The basis for the ITOP data policy is the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Resolution 40 on the policy and practice for the exchange of meteorological and related data and products including guidelines on relationships in commercial meteorological activities. This resolution was adopted by the XII WMO Congress during June 1995 in recognition of the requirement for the global exchange of all types of environmental data and the basic responsibility of WMO Members and their national Meteorological Services in support of safety, security and economic benefits of their countries to adopt the following policy on the international exchange of meteorological and related data and products:

"As a fundamental principle of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), and in consonance with the expanding requirements for its scientific and technical expertise, the WMO commits itself to broadening and enhancing the free and unrestricted international exchange of meteorological and related data and products."

In general, users will have free and open access to all the ITOP data, subject to procedures to be put into place at the various ITOP Data Archive Centers (IDACs). The following is a summary of the ITOP Data Management Policy by which all ITOP participants, data collectors, and data users shall be requested to abide:

• All investigators participating in ITOP agree to promptly submit their quality- controlled data to the appropriate IDAC to facilitate intercomparison of results, quality control checks and inter-calibrations, as well as an integrated interpretation of the combined data set.

   

  • Standard meteorological data such as synoptic observations, dropwindsonde observations, special rawindsonde observations, and satellite imagery shall be submitted to the appropriate IDAC within six months following the end of the field campaign on 1 November 2010.

     

   

• It is recognized that some special datasets may not be entirely available until over 12 months following the end of the field collection on 1 November 2010. However, it is anticipated that the highest priority cases will be processed first and be available within one year of the completion of the field program. Therefore, an initial data analysis period is defined as 12 months following the end of the field collection. During this 12-month period, the ITOP investigators shall have exclusive access to the data. This initial analysis period is set to accommodate the amount of processing required for all data products, to provide an opportunity to quality control the combined data set, and to provide the investigators ample time to publish their results.

   

• During the initial data analysis period, the investigator(s) who collected the special data sets must be notified first of any intent to use the data. In particular, this applies if data are to be provided to other parties via journal articles, presentations, and research proposals. It is expected that for any use of the ITOP data investigators responsible for acquisition of data will be invited to become collaborators and co-authors on any projects, publications and presentations. If the contribution of the data product is significant to the publication, the ITOP investigator responsible for generating a measurement or a data product should be offered the right of co-authorship or collaboration at the discretion of the investigator who collected the data. Any use of the data should include an acknowledgment (i.e., citation). In all circumstances, the ITOP investigator or data source responsible for acquisition of data must be acknowledged appropriately.

   

• All data shall be promptly provided to other ITOP investigators upon request. All ITOP investigators will have equal access to all data. A list of ITOP investigators will be maintained by the ITOP Project Office and will include the investigators directly participating in the field experiment as well as collaborating scientists who have provided guidance in the planning and analysis of ITOP data. No data may be provided to a third party via journal articles, presentations, or research proposals without the consent of the investigator who collected or is responsible for the data.

   

• Following the end of the initial data analysis period, all data shall be considered in the public domain. A data set within the ITOP archive can be opened to the public domain earlier at the discretion of the data provider for this particular data set.

   

• All acknowledgments of ITOP data and resources should identify: (1) ITOP; (2) The providers who collected the particular datasets being used in the study; (3) The relevant funding agencies associated with the collection of the data being studied, and (4) the role of EOL and relevant data archive center. For example, an acknowledgment appropriate for use of data would be the following: The (...) data were collected as part of the Impact of Typhoons on the Ocean in the Pacific (ITOP). In the United States, the primary sponsors of ITOP is the Office of Naval Research. The involvement of the NSF-sponsored National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Earth Observing Laboratory (EOL) is acknowledged. The acquisition of the (.) data was carried out by Dr. (..) using the (..) instrument and was funded by (..) (if pertinent). The data were provided from the ITOP Data Archive, which is maintained by NCAR's Earth Observing Laboratory (EOL) (or other appropriate archive center).