The Land-Atmosphere-Ice Interactions (LAII) Program is part of the Arctic System Science (ARCSS) Program of the National Science Foundation. LAII has overall goals of understanding how the feedback processes within Arctic system affects global climate change, including changes in the hydrology, biochemical, plants animals, and ecosystems; as well as how these changes affect and are affected by human activities. The LAII Arctic Transitions in the Land-Atmosphere System (ATLAS) program is designed as an interdisciplinary multi-year project with many investigators and varied instrumentation to address the aforementioned objectives in Alaska and eventually in other parts of the Arctic. Information on the ATLAS Project is located at: the LAII web page: http://www.laii.uaf.edu/

The International Tundra Experiment (ITEX) is an Arctic ecology field program as a part of the Man-And-the-Biosphere, Northern Science Network (MAB-NSN) initiative. The purpose of ITEX is to monitor the performance of plant species and communities on a circumpolar basis in undisturbed habitats with and without environmental manipulations. ITEX field stations make measurements following standardized procedures outlined in the ITEX Manual available from the ITEX web page at: www.systbot.gu.se/research/ITEX/ITEX.html The complementary nature of the ATLAS and ITEX measurements suggest cooperation in data management activities would be beneficial to both programs.

An integrated data management plan is important to assure that a complete database is provided for easy access to all ATLAS and ITEX project investigators and the science community in general. The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) Joint Office for Science Support (JOSS) has primary responsibility for the development and implementation of a comprehensive data management strategy for these projects. General guidelines will be given to JOSS by the LAII Science Steering Committee (SSC) and in cooperation with the ATLAS Science Management Office (SMO), the investigators and other projects as appropriate.

The ATLAS Implementation Plan comments specifically on the need to integrate and synthesize the ongoing research and results from this project with other LAII activities (SIMS, RAISE, etc.), OAII research initiatives and international permafrost monitoring activities (CALM, PACE, GCOS, etc.). Coordination and data exchange between ITEX and ATLAS will be further encouraged as a unified data management plan is implemented. The data management strategy discussed in this document will streamline the data integration process with other international programs as it becomes important.

JOSS will work with ATLAS and ITEX participants to provide data management support discussed in the subsequent sections of this document. The details contained in this plan will serve as a guide throughout the life of ATLAS and increase the ease of data exchange among the participants. It is anticipated that there will be modifications to the ATLAS and ITEX experiment design and that refinements to the data management requirements will be required. The data management activities proposed represent a cohesive plan given current information. Modifications to the requirements and implementation strategy will be handled as they occur.

2. ATLAS/ITEX Data Management Policy

The following data protocols have been proposed to help guide the data management strategies discussed elsewhere in this document. This detailed protocol is meant as a guide for all ATLAS and ITEX investigators with regard to the processing, quality control, dissemination and sharing of data with other ATLAS participants and LAII cooperating projects, as well as with the ARCSS investigators and the general scientific community. The objective of the protocol is to facilitate the timely submission and exchange of high quality data in an open fashion to all interested investigators, and to assure the long-term archival of the ATLAS and ITEX data sets.

1. All ATLAS and ITEX investigators are encouraged to share their data with other members of the project science teams without restriction.

2. All ATLAS/ITEX Science Team (AIST) members will submit their data within one year of the end of each field program phase to JOSS or other appropriate archive center to facilitate longer term archival and distribution.

3. All ATLAS and ITEX datasets will be considered accessible in the larger LAII/ARCSS domain one year following conclusion of the field measurements, now scheduled for autum 2001.

4. Datasets submitted to the archive centers must follow documentation guidelines set forth both in the ATLAS/ITEX Data Management Plan and by ARCSS in the ARCSS Data Protocol (http://arcss.colorado.edu/) so that other users understand the characteristics and attributes of the data and the chosen format. This includes information concerning the quality of the data and may require that suitable caveats regarding the data be included in any publication using that data.

5. AIST members publishing ATLAS results must always provide appropriate acknowledgement and citation of those who collected and provided the data, regardless of contribution to the publication.

6. AIST members are strongly encouraged to submit any datasets resulting from collaborative ATLAS investigations to the ATLAS archive at JOSS. This includes collaborative work outside the AIST.

7. ATLAS will use a distributed archive strategy. Investigators may keep their own data collected as part of ATLAS so long as they establish appropriate links to this data through the ATLAS archive at JOSS. In the longer term, it is probably best to forward the data to JOSS and/or NSIDC for archive. All data will eventually reside at NSIDC. An appropriate link provides access through a national data center, or other similar long-term archive center.

3. ATLAS/ITEX Investigator Needs

The ATLAS investigators have provided important details about their research and operational data needs in the ATLAS Implementation Plan. Table 1 from that document shows the diversity of data that are needed to answer the critical project scientific questions. The data management strategy described here must help assure that the investigators can have access to and share these data. It is also planned that the exchange of data can be streamlined by consciencitous use of the format and documentation guidelines outlined below.

