WISE SoE - Biology data (WISE-2)

WISE-2 dataflow was established to obtain a harmonised flow of biology data reported as Ecological Quality Ratios (EQRs) from all surface water categories; rivers, lakes, transitional and coastal waters.

Biology data can be reported in two alternative ways:

1. as national EQR values, together with information on the national classification system (class boundaries in national EQR scale)
2. as normalised EQR values; then information on the national classification system is not required

Selected biological determinands with original metric values and units can be reported to WISE-6 dataflow: chlorophyll-a, total phytoplankton biomass, cyanobacteria biomass and cyanbacteria proportion.

The EEA WISE-2 database currently contains data from different phases of biology data reporting:

1. Reporting years 2011 - 2013: biology in rivers and lakes reported to WISE Rivers and WISE Lakes (stored as legacy data and migrated to WISE-4 dataset)
2. Reporting years 2015 - 2019: biology in rivers and lakes reported to WISE-4 dataflow
3. Reporting years 2019 - 2021: biology in all water categories reported to WISE-2 dataflow

WISE-2 database does not contain biology data reported during the test reporting years 2009-2010, nor biology data from transitional and coastal waters reported prior to 2019.

Biology data (from rivers and lakes) were not requested in 2014 due to the reorganization of WISE dataflows. Biology data (from all water categories) were not requested in 2020 due to lack of resources; any biology data that were attempted reported in 2020 have not been processed.

In cases where biology data have been previously delivered to CDR but have not been processed in WISE-2 for the reasons mentioned above, reporters are kindly asked to re-deliver the data in the most recent template format.

The following material is intended for national reporters of WISE-2 data.
It describes how to use Reportnet during the reporting process and how to improve the quality of deliveries.

Dataflow specific instructions

• Reporting obligation
• Data dictionary
• WISE SoE - Biology data (WISE-2) Reporters
• WISE SoE Reportnet guidance
• WISE2 QC reference - WFD NCSWaterBodyType
• WISE2 QC references
• WISE2 Reportnet 3 QC tests

Remark: new "Reporting guidance for SoE WISE-2 Biology data using Reportnet 3" is under preparation

Changes in the 2023 data call

In 2023, the WISE-2 data flow was transferred from CDR to Reportnet 3. Otherwise there has only been minor changes to the Data dictionary (e.g. vocabularies) and quality checking rules. The following changes were implemented in 2021 and have been refined during 2022-2023.
The WISE-2 reporting template (WISE-SoE_Biology.xls) is still downloadable from CDR however it is now also available in Reportnet 3 under "Dataflow help".

Acceptable water body types

For monitoring sites and water bodies where a water body type has already been reported to the WFD [surfaceWaterBodyTypeCode], the same water body type must be used in WISE-2 reporting. For the WISE-2 reporting in 2022, the allowed set of water body types was limited to those reported to WFD under the 2nd RBMP (2016). For WISE-2 reportings in 2023, this set has been expanded with the additional water body types reported under the 3rd RBMP (2022-2023).

BiologyEQRClassificationProcedure

The table BiologyEQRClassificationProcedure no longer needs to be filled in by reporters for each reporting. Instead, EEA provides a pre-filled excel template for each country, which is available in Reportnet 3.
The template contains the BiologyEQRClassificationProcedure table pre-filled with harmonized data from the previous reporting. Reporters are asked to check and, if necessary, correct the pre-filled information (classification system, applicable water body types, class boundaries etc.).

New records may be added to the prefilled table, but no prefilled records may be deleted. During the QC the table will be compared with the reference list of the classification procedures. The delivery will be blocked if any of the records are found missing. Instead of deleting them, the retired or invalid entries should be marked by using flag 'Z' in the resultObservationStatus field. When the deliveries are harvested and processed by the EEA, such records will be retired, and excluded from the future prefilled tables.

Even if there are no changes in the data, the BiologyEQRClassificationProcedure still needs to be present in Reportnet 3 as part of the delivery.

WISE dataflows

• WISE SoE Data Flows
• Water Framework Directive
• Floods Directive
• Bathing Water Directive
• Drinking Water Directive
• Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive

More information

• How to upload a report
• Using envelopes in CDR
• Setting up access limitations to files
• Security principles
• Reportnet architecture

If you need support please contact WISE SoE Helpdesk