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Finding the Forest in the Trees The Challenge of Combining Diverse Environmental Data (1995) / Chapter Skim
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6 The First ISLSCP Field Experiment
Pages 66-73

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From page 66...
... Konza Prairie Research Natural Area, a 3,400-ha tract of unploughed relative tallgrass vegetation (LTER, 1991~. The long-term monitoring program collected data through the entire 3-year period, complemented by four field campaigns in 1987 and a fifth campaign in 1989.
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From page 67...
... Provision of integrated analyses Trough a highly responsive central data system. The principal investigators had varying levels of experience to guide them in the operational design of FIFE, particularly with respect to the coordinated collection of data obtained from satellites, aircraft, and ground sensors (and by 29 different research groups)
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From page 68...
... At the same time, a network of ground-based stations was recording standard weather information, as well as fast-response heat flux, evapotranspiration, and momentum data (Sellers et al., 1988~. DATA MANAGEMENT AND INTERFACING The FIFE data archive contains about 100 different types of data sets.
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From page 69...
... Other desired attributes of the data management system were identified as follows (Strebel et al., 1990a) : able to be constructed rapidly; capable of handling widely diverse data types; evolutionary; science directed; responsive to user needs; and · capable of playing an active role in "quick looks" in the field and in quality assurance.
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From page 70...
... (1992) pointed out that the result in the case of FIFE was that some important parameters were not identified and observed; there was no method of undertaking integrated data quality assurance; there was only rudimentary ability to use "quicklook', data to identify important or interesting events happening in the field in order to redirect data collection efforts; and there was no framework to set overall data integration guidelines for data system design.
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From page 71...
... . There was no formal quantitative data quality assessment for most FIFE data sets.
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From page 72...
... The principal investigators' workstatior~s then become Individual elements of the complete data system as distinct from a 'window' to a massive central facility." Another important lesson to be learned from FIFE is that information scientists that is, researchers who maintain scientific oversight for an information system should play an essential role in the integration of data needed to carry out large interdisciplinary field experiments successfully. Finally, significant funding (10 to 20 percent of the total budget)
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From page 73...
... 1989. Data management in the FIFE information system.
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Key Terms

  • fife data
  • american meteorological
  • field experiment
  • meteorological society
  • field experiments

  • data archive
  • islscp field
  • operational goals
  • data quality
  • data manager

  • satellite measurements
  • data types
  • climatology project
  • project data
  • land surface

  • international satellite
  • integrated analyses
  • heat fluxes
  • surface climatology
  • satellite land

  • water vapor
  • responsive central
  • change researchers
  • effective integrator
  • modeling effort

  • integration guidelines
  • adequate documentation
  • climate models
  • magnetic tapes
  • individual elements


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