Table 1: Data Needs: In General and from Other Projects

1. Sturm - Winter met. data (1-2hr windspeed, direction, temperature (WO), vegetation maps (SW), aerial photos/imagery for spring snowmelt (WO), fire history (Seward)

2. Oechel - Soil moisture and/or water table, radiation, temperature, imagery, vegetation type, soil organic matter content and composition, and precipitation along transect and region for extrapolation fire history (Seward), snow depth, cover, permeability (MS), biomass (SW)

3. Walker - Temperature and precipitation, snow cover, soils, permafrost, fire history (Seward), corrected AVHRR time series imagery (WO)

4. Schimel - Snow depth, cover, permeability (MS), temperature (WO), precipitation, flux measurement (WO)

5. Hinkel - Temperature, active layer depth from CALM sites

6. Hobbie - Flux data (WO, TC), annual/summer (monthly) solar radiation, temperature (WO, TC), soil organic matter fractions (labile, lignin, cellulose (CP)), peak season leaf and soil N (TC,WO), biomass (SW), LAI (SW), winter flux (JS, WO)

7. Chapin/Lynch - Winter met. (WO, ARM), vegetation-functional types-composition-biomass (SW), vegetation map (SW), snow depth over time (MS), progression of melt (MS), thermal conductivity (MS), time course of snow depth (MS), precipitation, treeline (AL), winter met. data and regional pattern of soil moisture (LH)

8. Romanovsky - Met. data (WO, ARM), vegetation map (SW), snow depth and thermal conductivity (MS), soil types and properties (CP), future climate and vegetation dynamics

9. Lloyd - Vegetation map (SW), soil moisture and met. data (LH)

10. Hinzman - Vegetation map (SW), met. data, soil temperature and moisture (TC)

Abbreviations for projects: WO=Walt Oechel; TC=Terry Chapin; SW=Skip Walker; JS=Josh Schimel; MS=Matthew Sturm; CP=Chien-Lu Ping; AL=Andrea Lloyd; LH=Larry Hinzman

Table 2 presents the anticipated data exchange among the various projects of ATLAS. The descriptions of the implementation strategies in section 4 of this document provide the framework for the mechanism to make this exchange as efficient as possible. This table clearly shows that data exchange among the participants is crucial to answering the major scientific questions. The data management strategy must foster and streamline this process.

Table 2: Data Exchange Between the ATLAS Projects

Provider Receiver	Sturm	Oechel	Walker	Welker Schimel Ping	Hinkel	Hobbie	Chapin Lynch	Romanovksy	Hinzman Kane	Lloyd Fastie
Sturm		Met. Air photo	Veg map, LAI			Shrub mass	Model met.	Soil T-	Met.	Tree-line dynam-ics
Oechel	Snow depth, cover, perm.		Veg map, LAI, BM	Soil comp. and flux	Soil H₂0	TEM fluxes	Model met., soil H₂O	Soil T- and H₂0, unfrozen water, active layer thickn.	Soil H₂0
Walker	Snow cover	Met., NDVI, air photos, AVHRR images		Soils	Thaw	Bio-mass	Soil T-, met., LAI, biomass	Soil T-, met. and soils for the Siberian transect	Soil H₂0	Tree-line dynam-ics
Schimel Welker Ping	Snow depth, cover	Flux	Veg map		Soil T- and H₂O	SOM, veg.	Summer flux	Soil T- and H₂0, unfrozen water	Met.	Tree-line dynam-ics
Hinkel	Snow depth, cover		Veg map, thaw	Soils			Soil T- and met.	Soil and permafrost T-, active layer	Met., soil thaw
Hobbie	Time of snow melt	Flux, met.	Veg map, LAI, BM	Soils, flux, soil organic matter	Soil T- and H₂O		Flux, met., biomass, LAI, N	Veg and soil maps, soil T- and H₂0	Soil H₂0	Tree-line dynam-ics
Chapin and Lynch	Snow depth, snow cover	Flux, met.	Veg map, LAI, BM	Soils, flux		TEM fluxes		Veg and soil maps, soil T- and H₂0	Soil, H₂0	Tree-line dynam-ics
Romanovsky						TEM	ARCSyM		Met.
Hinzman and Kane	Snow map	Met.	Veg map		Soil T-		Met., soil T- and H₂0	Soil T-		Tree-line dynam-ics
Lloyd and Fastie			Veg				Met.		Soil H₂0 & met.

4. ATLAS/ITEX Data Management Strategy and Description of Support

Central to the JOSS data management is an on-line, interactive catalog, archival and distribution system (CODIAC). It offers scientists a means to identify datasets of interest, the facilities to view selected data and associated metadata, and the ability to obtain data automatically from geographically dispersed data centers via Internet file transfer (FTP) or separate media (tapes, CD-ROM, disks, etc.). This system will be used during and following the ATLAS field campaigns as the primary access point for preliminary and final research and operational (if needed) data as they become available. Links via the World Wide Web (WWW) will also be made to other data centers that may hold any data or information of interest to the ATLAS investigators. The JOSS data management system may be accessed via the WWW at: http://www.joss.ucar.edu/atlas/

4.1 Investigator Requirements

The success of the ATLAS/ITEX data management strategy is dependent on the participants' willingness to work together to share data and documentation. JOSS will facilitate these activities using our experience and data management software tools.

The first step in organizing ATLAS/ITEX data management support is to understand what data are or planned on being collected by the various components of the program. JOSS has worked with the SMO to develop and disseminate a questionnaire to participants that solicits this information. The results of the questionnaire to date are shown in summary form at: http://www.joss.ucar.edu/atlas/.

The second step in our data management strategy requires the participants to take primary responsibility for acquisition and provision of field data. This includes in-field record keeping, backing up field data, data documentation and initial processing and quality control of raw data. The consideration of the specific dataset or subset to be provided to JOSS and the archive is discussed in section 4.1.1.

