This page describes best practices for adding new datasets and entering metadata into the catalog. In case you think some information is missing, please indicate it on GitHub Ruisdael Data Catalog project.

General guidelines for all submissions

Naming

The first required field for submitting a new dataset is the name. This name is used to identify the new dataset within the Catalog environment. To name the dataset, please use the following convention: Institute Sensor/Campaign/Product/Model at Location.

 Institute Sensor/Campaign/Product/Model at Location

Examples:

Geographic coordinates

For datasets produced by stationary instruments (in-situ, remote sensing) and for single-column model outputs, the latitude and longitude coordinates should be entered with a precision of at least 4 digits (approx 11 meters). However, the use 5 or 6 significant digits is recommended.

For non-stationary in-situ and remote sensing observations, use the description field to indicate the measurement domain. For example, the coordinates from the starting and ending points could be mentioned.

Special Characters & Formatting

MediaWiki uses Unicode (UTF-8) for character encoding. This allows for a wide range of characters. For more information about this issue, see https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Special_characters

Dataset description field

Use the description field to provide all important information about the dataset. This includes data source, content, and purpose. Ideally, users should be able to understand what the dataset contains without having to download and inspect the actual data. Below, you can find a non-exhaustive checklist for what to include in your dataset description.

Checklist for in-situ datasets

instrument name, model and brand
location, site name and geographical description of area
spatial and temporal resolution of measurements
physical variables contained in the dataset
purpose of the dataset
context of the experiment/measurement
for non-stationary instruments: latitude, longitude, height from starting and ending point.

Checklist for datasets related to campaigns

name and goal of the campaign
duration of the campaign
other relevant sensors or models that were used during the campaign
special operating modes or variable resolutions used
information on how certain data/products were derived
link(s) to papers, methods or websites that contain more details

Checklist for model outputs

model type, version and configuration
model grid size(s), domain size and extent
spatial and temporal resolution(s) of output(s)
initial conditions, forcing(s) and data assimilation schemes