CAESAR Data Policy

1 June 2023

  1. Instrument teams will provide quicklook data products to the project PIs for merging with other data sets within 24 hours of a flight to support in field quality control and flight planning. Model output related to the CAESAR data sets will be similarly made available to the science teams as soon as is practical.
  2. All instrument teams participating in CAESAR agree to promptly submit their preliminary quality controlled measurement data to the CAESAR Data Archive Center (CDAC) within 6 months after the project data are acquired. For real-time data collected in the field, this is by 15 October 2024. Similarly, model investigators agree to submit appropriate model products by 1 September 2024 to the CDAC. This will facilitate inter-comparison of results, quality control checks and inter-calibrations, and integrated interpretation of the combined data set. The preliminary data submission period for most data is therefore from 15 April 2024 to 15 October 2024. 
  3. All instrument teams and model investigators participating in CAESAR agree to submit their final quality controlled measurement data and appropriate model products in common, standard formats to the CDAC within 12 months after the project data are acquired, i.e. by 15 April 2025.
  4. Preliminary and final data and model product submissions should include documentation in the form of a readme file describing the measurement and data processing procedures used to generate the data or the relevant model routines. Instrument investigators are encouraged to also submit raw data and all data processing routines used to get from the raw to final data products.
  5. All data, metadata and model products in the archive will be considered open to the public domain 1 year after the data are acquired; (i.e., 15 April 2025 and thereafter for most data). However, any data, metadata or product within the CDAC at EOL can be opened to the public domain earlier at the discretion of the responsible data/product provider in consultation with the CAESAR Scientific Steering Committee.
  6. During the initial data analysis period, defined as from 15 April 2024 to 15 April 2025 (a one-year period following the end of the CAESAR Field Deployment), CAESAR Investigators will have exclusive access to the data and model products. This initial analysis period is designed to provide an opportunity to quality control the combined data set as well as to provide the investigators ample time to prepare manuscripts for publication and presentation.
  7. Quicklook and preliminary data sets and model products will be distributed within the CAESAR team and may be shared outside the team (with permission of the investigator responsible for the production of the data set) to support early analyses. However, in no case shall quicklook or preliminary data be used in a publication or conference presentation without agreement from the investigator or modeler making the data or product available.
  8. A list of CAESAR investigators will be maintained by NCAR/EOL and will include the investigators directly participating in the field experiment as well as collaborating scientists who are members of the CAESAR Science Team and agencies who have provided guidance and data in the planning and analysis of CAESAR data. All data shall be promptly provided to other CAESAR investigators upon request if not available through the archive. All CAESAR investigators will have equal access to all data. No restricted data will be provided to non-CAESAR Investigators without the permission of the PI who collected that data.
  9. During the initial analysis period, the Investigator(s) who collected the data or generated model output must be notified of the intent to use the data or model products in the early phase of the research project and especially before any journal articles, presentations, research proposals are developed. If the PI makes a significant intellectual contribution to the research, or if the data are essential to the work, or if an important result or conclusion depends on the data, co−authorship would normally be expected. This should be discussed at an early stage in the work. Any published use of the data should include an acknowledgment and/or a citation as described below.
  10.  All acknowledgments of CAESAR data, metadata and model products should identify: (1) the CAESAR campaign; (2) the crew and support staff at the NCAR Research Aviation Facility; (3) the providers who collected the particular datasets or conducted the model simulations used in the study; (4) the relevant funding agencies associated with the collection of the data or model simulations; (5) the role of EOL or relevant data archive center, and (6) use of any relevant Digital Objective Identifiers (DOIs). A suggested acknowledgment reads “The author(s) wish to acknowledge the CAESAR Project, [xxx data provider] for the use of the [yyy particular data] funded by zzz [relevant funding agency], the CAESAR Data Archive Center at NCAR’s Earth Observing Laboratory [and/or any other relevant Archive Center]. In addition, this text could include “This dataset is cited through doi:xx.xxxx/xxxxxxxx”, or preferably use the appropriate dataset citations(s) in the Publications References Section. The EOL expects to be assigning DOIs for all final datasets submitted to the main archive at EOL. Further, note that close collaboration and co-authorship with investigators collecting the data or creating the model products is highly encouraged.
  11. EOL will be responsible for the long-term data stewardship of the CAESAR archive.
Event Deadline  
End of Field Campaign 15 April 2024
Preliminary Data Submission Deadline 15 October 2024
Final Real-time Data Submission Deadline 15 April 2025
Initial Data Analysis Period (CAESAR Science Team members have exclusive access to password protected data during this period.) 15 April 2024- 15 April 2025
Real-time Data becomes Public Domain 15 April 2025