Data Management Plan
The purpose of this data management plan (DMP) is to set up a coherent approach to data issues pertaining to "Cape Verde Observatory" . The data management objectives are to ensure that:
This document is an agreed record of the data management needs and issues within Cape Verde Observatory. It defines who is responsible for data management activities both within data centres and by the data creators. It lists the expected data products and provides a mechanism for recording and agreeing changes. Other data needs and issues are also laid out so that problems can be identified early. It includes conditions of use and deposit to clearly express the ownership and rights associated with the data.
The scope of this document is data management of the data used or generated by Cape Verde Observatory .
The Cape Verde Observatory dataset encompasses all data produced by Cape Verde Observatory which is to be archived for posterity. This may include validated raw data, processed data and model results, where they have long term importance and/or use to the wider scientific community. The individual data sources are summarised in Appendix A.
The Cape Verde Obsrvatory archive will be located at the BADC, part of the
Centre of Environmental Data Archival (CEDA) at
In order to facilitate future data use, and unless this is inappropriate for particular cases (such as the widespread use of a specific format by a specialised community), NetCDF or NASA Ames will be adopted for all the processed data generated by the programme. Documentation on this format is available here: http://www.badc.rl.ac.uk/help/formats/.
Metadata (i.e. information on the data) are a crucial part of any data archive since they ensure the accessibility and readability of the data. It is therefore essential that metadata be submitted at the same time as the data sets to which they pertain. Metadata describing any Cape Verde Observatory data not archived at the data centre should also be supplied to the data centre. Metadata for NetCDF files should comply with the Climate Forecasting (CF) convention as far as possible. Metadata requirements are documented here: http://badc.nerc.ac.uk/help/metadata/. In addition to these metadata, investigators are encouraged to archive all relevant information, including model and experiment descriptions, references, papers, reports, etc. These will be added to the CEDA document repository.
Ownership of the data lies with the data creator, but NERC has the right to exploit data resulting from NERC funded research.
When relevant, preliminary data should be made available to Cape Verde Observatory collaborators as soon as possible. Any corrections or amendments to the preliminary data should be announced as soon as possible. All validated processed data (i.e. data sets in their final form) will be archived at the data centre. Archival must take place no later than the end of the Cape Verde Observatory funding period .
Data creators will be required to agree to the data deposit conditions before the data are added to the archive.
Deposit Conditions
Access to all data submitted to the data centre will be restricted to Cape Verde Observatory participants for one year following the archival date, after which they will be released into the public domain. During the embargo period, access may be extended to external collaborators who have been authorised by the Katie Read or their delegated authority. Potential users of the archive will be required to agree to the Conditions of Use.
Conditions of use
Third-party data required for the development of the programme activities and held at the BADC or NEODC, such as Envisat, ECMWF and Met Office data sets, will be made available to the participants, subject to current access conditions.
If required and depending on available resources, the data centre will endeavour to retrieve data sets from other sources at no cost or will negotiate their acquisition at the best possible cost.
Results coming out of the Cape Verde Observatory will be published in the usual way. It is each investigator's responsibility to ensure that the data used in publications are the best available at that time.
During the embargo period, each investigator will have the right to refuse the use of his results in a publication or a presentation prior to the investigator's own publication of that work. If measurements or model results from other groups within the programme are used in a Cape Verde Observatory participant's publication during or after the programme, joint authorship must be offered. This will not necessarily have to be accepted, particularly in cases where due credit and acknowledgement can be given in other, possibly more appropriate, ways. References of publications should be communicated to the data centre so that they can be integrated into the Cape Verde Observatory archive documentation.
A dataset web page for Cape Verde Observatory will be set up at data centre. This will be the gateway to all Cape Verde Observatory data and metadata, and to all relevant information and links. The web page will be the primary source of information regarding the Cape Verde Observatory archive and will be updated as new information is available.
The data centre will provide assistance with format and metadata issues, as well as a helpdesk to handle queries from data users and providers.