The third step includes the submission of preliminary and final datasets to JOSS for inclusion in the ATLAS/ITEX data set. Sections 4.2 and 4.3 provide details of format and documentation guidelines for all archived data. The submission process and related information are described in Section 4.4.

4.1.1 What data should be submitted to the archive

Because of the diverse nature of the datasets being collected by the investigators, the question arises: what data should be submitted to the archive? Affirmative answers to any of the following questions should be interpreted as justification to provide the data to JOSS.

- Will the data be shared with other ATLAS/ITEX or LAII investigators?

- Will the data have broader interest in the community in the future?

- Is the data required to meet your NSF grant objectives?

In addition to these questions it is also important that you decide if others could realistically utilize the data in a particular form. For example, original field notes, logs and data logger output, though important, will likely not be so useful to others. If original or "raw" data will require further processing to make it more useable by the PI as well as others, then provision of the processed data set to JOSS makes more sense.

4.2 Data format guidelines

An inherent flexibility of the JOSS data management system permits data in all different digital formats to be submitted, stored and retrieved from CODIAC. JOSS is prepared to work with the participants to bring their data to the archive and make sure it is presented, with proper documentation, for exchange with other project participants. In anticipation of receiving many data sets from the field sites in ASCII format we are providing guidelines below that will aid in the submission, integration and retrieval of these data. JOSS will work with any participants submitting other formats including NetCDF, AREA, HDF and GRIB to assure access and retrieval capabilities within CODIAC.

The following ASCII data format guidelines are intended to help standardize the information provided with any data archived for the project. These guidelines are based on JOSS experience in handling thousands of different data files of differing formats. Specific recommendations are provided for naming a data file as well as information and layout of the header records and data records contained in each file. This information is important when data are shared with other project participants to minimize confusion and aid in the analysis. An example of the layout of an ASCII file using the guidelines is provided below. Keep in mind that it is not mandatory that the data be received in this format. However, if the project participants are willing to implement the data format guidelines described below, there are some improved capabilities for integration, extraction, compositing and display via CODIAC that are available. These capabilities are described in Section 4.6.

NAMING CONVENTION

All data files should be uniquely named. For example, it is very helpful if date can be included in any image file name so that the file can be easily time registered. If the image summarizes a period of time, the start and end time is very desirable.Also include an extension indicating the type of file:

i.e. .gif = GIF image format file

.jpg = jpg image format file

.txt = Text or ASCII format file

.cdf = NetCDF format file

.tar = archival format

if compressed, the file name should have an additional extension indicating the type of compression (i.e. .gz, .z, etc.)

B) For Text (ASCII) files, the records should consist of both header records and data records. The header records at a minimum should consist of:

ASCII DATA FORMAT HEADER RECORDS SPECIFICATIONS

Standard header records should precede the data records within the file itself. The header records should contain the following information:

PI/DATA CONTACT = Text [PI and data contact name(s) and affiliation(s)]

DATA COVERAGE = Start/Stop time of continuous data or sampling interval (Use data/time format described below)

PLATFORM/SITE = Text [e.g. C130, CITATION, IVOTUK, TOOLIK, etc.]

INSTRUMENT = Text [instrument name]

COORDINATES = Fixed site coordinates (decimal degrees) or "mobile" (Text)

DATA VERSION = Alphanumeric [unique ID (i.e. revision date, PRELIMNARY or FINAL]

REMARKS = Text [PI remarks that aid in understanding data file structure and contents. Items such as file type, how missing and/or bad data are denoted or any other information helpful to users of this data]

Missing Value indicator - Text or integer [value used for data for missing information] (e.g. ‑99 or 999.99, etc)

Below Measurement Threshold - Text or Integer [Value used to signify reading below instrument detection threshold] (e.g. <0.00005)

Above Measurement Threshold - Text or Integer [Value used to signify reading at or above instrument saturation]

**NOTE** This type of header information cannot be contained within GIF and Postscript files. They will need to be submitted with attached files or separate documentation containing this information.

DATA RECORDS SPECIFICATIONS:

1) First data record consists of parameters identifying each column. Multiple parameter names should be shown as one word (e.g. thaw_depth or Leaf_area_index)

2) Second data record consists of respective parameter units. Multiple unit names should be shown as one word (e.g. crystals_per_liter)

3) Third data record begins actual data and consists of a date/time column followed by position coordinates (if mobile) and subsequent observations at that time and position.

! Date/time must be in UTC and recommended format is: YYYYMMDDHHmmss.ss

where: YYYY= Year

MM = Month (00-12)

DD = Day (01-31)

HH = Hour (00-23)

mm = Minute (00-59)

ss = Second (00-59)

.ss = Decimal Second (unlimited resolution based on sampling frequency)

! For every mobile platform data set, position coordinates (i.e. latitude, longitude) should be expressed in decimal degrees for each data point. Altitude or elevation is given in appropriate metric units. This may be done by: (a) providing date/time of collection with position coordinates in each data record; or (b) providing date/time of collection for each data point in the submitted file, with an associated file containing date/time and location either from the platform navigation database or GPS file.

Latitude - Northern hemisphere expressed as positive or "N" and

Southern hemisphere expressed as negative or "S".

Longitude - 0-360^o moving east from Greenwich; west longitude goes from

180^o to 360^o; or

Eastern hemisphere expressed as positive or "E" and

Western hemisphere expressed as negative or "W".

