Note: This update will take effect during the June 2025 Data Push. A detailed data dictionary and other researcher support will be available to accompany the rollout.
Based on feedback from researchers, the OTN Data Centre has updated the format of its Detection Extract data products. The noted changes include:
- Most columns have changed names to align with camelCase format.
- Column names have been aligned between tag-owner and array-operator extracts.
- A new column containing uncorrected datetime has been included in each extract. This time is the value before time corrections have been applied.
- A binary-format Parquet file is now outputted alongside the csv output.
- A new Sentinel Tag Owner data product has been added as an optional product for researchers who deploy sentinel tags.
Due to these changes, all historical Detection Extracts will be re-generated during the June 2025 Data Push. You are encouraged to download the newest files once they are ready for ease of analysis.
OTN and all of its partner nodes create detection extract files on a semi-regular basis, every ~4 months, following a cross-node coordinated detection matching event known as a Data Push. These detection extracts contain only the detections for the year corresponding to the suffix on the file name.
Detection extracts for previous years are updated when new detection data / tag records are loaded into the database and are matched to your project. To see when each record was last added or changed, please refer to the dateLastModified column.
OTN maintains acoustic telemetry analysis packages designed to work with this data format available in:
If you have any questions/concerns about this update, please contact: data@oceantrack.org