WMO

Climate-relevant operational Metadata

Peer Hechler, Omar Baddour

WMO; WIS DMA

WMO

Metadata requirements for climate (1/5) Principles from a climate perspective: (i) Metadata should be

managed in a way that allows for reflecting and retrieving all changes in the history of the observation/ instrument/ station/ network, such as siting, instrumentation, times of observations etc., but also establishment of station, commencement of observations, interruptions of operation, closure of station including one-to-one ID attribution (no use of same ID for different station through history); (ii) Metadata should allow for re-calculation of processed data.

Metadata should be accessible and exchangeable equally conveniently as the meteorological/climatological data itself

The below listed metadata requirements are subject to further discussion and might be prioritised (required, optional). Wording to be revised. List not exhaustive.

WMO

Metadata requirements for climate (2/5) Station identifier(s) incl. index number and name Contact information (name, mailing address, Email address, phone

numbers) Station actors (owner, manager, observers incl. their level of

experience/qualification etc.) Station type (fixed land, fixed sea, mobile land etc.) Location (exact geographical location incl. elevation) Roughness, topography of station and environment, land use Photography, site plan and skyline diagram of station and

environment Type(s) of soil incl. physical constants and profile of soil Type(s) of vegetation Observation programme (elements measured, reference time, times

at which observations and measurements are made and reported, datum level to which atmospheric pressure data of the station refer)

Inspection reports

WMO

Metadata requirements for climate (3/5)

Instruments (detailed instrument descriptions incl. manufacturer, model, serial number, date of installation )

Instrument and instrument maintenance status (active, out of service, under repair; maint. frequency, calibration results etc.)

Siting and exposure of instrument incl. photos Description of parameters measured by the instrument incl. unit,

range, resolution, format, frequency, accuracy, method, algorithm, time constant, output averaging time etc.

Principle of operation, method of measurement and observation, type of detection system, performance characteristics

Data acquisition incl. sampling interval, averaging interval Correction procedures and calibration information Type of AWS incl. manufacturer, model, serial number

WMO

Metadata requirements for climate (4/5)

Measuring/observing programme of elements (times of observation, reporting frequency, data output

Data processing method and intervalls Procedures, algorithms, calculation methods, constants,

reported resolution Data handling: Quality Control procedures and algorithms incl.

corrections by the observer Definition of QC-flags Storage procedures Method of transmission, data format, transmission time and

frequency ? Station network Metadata, such as mission, operator,

principles…??