Climate-relevant operational Metadata

1. Climate-relevant operational Metadata Peer Hechler, Omar Baddour WMO; WIS DMA

2. Metadata requirements for climate (1/5) • Principles from a climate perspective: (i) Metadata should be managed in a way that allows for reflecting and retrieving all changes in the history of the observation/ instrument/ station/ network, such as siting, instrumentation, times of observations etc., but also establishment of station, commencement of observations, interruptions of operation, closure of station including one-to-one ID attribution (no use of same ID for different station through history); (ii) Metadata should allow for re-calculation of processed data. • Metadata should be accessible and exchangeable equally conveniently as the meteorological/climatological data itself • The below listed metadata requirements are subject to further discussion and might be prioritised (required, optional). Wording to be revised. List not exhaustive. WMO

3. Metadata requirements for climate (2/5) • Station identifier(s) incl. index number and name • Contact information (name, mailing address, Email address, phone numbers) • Station actors (owner, manager, observers incl. their level of experience/qualification etc.) • Station type (fixed land, fixed sea, mobile land etc.) • Location (exact geographical location incl. elevation) • Roughness, topography of station and environment, land use • Photography, site plan and skyline diagram of station and environment • Type(s) of soil incl. physical constants and profile of soil • Type(s) of vegetation • Observation programme (elements measured, reference time, times at which observations and measurements are made and reported, datum level to which atmospheric pressure data of the station refer) • Inspection reports WMO

4. Metadata requirements for climate (3/5) • Instruments (detailed instrument descriptions incl. manufacturer, model, serial number, date of installation ) • Instrument and instrument maintenance status (active, out of service, under repair; maint. frequency, calibration results etc.) • Siting and exposure of instrument incl. photos • Description of parameters measured by the instrument incl. unit, range, resolution, format, frequency, accuracy, method, algorithm, time constant, output averaging time etc. • Principle of operation, method of measurement and observation, type of detection system, performance characteristics • Data acquisition incl. sampling interval, averaging interval • Correction procedures and calibration information • Type of AWS incl. manufacturer, model, serial number WMO

5. Metadata requirements for climate (4/5) • Measuring/observing programme of elements (times of observation, reporting frequency, data output • Data processing method and intervalls • Procedures, algorithms, calculation methods, constants, reported resolution • Data handling: Quality Control procedures and algorithms incl. corrections by the observer • Definition of QC-flags • Storage procedures • Method of transmission, data format, transmission time and frequency • ? Station network Metadata, such as mission, operator, principles…?? WMO