TTAinterfaceTrendAnalysis: A R GUI for Routine T emporal T rend Analysis and Diagnostics

Trend detection in hydrologic and water quality time series has received considerable attention in the recent past for pure research purposes on methodological development and/or assessment of ecological status [1,2]. Trend assessment is of particular interest because environmental changes have been sometimes unusual in the past few decades with consequences on the environment in general, including impacts on living resources and fishing management. Time-series are of importance to studies on the biological influence of anthropogenic effects and climatic changes, both in themselves and in providing a baseline and/or reference conditions for future investigations. These works could be particularly helpful to scientists and policymakers within the framework of European directives (Water Framework Directive (WFD 2000/60/EC), Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD 2008/56/EC)) and regional sea convention (OSPAR convention [3]). In this context and due to the heterogeneity, the variety of data sources and the variety of statistical analysis methodologies, there is a clear need for unifying methods of temporal trend assessment, for the purpose of a given directive or convention devoted to assess trends towards or from a good environment status. Consequently, the authors proposed the TTAinterfaceTrendAnalysis package with the aim to develop a standard procedure (routine) to assess temporal trend on database and which can be entirely done through a Graphical User Interface (GUI). Package containing temporal trend tests already exist in R language such as wq or pastecs, however they need command lines and are only ideal for advanced users who can deal with it. The TTAinterfaceTrend Analysis package uses the power of such tools but simplify their use (from database creation to results interpretation) through a GUI for standard, non-statistician user.