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9/3/2008

In our latest upgrades to the fluxdata web site, we have revamped the ancillary data handling. The ancillary information that has been collected over the last 1.5 years has been merged with the information we have been receiving via the BADM templates being submitted by sites. This merger allows users easy access to significantly more ancillary information for those sites that have submitted BADM templates.

There is also now a new ancillary data update function that allows users to submit updates and new values to any ancillary information about a site including BADM data. Once submitted, the update is routed to the curator for the site for approval. Visit the "Ancillary Data Update" tab to use this new feature.

Posted at 7:50 AM by Deb Agarwal | Category: General Announcements and News | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

7/22/2008

New revision of Matlab data cube interface available

We have a new version of out Matlab cube interface. This version uses a secure data channel and has expanded documentation with real-life examples of data queries and Matlab analyses. You can get it as a ZIP archive directly from http://bwc.lbl.gov/Tools/CubeAccessLib2008-07-21.zip. Complete documentation with installation instructions is included in the package as a file named BWC Cube-Matlab Interface. This is available in both a MS Word (.doc) and PDF format file. A PDF is also available in the User Support section of this web site.

The interface is tested to work reliably under Windows. If you run Matlab on other platforms and would like to use the interface, please let us know.

We are planning to develop a next-generation of this interface that supports analysis and visualization tools other than Matlab. We have so far identified S-Plus and ArcGIS as tools to interface to our cubes. Do you use other software tools for analysis that you would like to have access to our cube data? If so, please drop us a note at fluxdata-support@fluxdata.org.

Posted at 3:55 PM by Robin Weber | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

7/11/2008

Proposal teams need to specify proposal status before September. . .

(Posted on behalf of Markus Reichstein)

Since there have been some questions about which proposals are being pursued and whether PIs have been contacted in the case of active proposals, we have added a status indicator for each proposal at http://www.fluxdata.org/DataInfo/Dataset%20Doc%20Lib/PaperWritingTeamsInfo.aspx (credit goes to the team from Berkeley Water Center and Univ. of Virginia). For the sake of maximum transparency, we ask you to update your proposal status at that page via "View/Manage" accordingly (the default is unknown). Once you have specified your proposal status, select the "Submit" button. It costs you 1 minute.... By the rules outlined, the SMC should review the status of the proposals in September then.

Thanks in advance, Markus & Dario

proposal list page.

Posted at 8:16 PM by Deb Agarwal | Category: General Announcements and News | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

5/9/2008

BADM Templates Posted . . . . .

The biological, ancillary, and disturbance, and metadata templates that have been received have now been posted. The data from them is now reflected in the AmeriFlux and Fluxnet ancillary data reports on the fluxdata web site.

Posted at 11:33 PM by Deb Agarwal | Category: General Announcements and News | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

4/10/2008

Communication between proposal teams and data providers . . .

Proposal coordinators need to notify the data providers that they are using their data. An easy way to do this is for the proposal coordinator to do so on the fluxdata.org web site by selecting "Modify" on their proposal in the list. On the resulting page, the coordinator can specify the towers in use by the proposal, the current status of the analysis effort, and then e-mail the data providers. Below are some key excerpts from the FLUXNET Synthesis dataset Terms of Reference (ToR).

Data providers will be kept fully informed of the use of their data.
Site PIs may withdraw their data from specific analyses carried out although they should give a reason for this to the proposer and SMC.
All data providers will be invited to give intellectual input to the studies that use their data.
Significant intellectual input should lead to co-authorship.
Until the final manuscripts are accepted, the data providers must be kept in the e-mail traffic that discusses the topic, circulates manuscript drafts, etc. The data providers must however maintain these information as confidential.
Lead authors are responsible to appropriately acknowledge the contributions of each contributing network and their funding agencies in all presentations and publications that result from the TCO FLUXNET synthesis.

We are currently implementing additional features to help support the communication between proposal teams and data providers. If you would like to help define these features, please contact us at fluxdata-support@george.lbl.gov.

Posted at 10:26 AM by Deb Agarwal | Category: General Announcements and News | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

Clarification of co-author addition . . .