NOTE - Having a common date/time stamp and common position coordinates in each data record will permit the ability to extract data and integrate multiple data records from different data sets. If two times are provided (e.g. UTC and local), they should be put at the beginning of each record.

! Preferred format for ASCII data files is space, comma or tab delimited columns, with a UTC date/time stamp at the beginning of each data record. If the data in the file are comma delimited, decimal places must be periods, not commas.

! All data files must contain variable names and units of measurements as column headings (if applicable).

! If, for some reason, the PI cannot provide the date/time in the format shown above, it is important that the time be given in UTC. If local time is also supplied, a conversion to UTC must be provided. In addition to UTC and/or local time, other date/time formats (e.g. decimal days) can be used but must be fully documented.

! The internal format structure of the file should remain constant after the first data record to ensure continuity and permit plotting and graphing.

! Only COMPLETE replacement or updated data/metadata files can be accepted.

SAMPLE DATA SET (ASCII FORMAT):

The following is an example of an ASCII format data set in which the header precedes the reported data, and the data is organized in columns separated by spaces. Each column is identified by parameter and each parameter's units of measure are listed in the respective column. Also each row has a date/time of observation reported in Universal Time Coordinated (UTC) along with position coordinates. This data set organization is ideal for plotting and integration of various data sets. This data set format should be used whenever possible and could be easily produced automatically from a spread sheet computer program.

‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑

PI/DATA CONTACT= Doe, John (U of Hawaii)/ Doe, Jane (NCAR)

DATA COVERAGE = START: 19990821133500; STOP: 19990821135500 UTC

PLATFORM/SITE = C130

INSTRUMENT = C‑130 External Sampler Data

LOCATION = mobile

DATA VERSION = 1.0 (10 March 1999), PRELIMINARY

REMARKS = National Center for Atmospheric Research, INDOEX

REMARKS = ppm values are mole fraction

REMARKS= nM/m3 at 25c and 101.3 kPa; DMS and NH4 in Parts per million (PPM)

REMARKS = Missing data = 99.9; Bad data = 88.8

REMARKS = Data point Date/Time provided in UTC

DATE/TIME LAT LONG SAMPLE NO2 CO DMS NH4

UTC Deg Deg NUMBER nM/m3 ppm ppm ppm

19990821133500.00 -43.087 263.116 E1.160.1 1000.65 200.67 345.98 2342.980

19990821133510.00 -43.090 263.120 E1.160.2 1003.45 200.60 349.76 2353.345

etc.

4.3 Data Documentation Guidelines

The metadata documentation (i.e. the "Readme" file) that accompanies each project data set is as important as the data itself. This information permits collaborators and other analysts to become aware of the data and to understand any limitations or special characteristics of data that may impact its use elsewhere. The data set documentation should accompany all data set submissions and contain the information listed in the outline below. While it will not be appropriate for each and every dataset to have information in each documentation category, the following outline (and content) should be adhered to as closely as possible to make the documentation consistent across all data sets. It is also recommended that a documentation file submission accompany for each preliminary and final data set.

---TITLE: This should match the data set name

---AUTHOR(S):

-Name(s) of PI and all co-PIs

-Complete mailing address, telephone/facsimile Nos., web pages and E-mail address of PI

-Similar contact information for data questions (if different than above)

---DATA SET OVERVIEW:

-Introduction or abstract

-Time period covered by the data

-Physical location of the measurement or platform (latitude/longitude/elevation)

-Data source, if applicable (e.g. for operational data include agency)

-Any World Wide Web address references (i.e. additional documentation such as Project WWW site)

---INSTRUMENT DESCRIPTION:

-Brief text (i.e. 1-2 paragraphs) describing the instrument with references

-Figures (or links), if applicable

-Table of specifications (i.e. accuracy, precision, frequency, etc.)

---DATA COLLECTION and PROCESSING:

-Description of data collection

-Description of derived parameters and processing techniques used

-Description of quality control procedures

-Data intercomparisons, if applicable

---DATA FORMAT:

-Data file structure, format and file naming conventions (e.g. column delimited ASCII, NetCDF, GIF, JPEG, etc.)

-Data format and layout (i.e. description of header/data records, sample records)

-List of parameters with units, sampling intervals, frequency, range

-Description of flags, codes used in the data, and definitions (i.e. good, questionable, missing, estimated, etc.)

-Data version number and date

---DATA REMARKS:

-PI's assessment of the data (i.e. disclaimers, instrument problems, quality issues, etc.) Missing data periods

-Software compatibility (i.e. list of existing software to view/manipulate the data)

---REFERENCES:

-List of documents cited in this data set description

4.4 Procedures for Submission of datasets to JOSS ATLAS archive

JOSS now has on-line a home page dedicated to ATLAS/ITEX data management activities. It is located at: http://www.joss.ucar.edu/atlas/

The page and links contained therein can be easily modified and updated to meet changing project needs. Our plan is to provide a single point of contact to access the variety of project research data over the life of the program, provide a single location for accessing supporting operational data and to reach related WWW pages.

ATLAS and ITEX datasets can be submitted to JOSS at any time. The data should be provided following the format guidelines described in Section 4.2 and be accompanied by documentation that information described in Section 4.3. Datasets can be identified as "preliminary" or "final" by the investigator in the file name or documentation that accompanies the data.

It will be possible for each research data set to be password protected so that only the contributing investigator can access the data. The LAII Steering Committee has discouraged use of password protected datasets to maximize the ease of data exchange among project participants. It should be noted that CODIAC does keep track of users who download data. This information can be given to the data provider as requested.

