Review of NOAA's Plan for the Scientific Data Stewardship Program (2005)
Chapter: Front Matter
Review of NOAA’s Plan for the Scientific Data Stewardship Program
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NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
This study was supported by Contract No. 50-DGNA-1-90024 between the National Academy of Sciences and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the project.
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COMMITTEE ON CLIMATE DATA RECORDS FROM NOAA OPERATIONAL SATELLITES
DAVID ROBINSON (Chair),
Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey
ROBERTA BALSTAD,
Columbia University/CIESIN, Palisades, New York
ROGER BARRY,
World Data Center for Glaciology, National Snow & Ice Data Center, Boulder, Colorado
JANET CAMPBELL,
University of New Hampshire, Durham
RUTH DEFRIES,
University of Maryland, College Park
WILLIAM J. EMERY,
University of Colorado, Boulder
MILTON HALEM,
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (ret.), Greenbelt, Maryland
JAMES HURRELL,
National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado
ARLENE LAING,
National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado
RANGA MYNENI,
Boston University, Massachusetts
RICHARD SOMERVILLE,
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego
PAUL D. TRY,
Science and Technology Corporation, Silver Spring, Maryland
THOMAS VONDER HAAR,
Colorado State University, Fort Collins
NRC Staff
SHELDON DROBOT, Study Director (First Report)
AMANDA STAUDT, Study Director (Second Report)
ROB GREENWAY, Senior Project Assistant
BOARD ON ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES AND CLIMATE
ROBERT J. SERAFIN (Chair),
National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado
M. JOAN ALEXANDER,
Colorado Research Associates, Boulder
FREDERICK R. ANDERSON,
McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP, Washington, D.C.
MICHAEL L. BENDER,
Princeton University, New Jersey
ROSINA M. BIERBAUM,
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
MARY ANNE CARROLL,
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
CAROL ANNE CLAYSON,
Florida State University, Tallahassee
WALTER F. DABBERDT,
Vaisala Inc., Boulder, Colorado
KERRY A. EMANUEL,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
DENNIS L. HARTMANN,
University of Washington, Seattle
PETER R. LEAVITT,
Weather Information, Inc., Newton, Massachusetts
JENNIFER A. LOGAN,
Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
VERNON R. MORRIS,
Howard University, Washington, D.C.
THOMAS H. VONDER HAAR,
Colorado State University, Fort Collins
ROGER M. WAKIMOTO,
National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado
Ex Officio Members
ANTONIO J. BUSALACCHI, JR.,
University of Maryland, College Park
ERIC F. WOOD,
Princeton University, New Jersey
NRC Staff
CHRIS ELFRING, Director
PAUL CUTLER, Senior Program Officer
AMANDA STAUDT, Senior Program Officer
GERALDEAN HOURIGAN LANTIER, Research Associate
LEAH PROBST, Research Associate
ELIZABETH A. GALINIS, Senior Program Assistant
ROB GREENWAY, Senior Program Assistant
DIANE GUSTAFSON, Administrative Coordinator
ANDREAS SOHRE, Financial Associate
PREFACE
To understand our climate system more completely, it is imperative that we have climate data records (CDR) that possess the accuracy, longevity and stability to facilitate credible climate monitoring. This includes CDRs from environmental satellites, which have been surveying our atmosphere, oceans and lands for the past four decades. Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Administrator Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., and others within NOAA are to be commended for accepting the mandate to better understand climate variability and change. Our committee was tasked with assisting NOAA as it designs a plan that should establish this agency as the chief steward of satellite CDRs. Following a series of committee teleconferences, an information gathering workshop was convened in August 2003, with several dozen scientists providing valuable input to the committee’s endeavor. Numerous telecons, e-mails, and face-to-face meetings in Washington, D.C. and Boulder, Colorado followed, and the committee’s first report was published in March 2004 (NRC, 2004). NOAA officials were briefed and, over the following year, took the report under advisement as they prepared the first draft of a Scientific Data Stewardship Implementation Plan. As originally tasked, the committee reconvened in March 2005, was briefed by NOAA officials, and subsequently prepared this short report in which we evaluate the efficacy of the draft plan.
Many individuals provided important information and insights as we prepared our reports. Thanks go to Mitch Goldberg, John Bates, George Ohring, and Thomas Karl for their CDR leadership within NOAA. On behalf of the entire committee, I want to express gratitude to Chris Elfring, Amanda Staudt, Sheldon Drobot, and Rob Greenway of the National Research Council’s Board of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate for their unfailing support of our endeavor.
Finally, many thanks to my fellow committee members for their excellent contributions. As I stated in the preface to the 2004 report, this reflects their dedication to the science community and illustrates their belief that, by having the opportunity to help guide NOAA in the detailed development of an end-to-end CDR program, they can make a difference.
DAVID A. ROBINSON, Chair
Committee on Climate Data Records from NOAA Operational Satellites
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the National Research Council’s Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish to thank the following individuals for their review of this report:
Mark Abbott, Oregon State University, Corvallis
Lee Branscome, Climatological Consulting Corporation, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
Susan Ustin, University of California at Davis
Frank Wentz, Remote Sensing Systems, Santa Rosa, California
Steven J. Worley, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado
Although the reviewers listed above have provided constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the report’s conclusions or recommendations, nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Christopher Justice of the University of Maryland, College Park. Appointed by the National Research Council, he was responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the institution.