The FLUXNET dataset usage policy is posted in the Terms of Reference (ToR) document on the "Dataset Information" page. As indicated in the ToR, proposal coordinators and their approved collaborators have full access to the dataset for use to perform approved synthesis activities. The data can NOT be shared except with approved collaborators. To add a collaborator to a proposal, the coordinator of the proposal must send the CV of the collaborator to the steering committee for approval. Approval typically takes about two weeks. If a collaborator has been approved, they can be given access to the data. This procedure applies to all contributors including data providers joining proposal teams and students in the laboratories of primary authors.

The applicable text from the ToR is below

Under no circumstances can the data be circulated to other people, even to co-authors, that are not listed in the proposal, because of conditional agreements with different networks. Co-authors that need to access the data must first send a request to the SMC that they will forward this to the networks for approval.
Only contributors to the FLUXNET database are eligible to use data from the TCO Fluxnet data base, and only in the context of the pre-approved FLUXNET synthesis papers.

A data provider can be added as a co-author to a paper without the above approval process only if the data provider will not be given access to data other than their own.

Posted at 9:47 AM by Deb Agarwal | Category: General Announcements and News | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

4/9/2008

Matlab interface to the data cube . . . .

A Matlab interface to the datacube is now available. It enables direct ingest and analysis of the FLUXNET data. It is available for use by proposal teams to perform analysis. If you are interested in trying it out, contact fluxdata-support@george.lbl.gov.

Posted at 9:06 PM by Deb Agarwal | Category: General Announcements and News | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

4/4/2008

Podcast - Making sense of CO2 data

Dennis Baldocchi (UCB) and Catharine van Ingen (MSR) recently sat down in conversation with Jon Udell of Microsoft's Channel 10. They discussed the FLUXNET network and the technology behind the www.fluxdata.org site. The result is available as a podcast and transcribed text at http://perspectives.on10.net/blogs/jonudell/Making-sense-of-C02-data/.

Posted at 10:38 AM by Deb Agarwal | Category: General Announcements and News | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

3/28/2008

Ancillary Data Update . . . .

Several new ancillary data elements have been added to the database. New values for these elements can be submitted using the Ancillary Data Update page.

WATER_TABLE_DEPTH - water table depth
SNOW_DEPTH_MAX - maximum snow depth
URL – tower web site URL
INSTRUMENT_GAS – CO2 measurement instrument (Eg LI-6262)
INSTRUMENT_GAS_PATH – open/closed
INSTRUMENT_ANEMOMETER – wind speed instrument (eg Gill R3)
CITATION: BibTex or RIS citation to be used for the site
URL_PHENCAM – tower phenology web cam
SITE_DESC_FETCH – there are now three different site descriptions you can use. All are general text descriptions.

SITE_DESC – general description including biome and species. Note that the IGBP variable should be used for the actual IGBP class and the SPECIES variable used for the dominant species.
SITE_DESC_HISTORY – general description of the site history. Note that the DIST variable should be used to describe specific disturbances such as fires, harvests, or pesticide applications.
SITE_DESC_FETCH - general description of the site including prevailing winds.

Posted at 10:38 AM by Deb Agarwal | Category: Dataset Changes and Updates | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

2/29/2008

FLUXNET Site curators and ancillary curators explained . . .

You will notice on the site that we have a report that lists sites by curator or by country and curator.

Early in the process of collecting the data and ancillary data for the fluxnet synthesis effort we were having the problem that we were getting different data and ancillary data from different people. The idea of the curator is to specify a single primary point of contact responsible for interacting with the site PI and receiving the site's flux/met data for the fluxnet synthesis effort. The ancillary curator is the equivalent contact for the ancillary data for the site. Often the curator and ancillary curator are the same person. There are two key goals with the establishment of the curator and anc curator roles.

1. Provide the site PI with a single point of contact to the fluxnet synthesis effort.
2. Designate a single authority within the group gathering fluxnet synthesis information that is responsible for determining the answers to questions about a site and obtaining information and data for the site.

The curator and ancillary curator are also responsible for approving any changes made to information and data for a site and propagating this information to the various FLUXNET databases.

Posted at 1:47 PM by Deb Agarwal | Category: FAQ | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

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