JOSS could implement password protection on ATLAS and ITEX research data sets, if specifically instructed by the provider. A user ID and password could be assigned to individual or groups of datasets to meet this requirement as instructed by the PI. The duration of password protection should be specified by the investigator submitting the data. If he or she wishes someone else to access the data, it will be that investigator's responsibility to provide the password for access. JOSS will not act as the "data police" in this regard.

All operational data sets (i.e. those data acquired from NWS, other public sources on the WWW or elsewhere) will be open data sets and accessible by anyone accessing the ATLAS/ITEX web pages at JOSS. JOSS will acquire and archive any of these supporting data that are used by the participants in their analysis. Otherwise, it will be possible for the users to link to these data sources from the JOSS home page.

4.5 Collection and availability of supplemental operational datasets to ATLAS

The ATLAS Implementation Plan lists data available from other sources that are desired. JOSS has begun a preliminary collection of some operational products, these can be found on the JOSS ATLAS web page www.joss.ucar.edu/atlas These data were collected during some period of the recently completed 1999 field campaign. Initial operational data collected in 1999 included:

- NOAA 14 and 15 polar orbiter passes for VIS and IR channels (2,3,4)

- Eta model output for surface, 850,700,500,300hPa and selected cross sections in the Alaska region

- Links to Climatological data from;

National Climate Data Center (Alaska climatology data by month)

Western Regional Climate Center

Alaska Climate Research Center

Alaska State Climate Center

JOSS has been exploring different ways to get access to the supporting data. Table 3 lists the supporting data for the 2000 field season we have found from a variety of sources and includes comments about the source, availability in real time or delayed mode and the format of the data, if known. We have implemented access to these data and/or links to the originating web sites available through the ATLAS home page at JOSS.

Table 3. Operational and Research Supporting Data for ATLAS/ITEX
Product	Availability	Source	Product/Measurement Type	Format
Satellite Data
AVHRR Imagery -	~ 1 day delay	ARM Archive: http://www.xdc.arm.gov/data/prod/nsa/avhrr	Browse plots for channels 2 & 4 from NOAA POES Satellites	jpeg
AVHRR Data	Unknown delay	ARM Archive	All channels from NOAA POES Satellites	tdf or hdf
AVHRR bi-weekly composites	?	Need Source	?	?
Translated Data (NDVI?)	?	Need Source	?	?
SAR Data	See web pages	Alaska SAR Facility http://www.asf.alaska.edu/daac_documents/avail_data.html#sar_standard_images	Various	See web page
Surface Data
Northern and Central Alaska NWS Stations (1-20)	Real-Time	JOSS via Family of Services (FOS) feed	Hourly METAR reports	ASCII coded metar reports
NOAA CMDL Barrow - Hourly Data	Real-Time	NOAA/CMDL: http://www.cmdl.noaa.gov/obop/met	Hourly, Daily, Monthly raw and summary data and plots	ASCII
BLM/RAWS Network	Real-Time	NWS Boise: http://www.boi.noaa.gov/FWXEXP/RAWS/SUMMARY/raws_summaries.htm	Hourly Met reports	ASCII
LTER Toolik Site	See web site	http://www.mbl.edu/html/ECOSYSTEMS/lterhtml/datbase1.html	See web site	ASCII
LTER Bonanza Creek Site	See web site	http://www.lter.uaf.edu/	See web site	ASCII
Radiation Data	?	CMDL-Barrow?, LTER sites?	?	ASCII
Upper Air Data
NWS Alaska Stations	Real-Time	JOSS via Family of Services (FOS) Feed.	WMO Coded Mandatory and Significant Level Data	ASCII
NWS Alaska Stations	Months delay	NCDC	10 second Data	ASCII
CMDL Barrow Station	?	NOAA/CMDL: http://www.cmdl.noaa.gov/obop/index.html	?	ASCII
Atqasuk	?	Need Source	?	?
Model Output Fields
ETA -Alaska 47.5 km resolution grid Images	Real-Time	JOSS via Family of Services (FOS) Feed/National Weather Service - Anchorage	Sea-level Pressure, 850 mb Ht, 700 mb Ht, RH, 500 mb Ht, vorticity	GIF
ETA -Alaska 47.5 km resolution Grids	Real-Time	JOSS via Family of Services (FOS) Feed	Eta 216 Grids, model run every 6 hours, Forecast hours 0-24+	GRIB
NOGAPS Model - Alaska Grids	Real-Time	FNMOC	NOGAPS Global grids, model run every 12 hours, Forecast hours 0-144	GRIB
AVN/MRF Model - Alaska Grids	Real-Time	JOSS via Family of Services (FOS) Feed	AVN 203 grid, 190 km resolution, run every 12 hours, Forecast hours 0-120	GRIB
Climatology Data
Monthly Mean Values for Alaska Stations	Months delay	NCDC, WRCC	Monthly Climatological Report for the state of Alaska	PDF Reports, ASCII
Monthly Total Values for Alaska Stations	Months delay	NCDC, WRCC	Monthly Climatological Report for the state of Alaska	PDF Reports, ASCII
Daily Mean Values for Alaska Stations	Months delay	NCDC, WRCC	Monthly Climatological Report for the state of Alaska	PDF Reports, ASCII
Monthly Min and Max Values for Alaska Stations	Months delay	NCDC, WRCC	Monthly Climatological Report for the state of Alaska	PDF Reports, ASCII
Climo Data for CMDL Station Barrow	Months delay	NOAA/CMDL http://wwwsrv.cmdl.noaa.gov/obop/met/index.shtml	Daily max,mins, daily/monthly means	ASCII
Climo Data for LTER Station Toolik	See web site	http://www.mbl.edu/html/ECOSYSTEMS/lterhtml/datbase1.html	See web site	ASCII
Climo Data for LTER Bonanza Creek Site	See web site	http://www.lter.uaf.edu/	See web site	ASCII
Historical (prior 1949) Climatological Data for Northern and Central Alaska	?	Need Source	?	?
Historical and Recent Climatological Data from East Siberia	Delay	Romanovsky, others??	Air and ground temperatures, snow depth	ASCII

