Quantifying and Understanding the Earth System (QUEST)

Introduction

Human activities are altering the atmosphere and oceans, transforming ecosystems, and changing the climate, over and above natural changes. Although people are global players in the Earth system, we don't understand well enough how it works, why it changes, and how it will respond to our growing influence. Yet environmental changes are gathering speed, increasingly affecting ecosystems and human welfare.

Society needs to plan for unavoidable changes, and to assess what different policies might achieve. A step-change improvement in our ability to understand environmental changes, as part of the complex interactions between the Earth system and human action, is needed to inform decision-making by businesses, organisations and governments at all levels, from local planning to international negotiations.

The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) has therefore created a 6-year Directed Mode research programme "Quantifying and Understanding the Earth System (QUEST)". The programme, which started in 2003 and will end in 2009, aims at providing a co-ordinated approach to the understanding of the Earth System and the complex feedbacks it involves. QUEST assimilates information and expertise from many programmes and institutions in and outside the UK. Its unique focus is on highly effective, interdisciplinary research, closely targeted to help deliver a substantial improvement in our quantitative understanding of global environmental change.

Quest Mission Statement:

Quantifying Earth system processes and feedbacks for better informed assessments of alternative futures of the global environment.

The programme is structured into 3 main research themes, in line with the mission statement:

Each of the projects funded by QUEST focuses on one of these themes.

Access to data

Please note that in order to be able to apply for access to QUEST data, you should first register with the BADC.

QUEST data	Conditions of access ⁽¹⁾	How to apply for access ⁽²⁾	Conditions of use	Where to find the data
• More than 1 year old • Earth System Atlas (QESA)	Public access	Submit application ⁽³⁾	QUEST Conditions of Use⁽⁵⁾ apply at any time	QUEST archive
• Other than QESA & less than 1 year old	Restricted to QUEST participants	Submit application ⁽⁴⁾	QUEST Conditions of Use⁽⁵⁾ apply at any time	QUEST archive

⁽¹⁾ As defined in Section 8 of the QUEST Data Policy.
⁽²⁾ Application involves abiding by the QUEST Conditions of Use shown in Column 4.
⁽³⁾ Access to public data will be granted automatically.
⁽⁴⁾ Access to restriced data will be granted to QUEST applicants after approval by the QUEST Deputy Leader. This will also include access to public data, so that only one application is necessary.
⁽⁵⁾ The QUEST Conditions of Use include a clause stating that the data distributed by the BADC must not be used for any commercial purpose. Requests for commercial use must be directly addressed to the owner of the IPR, that is NERC or the data originators.

Third-party datasets
Links to third-party datasets of interest to QUEST can be found below under the Links section.

Instructions to data providers

Data file names
Data providers are kindly requested to follow the BADC File Name Convention. Note that the first component of the file name is the instrument (or group of instruments, or model, or technique) name. Please refer to the current list of standard instrument/model/technique names and to the current list of standard location/platform names, and advise the BADC if your instrument, model, technique or location are not in the lists, so that we can ensure that the lists of standard names are up to date before you submit your data. A file name checking based on these lists will be performed at the time of uploading data to the BADC; files not complying with currently accepted standard names will be rejected.

Data file format
Data must be formatted in NetCDF or NASA Ames. A format checking will be performed at the time of uploading. If you wish to check that files are correctly formatted before uploading them please use the BADC NetCDF format checker or the NASA-Ames format checker.

Metadata
When inserting metadata in your data files (in NetCDF attributes or in NASA Ames file headers), please be as specific, explicit, accurate and complete as possible, and avoid references to implicit or undocumented conventions. A checklist is provided in the BADC Metadata help page. Metadata inserted in NetCDF files must follow the CF Metadata Convention. When applicable, please follow CF Metadata recommendations even when formatting your data in a format different from NetCDF. For example, it is recommended, if possible, to use CF standard names for variables recorded in NASA Ames files. Additional guidelines on writing CF-compliant metadata are provided by the BADC.
Please also refer to the format standard for the time variable.

Data file submission
In order to upload data files to the BADC, you first need to be a registered BADC user (if you are not a registered BADC user, then please register here.) and then be granted access to the restricted QUEST archive. To apply for access to the restricted QUEST archive, please complete the "online application form". The QUEST web uploader will allow you to submit data files to the BADC. Large amounts of files can also be submitted by ftp (please contact the BADC help desk for further information).

