The German Alliance for Marine Research (Deutsche Allianz Meeresforschung e.V. - DAM) bundles the scientific and technical capacities of German marine research in an internationally outstanding network of expertise and institutions with the aim of meeting the challenges in researching the seas and oceans. To this end, DAM began implementing the pilot project "Unterwegs" research data in September 2019. This involves the systematic collection, transfer to land, quality assurance and publication of "en route" research data according to the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable). The focus lies on the vessels MARIA S. MERIAN, METEOR, POLARSTERN and SONNE. 

In the sub-project, the Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW) is primarily concerned with the analysis, planning and development of standards and tools (software) for CTD operation, CTD measurements and resulting data. The main focus is on the steps "CTD measurement and raw data generation", "quality assurance of measurements", "processing of raw data and validation", "archiving and publication in PANGEA".

The goal is to create a software framework that aims to standardise CTD operation with subsequent automatic data processing and provision based on expert knowledge from the field of CTD measurements on the four large research vessels. For this purpose, software tools already developed within the framework of the pilot project must be continued, while others must be partly newly developed, documented and made available.