4.6 Special processing of data to produce integrated or composite datasets

One of the important contributions to be made by JOSS will be to help the ATLAS investigators retrieve datasets from collaborating investigators, operational sources and other data centers as necessary to meet ATLAS analysis objectives. This process should be done as easily and efficiently as possible, giving investigators flexibility to retrieve the data they need. At the same time, it is important that any process discussed here will honor dataset access restrictions imposed by the investigators. The questionnaire suggests that some investigators want to be asked directly by those requesting their data while others are willing to make their data public at the time of submission to the archive.

There are three important modes of data retrieval to be implemented in support of ATLAS.

First, and perhaps most obvious, it will be possible for any ATLAS/ITEX investigator to retrieve any complete dataset that has been submitted, including the documentation. Any requests for original submitted datasets, as opposed to special datasets prepared by JOSS (see next paragraph), will be provided to the requestor in whatever format it was submitted to JOSS. We will work with the investigators to standardize dataset submission where possible to simplify use by others and streamline the access procedures. This will include both research and operational datasets archived at the JOSS site. The operational datasets will be accessible by anyone while research datasets can have access restrictions as specified by the data provider.

Second, as an enhancement for use by the ATLAS community, JOSS proposes to develop dataset parameter extraction software that will permit an individual to access a research dataset that might contain many parameters and extract only those parameters of interest in a time window specified by the requestor. In this way the requestor can build a new dataset. This capability will only be possible if data providers are willing to follow format guidelines described in Section 4.2 so that the extraction software can operate efficiently on the dataset. The resultant data subset file will contain only the parameters requested for the time window of interest. This process will be possible using a web-based interface that will be part of the JOSS data management system. JOSS will work with the users on use of the parameter extraction capability.

Third, JOSS will also provide links to other data centers, institutions, or individual URLs as recommended by the ATLAS scientists. This will allow ATLAS/ITEX participants and other interested scientists to come to a single web site at JOSS and access all ATLAS related data. We will work with the LAII SMO to avoid duplication while retaining flexibility and ease for reaching project information.

5. Components of the Modeling Research Dataset

JOSS is committed to helping the ATLAS and ITEX investigators share their data as quickly and easily as possible. Tables 4 shows the variety of modeling projects that will be undertaken during the projects. Table 5 summarizes how the data collected during the field phase will be shared among the modeling projects after it is collected. JOSS intends to help this exchange as much as possible using techniques and expertise described in previous sections.

Table 4: Modeling Projects

Model	Investigators	Description
RACIE Regional Approach for CO₂ flux Integration and Extrapolation	Vourlitis, Oechel	Phenomenological model for spatial extrapolation of fluxes of energy, moisture and CO₂
RATS Remote-sensing Analysis of Tundra Systems	Epstein	Phenomenological models relating spatial and temporal climate characteristics to NDVI traits
SPA Soil-Plant-Atmosphere Model	Rastetter, Williams	A multi-layer canopy model to predict hourly carbon and water exchange at a single site
ACM Aggregated Canopy Model	Rastetter, Williams	A one-layer canopy model to predict daily carbon and water exchange at a single site
WSR Winter Soil Respiration Model	Schimel	A model to predict single site soil respiration at as-yet undetermined temporal scales
GEM General Ecosystem Model	Rastetter	A model to predict annual estimates (up to centuries) of biomass, respiration, leaf area and carbon exchange at a single site
TEM/DVM Terrestrial Ecosystem Model, Dynamic Vegetation Model	McGuire	The former predicts the spatial distribution of biogeochemical properties and the latter also predicts vegetation distribution, on as-yet undetermined temporal scales
ARCSyM Arctic Regional Climate System Model	Lynch	An atmosphere-land surface-sea ice-ocean climate model that predicts all relevant parameters at spatial scales from 10 to 100km and temporal scales of months to a few years, and can also run at a single site
LSM Land Surface Model	Bonan, Lynch	A plot scale soil-vegetation model which is also a component of ARCSyM, which predicts atmosphere-surface exchange of energy, moisture and carbon, soil moisture and temperature
RAMS Regional Atmospheric Modeling System	Olsson	A high resolution atmospheric model that predicts all relevant parameters at spatial scales from 1-10km and temporal scales of hours to days
Snow	Liston	A snow redistribution model
Permafrost	Romanovsky	A detailed site specific numerical permafrost model and a spatial distributed analytical model, to be adapted for use in LSM and TVM
ARHYTHM Arctic Hydrologic and Thermal Model	Kane, Hinzman	A spatially distributed model of hydrologic and thermal processes including soil moisture dynamics, stream runoff, evapo-transpiration, snowmelt, and active layer freezing and thawing."
ALFRESCO Alaskan Frame-Based Ecosystem Code	Lloyd, Fastie	A spatially explicit model of treeline change