Documentation

List of projects funded under the QUEST programme.
QUEST Science Plan (June 2004)
QUEST Data Policy.
QUEST Data Scoping Study, phase 1.
QUEST Data Scoping Study, phase 2.
QUEST Data Scoping Study, phase 3.
QUEST Data Management Plan. This working document will be updated as the QUEST Programme unfolds.
BADC policy and guidelines on model simluation archival for NERC programmes.
BADC Metadata help page.
BADC Guidelines on CF-compliant Metadata.
CF Metadata Convention website and submission of proposals for new standard names.
Introduction to NetCDF format .
Introduction to NASA Ames format.
File-naming convention.

Links

QUEST Workspace

QUEST online workspace - A workspace was created on the BADC BSCW (Basic Support for Cooperative Work) server. This workspace has now been withdrawn due to lack of interest.

QUEST Websites

Supporting datasets

Argo data are available from the following two Argo Global Data Assembly Centres (GDACs).
- The Coriolis Centre in Brest (France).
- The Monterey GDAC (California, USA).
Argo is a global array of 2,740 free-drifting profiling floats that measures the temperature and salinity of the upper 2000 m of the ocean. All data are relayed and made publicly available within hours after collection (real-time data). In addition to the real-time data stream, Argo provides salinity/temperature/pressure profiles that approach ship-based data accuracy. Both real-time and delayed-mode data are available from the GDACs, which synchronize their data holdings to ensure consistent data is available on both sites. The Coriolis Site provides advice and guidance on how to use Argo data effectively.
Envisat data from the MIPAS, SCIAMACHY and MERIS instruments are available to ESA Category-1 grant holders from the NERC Earth Observation Data Centre (NEODC).
EPICA Dome C Ice Core data are distributed by the NOAA National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service (NESDIS). More information on the project can be found from the EPICA (European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica) site at the University of Bern (Switzerland).
MOZAIC (Measurements of Ozone by Airbus In-Service Aircraft) data are available on application for collaboration with the MOZAIC and IAGO investigators, from the MOZAIC site of the Laboratoire d'Aérologie in Toulouse (France). The data include measurements of ozone, water vapour, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides on board commercial flights of the Airbus aircraft. The MOZAIC Data Protocol and the application for collaboration form can be filled online on this site.
MTCI (MERIS Terrestrial Chlorophyll Index) is a Level 3 product derived by the Company Infoterra from the measurements made by the MERIS instrument on board the ESA Envisat satellite. MTCI data come in two resolutions:
- 4.63 km (global coverage)
- 1 km (regional coverage of Europe, Australia and North America)
MTCI data are distributed by the NEODC. Access to these data is granted on application and on provision of a brief research project description.
CHABLIS (Chemistry of the Antarctic Boundary Layer and the Interface with Snow).
RAPID Climate Change (RAPID Data Centre page maintained at BODC).

Other data sources

The BRIDGE (Bristol Research Initiative for the Dynamic Global Environment) web site makes both model and palaeo data available, and is maintained by Paul Valdes at Bristol University.
RAPID Project Website at Southampton.
RAPID Welcome Page at BADC.
The Southampton Assimilated Oceanographic Data at the BADC.
The COAPEC Dataset at the BADC.
The HadGEM1 Model Integrations Dataset at the BADC.
The HiGEM Dataset at the BADC.
The LINK Dataset at the BADC.
The OCCAM global model at Southampton.
The GODIVA web site at Reading.
The ENACT project.
The HadISST dataset at the BADC.

Metadata Convention

CF Metadata Convention website and submission of proposals for new standard names.

Contacts

The QUEST Leader is Colin Prentice, University of Bristol.
The QUEST Deputy Leader is Wolfgang Knorr, University of Bristol.
General queries about these pages or browsing the data should be directed to the BADC support line.

Each QUEST project has a principal investigator (PI) and will have a designated "data co-ordinator" to ensure good communication with the QUEST core team/BADC regarding data issues, and to ensure that each project meets it's data provision obligations. These currently are listed here.

QUEST Earth System Data Initiative (QESDI)

QESDI has created a prototype data portal, which an interactive graphics interface, at the QUEST portal. The portal also provides access to software in "R" (for visualisation of data) and IDL (for manipulation of NetCDF files).