The basis for the T-PARC 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 T-PARC data, subject to procedures to be put into place at the various T-PARC Data Archive Centers (TDACs). The following is a summary of the T-PARC Data Management Policy by which all T-PARC participants, data collectors, and data users shall be requested to abide:

• All investigators participating in T-PARC agree to promptly submit their quality- controlled data to the appropriate TDAC 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 TDAC within six months following the end of the field campaign on 5 October 2008.

     

  • Special meteorological data such as Doppler wind lidar data, Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) data, and radar data shall be submitted to the appropriate TDAC by 31 December 2009.

   

• It is recognized that some special datasets, which include the DIAL data, Doppler wind lidar data, and radar data, may not be entirely available until over 12 months following the end of the field collection on 5 October 2008. 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 T-PARC 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 T-PARC 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 T-PARC 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 T-PARC investigator or data source responsible for acquisition of data must be acknowledged appropriately.

   

• All data shall be promptly provided to other T-PARC investigators upon request. All T-PARC investigators will have equal access to all data. A list of T-PARC investigators will be maintained by the T-PARC 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 T-PARC 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 T-PARC archive can be opened to the public domain earlier at the discretion of the data provider for this particular data set.

   

• All acknowledgments of T-PARC data and resources should identify: (1) T-PARC; (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 ELDORA radar data from the NRL P-3 would be the following: The (...) data were collected as part of the THORPEX Pacific Asian Regional Campaign (T-PARC). In the United States, the primary sponsors of T-PARC are the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and 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 T-PARC Data Archive, which is maintained by NCAR.s Earth Observing Laboratory (EOL) (or other appropriate archive center).