| Contents Notes |
"The aim of this effort was to develop and test a means for archiving invaluable data sets in a timely fashion before the necessary supporting information about the data becomes lost forever, rt was anticipated that no one fixed format could possibly cope with the variety of data collected during typical large-scale micrometeorological and tracer diffusion field studies. The use of these data is hampered, as much of it exists in tabular form in reports. While the intent was to develop a means for preserving these data and making these data more readily available, it was not the goal of this project to design a data base management system. The envisioned need was a procedure for storing the data that was sufficiently flexible to encompass a variety of data types and formats. To accomplish this, a survey was conducted of field data available from studies conducted prior to 1980. Based on the findings of the survey, it was determined that the archived data should include descriptive information as well as the data values. The entries in the descriptive portion of the archive would include, among other items, a data fact summary, a description of the experiment, and special information regarding the data. The archived data are described using a structure called a data map. The data map allows the data to be entered in original formats, while providing the user with a machine-readable pathway for accessing the diverse data formats. Standard words are used for mapping variables and their units within the various data sets. This feature allows global scanning of data sets for specific variables. The data archive procedures are demonstrated using the Minnesota 1973 micrometeorological field data and the Hanford 1964 tracer diffusion field data." |