Table 5: Data Needs of Models from Field and Remote Sensing Measurements

Model Suite Date Source	RACIE	RATS	SPA,CSA ACM GEM TEM,WSR	DVM ALFRESCO	ARCSyMLSM	RAMS Snow	Permafrost ARHYTHM
Chapin, Lynch	Met., soil H₂0	Veg, LAI, met.	Fluxes, met.	Met., veg.	Fluxes, met., veg.	Met.	Met.
Hinkel	Soil moisture	Thaw, soil H₂0	Soil H₂0	Soil H₂0, thaw	Soil H₂0, thaw	Soil H₂0, thaw	Soil H₂0, thaw
Hobbie^a					Veg		Snow
Oechel		Corrected AVHRR time series images	Fluxes, met.	Met.	Fluxes, met.	Met.	Met.
Romanovsky	Soil H₂0	Thaw, soil H₂0 and T-	Soil H₂0	Soil H₂0, thaw	Soil H₂0, thaw	Soil thaw	Soil H₂0, thaw
Sturm, Liston, Olsson	Snow depth, cover	Snow cover, snow depth, time of snow melt	Time of snow melt	Time of snow melt	Snow depth, time of snow melt	Snow depth	Snow depth
Walker	Veg, LAI	Veg, LAI	Veg, LAI	Veg, LAI	Veg, LAI	Veg, LAI	Veg, LAI
Schimel, Welker, Ping	Soils, flux	Soil N	Soils, flux	Soils, flux	Soils		Soils
Hinzman, Kane	Met., soil H₂0	Met., soil H₂0	Met., soil H₂0	Met., soil H₂0	Met., soil H₂0	Met., soil H₂0	Met., soil H₂0
Lloyd, Fastie	Tree distribu-tion	Tree distribu-tion	Tree distribution	Tree distribution	Tree distribu-tion	Tree distribu-tion	Tree distribution

a. This is a modeling project with no field component.

There will be a number of model output products generated during ATLAS and ITEX. The list of known products is given in Table 6. JOSS will make these output datasets available through the CODIAC archive. It may be necessary to store particularly large output files off-line. We intend to work with the participants to make all critical model product datasets easily available to others. This may require the investigator to subset their data set prior to submission to JOSS so that critical parameters in time series, multi-dimensional grids or other layouts can be available for on-line ordering while less frequently used output would be stored off-line. This will be handled on a case-by-case basis

Table 6: Model Products

Model	Product
RACIE	Spatial extrapolation of fluxes of CO₂
RATS	Vegetation biomass and phenology from NDVI
SPA/ACM	Vegetation, fluxes of energy, moisture, CO₂
GEM	Biomass, C flux, N biogeochemistry
WSR	Winter CO₂ flux
TEM/DVM	Vegetation distribution, C flux, N biogeochemistry
ARCSyM/LSM	Climate, soil moisture and temperature, energy and moisture fluxes at field sites (6 hourly) and on regional grids (monthly means), each year for the previous years field season. ARCSyM output is available for download from the web by going to http://cires.colorado.edu/arcsym/ and selecting ATLAS results.
RAMS/Snow	Snow, energy and moisture flux aggregation information
Permafrost	Soil temperature and unfrozen moisture, thaw
ARHYTHM	Soil moisture, soil temperature, ET
ALFRESCO	Ecosystem distribution

6. Training on JOSS data management system

JOSS will provide user training to all interested people on the use of our data management system (CODIAC). This includes matters of data formatting, data and documentation submission, data and documentation content, password protection, data ordering and any related data management task. The intent is to make the system as easy to use as possible. We want to make sure that ATLAS Project participants are comfortable with the system and its capabilities. Assistance will be available at any time to assure users are taking advantage of CODIAC capabilities. This training will be offered throughout the support period and provided by JOSS support staff.

7. Data Archival and long-term access

JOSS will be the interim archive center for ATLAS and ITEX during the field and analysis phases from now through 2002 and up to two years after the conclusion of field activities. We have had initial discussions with NSIDC on certain aspects of the ATLAS data management strategy as it fits within the larger context of ARCSS. The ARCSS data protocol is available at the following URL: http://arcss.colorado.edu/Protocol/protocol.html JOSS intends to be responsive to specific research and data access needs of the ATLAS community that go beyond NSIDC responsibilities during and immediately following the field phase. This includes the use of CODIAC for archival and exchange of primary ATLAS data, access to certain types of special data (composite datasets) or arrangements for data exchange with other data centers. As noted in Section 4.6, JOSS also plans to provide specific value added processing for the projects to aid in synthesis and other analysis activities. All final ATLAS datasets will be transferred to NSIDC for long-term archival. JOSS will work with NSIDC to make sure that the complete and final project dataset is accessible in the long term.

8. ATLAS/ITEX Data Questionnaire

Over the past several months JOSS has prepared, distributed and received responses to a data management questionnaire. The purpose of the questionnaire was to determine the data sources and needs of the investigators in order to accomplish critical science objectives. The questions asked in this questionnaire complement information contained in the ATLAS Implementation Plan.

Table 7 contains a list of respondents to the questionnaire. The information from these people was used extensively in the preparation of the ATLAS data management strategy discussed in this document. Following Table 6 is the text summary of questions to which response was requested. This data questionnaire may be found at; www.joss.ucar.edu/atlas/ Many of the project participants responded to the questionnaire and all information received from investigators can be viewed at: www.joss.ucar.edu/atlas/ . The complete text of the Data Questionnaire can be found in Appendix B.

