Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
(i) administrative information;
(ii) location: geographical coordinates, elevation(s);
(iii) descriptions of remote and immediate surroundings and obstacles. (It is
necessary to include maps and plans on appropriate scales);
(iv) instrument layout;
(v) facilities: data transmission, power supply, cabling;
(vi) climatological description.
(c) Individual instrument information:
(i) type: manufacturer, model, serial number, operating principles;
(ii) performance characteristics;
(iii) calibration data and time;
(iv) sitting and exposure: location, shielding, height above ground;
(v) measuring or observing program;
(vi) times of observations;
(vii) observer;
(viii) data acquisition: sampling, averaging;
(ix) data-processing methods and algorithms;
(x) preventive and corrective maintenance;
(xi) data quality (in the form of a flag or uncertainty).
A simple template for the description of station exposure is shown in Figure
1.11. As ideal exposure of sensors, according to the WMO standards, is seldom
available, the documentation of exposure is of high importance for the usage of data
retrieved from a particular station, otherwise the reliability of the observations
cannot be determined.
Metadata on meteorological data are very important because they are highly
dependent on observational practices, such as type of sensor, its exposure,
observational procedures, observation times, etc. The full potential of data can only
be explored when sufficient metadata are available; As stated by the WMO [AGU
02]: “The details and history of local conditions, instruments, operating procedures,
data processing algorithms and other factors pertinent to interpreting data (i.e.
metadata) should be documented and treated with the same care as the data
themselves”.
An important part of metadata is information on the local environment.
Geographical coordinates and elevation of a station does not provide enough
information in this context. Even if coordinates are documented with sufficient
accuracy, the local environment can not be reconstructed. In particular, influences
on station measurements act at different spatial scales. Therefore, documentation of
the local environment should cover [AGU 03]:
- updated mapping in some form of the mesoscale region at ca. 1:100,000;
