsheet formats. This prefer 
ence was similar across scientists, 
regardless of their data manipulation 
and software expertise. 
DISCUSSION 
The group of respondents was a relatively 
small proportion (6%) of the whole ICES 
community of 1800 active scientists, and 
the questionnaire was only circulated at 
certain target institutes. Nevertheless, the 
coverage in terms of geography, disci 
pline, and institute type is thought to be 
representative of the ICES community 
(Figure 1). Similarities in the answers 
of the respondents also added weight to 
the impression that the user group had 
been correctly targeted. We are aware 
that many operational oceanographic 
initiatives request feedback from their 
users; however, there is little evidence 
that those results are published as 
internal reports or citable literature. 
Thus, the aim of this work is to publicize 
to the wider operational oceanographic 
community the requirements of fisheries 
and environmental scientists. 
Which scales are you most interested in? 
Temporal resolution 
Which scales are you most interested in? 
Time Frame 
Figure 3. Data products 
required and data formats 
requested. Respondents 
could choose more than 
one option. The P values 
show the chi-squared test 
of the results against purely 
even results for all catego 
ries (other and no answer 
not included). 
Flow frequently will you require the products to be delivered? 
Regular (e.g., monitoring, advice, reporting) — please specify below Which file formats are most convenient for you? 
Oceanography | March 2011 169