Table 7. Respondents to Data Questionnaire

Howard Epstein University of Virginia

Steven F. Oberbauer Florida International University

Ed Rastetter Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole Institute of Oceanography

Kenneth M. Hinkel University of Cincinnati

Glen E. Liston Colorado State University

Jace Fahnestock University of Wyoming

A. David McGuire University of Alaska Fairbanks

Chien-Lu Ping University of Alaska Fairbanks

Bonnie Kwiatkowski Marine Biological Laboratory/Woods Hole

Institute of Oceanography

Gaius R. Shaver The Ecosystems Center, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole Institute of Oceanography

Larry Hinzman University of Alaska Fairbanks

Patrick John Webber Michigan State University

Wanli Wu CIRES/University of Colorado

Amanda Lynch University of Colorado

Robert D Hollister Michigan State University

Andrea Lloyd Middlebury College

Vladimir Romanovsky Geophysical Institute, Dept. Geology and Geophysics University of Alaska Fairbanks

Allen Hope San Diego State University

Doug Stow San Diego State University

Jason Beringer University of Alaska Fairbanks

9. Appendices

Appendix A Acronym list

Appendix B Complete Data Questionnaire

Appendix A

Acronym List

ACM Aggregated Canopy Model

ARCSS Arctic System Science program (NSF)

ARCSyM Arctic Regional Climate System Model

ARM Atmospheric Radiation Measurement program (DOE)

ATLAS Arctic Transitions in the Land-Atmosphere System

AVHRR Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer

AIST ATLAS/ITES Science Team

B

BLM US Bureau of Land Management

C

CALM Circumpolar Active Layer Monitoring

CMDL Climate Monitoring and Diagnostic Laboratory

CODIAC JOSS Data Management System

F

FTP (Internet) File Transfer Format

GCOS Global Climate Observation System (W CRP)

GCTE Global Change and Terrestrial Ecosystems (IGBP)

GEM General Ecosystem Model

I

ITEX International Tundra Experiment

J

JOSS Joint Office of Science Support

L

LAI Leaf area index

LAII Land-Atmosphere-Ice Interactions (ARCSS)

LSM Land Surface Model

LTER Long Term Ecological Research

N

NSF National Science Foundation

NDVI Normalized Difference Vegetation Index

NSIDC National Snow and Ice Data Center

NWS National Weather Service

NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

O

OAII Ocean-Atmosphere-Ice Interaction

P

PACE Permafrost and Climate Change in Europe

POES Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellite

RAICE Regional Approach for CO₂ flux Integration and Extrapolation

RAISE Russian-American Int of Shelf Land Environments in the Arctic

RAMS

RATS Remote-sensing Analysis of Tundra Systems

RAWS Remote Automatic Weather Station

SIMS Synthesis, Integration and Modeling Studies (ARCSS)

SMO Science Management Office

SPA Soil-Plant-Atmosphere Model

T

TEM/DVM Terrestrial Ecosystem Model/Dynamic Vegetation Model

U

UCAR University Corporation for Atmospheric Research

UTC Coordinated Universal Time

W

WSR Winter Soil Respiration Model

WWW World Wide Web

Appendix B

Complete text of the ATLAS/ITEX Data Questionnaire

----------------------------------------------------------

All questions below, unless otherwise stated, refer to data needed from operational and research sources for post-analysis/research. Please answer questions as completely as possible and/or all that apply at this time.

Please fill out the following personal information for general ATLAS reference:

Name:
Affiliation:
Mailing address:


E-mail:
Affiliation phone/fax:

Operational Data

2. What Polar-Orbiter Satellite data do you need to conduct your research?

Visible band only

Other bands (please specify): __________________________________________

Format: ___________________________________________________________

Frequency: _________________________________________________________

Other satellite data (Please specify): _____________________________________

3. What Operational Model data do you need for your research?

ETA

AVN/MRF

NAVY NOGAPS

Other model needs (please specify): _____________________________________

4. Do you require National Weather Service (NWS) Upper Air Data for your research?

Other needs (please specify): __________________________________________

5. Do you require NWS Surface Data for your research?

If yes, please specify stations and/or regions required: _______________________

Other needs (please specify): __________________________________________

6. Do you require Surface Data from non-NWS stations for your research?

If yes, please specify: ________________________________________________

7. Do you require Climatological Data from NWS or non-NWS stations for your research?

If yes, please specify stations required: __________________________________

If yes, please specify type of climatological data required: ____________________

8. What other operational datasets do you need to conduct your research?

Please specify: _____________________________________________________

Research Data

9. What dataset(s) are you responsible for collecting?

Instrument/model: ___________________________________________________

Variables measured: _________________________________________________

10. How often will you be collecting data from this instrument? ______________________

11. Please specify the format(s) of these data:

Field format? _______________________________________________________

Archive format? _____________________________________________________

12. To whom do you wish to release the data?

ATLAS researchers only

LAII only

ARCSS only

Public domain

Ask you (the PI) for confirmation of all requests

13. Please specify other research datasets you require to do your research:

______________________________________________________________________

14. Specify the preferred media for accessing archived ATLAS data:

______________________________________________________________________

15. Do you have any other comments/requests regarding data collection and access for the ATLAS project?

______________________________________________________________________