Rules for GRUAN data-usage

The GRUAN data policy

GRUAN GDP radiosonde data are available here (registration and log in required).

Users of GRUAN data, in accordance with common scientific practice, are expected to comply with the rules for referencing, acknowledging and co-authorship that are outlined in the next two sections.

When using GRUAN data in publications

The paper should include following acknowledgement and references:

  1. Acknowledge GRUAN (the GCOS Reference Upper Air Network) as provider of the data.
  2. If only data from one GRUAN site, or a limited number of sites, has been used, acknowledge the site(s) and their sponsoring institutions or organizations. See here for information on the sites.
  3. Reference the Technical Document describing the GDP in question.
  4. Reference the DOIs of the GDP datasets (see below). When DOIs for data from the individual sites used in the paper are available, reference these.

After publication, send a copy of the paper to the Lead Centre ().

Co-authorship

  1. When using radiosonde GDP data, co-authorship is not required, but would be appreciated.
  2. When using GRUAN-processed radiosonde data from non-GRUAN sites, co-authorship should be offered to (a representative of) the GDP-developer(s) and to (a representative of) the processing centre.
  3. When using non-radiosonde GDP data, the GDP developer and the instrument specialist from the site that provides the data should be offered co-authorship.

The necessary contact information for sites, GDP-developers and instrument specialist will be provided by the LC.

“The GRUAN Policy for the handling, sharing, and distribution of GRUAN measurement data” is published as GRUAN Technical Note 10 (GRUAN-TN-10).

Background information

GRUAN was developed by an international panel of scientists including experts in radiosondes and remote sensing measurements for water vapour, temperature and pressure in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. Apart from operational radiosonde systems, GRUAN sites are equipped with sophisticated, state-of-the-art instrumentation and comply with strict requirements of station maintenance, exposure of instruments, calibration, quality assurance procedures and the like. To ensure that the goal of long-term high-quality climate records is reached, site scientists, who are leading experts for the instruments used at the respective GRUAN sites, often take responsibility for individual instruments operated at the GRUAN site.

Inclusion of GRUAN scientists as co-authors of papers making extensive use of GRUAN (non- radiosonde) data is justifiable and highly recommended, in particular if a site scientist or instrument specialist has responded to questions raised about data quality and/or suitability for the specific study in question, or has been directly involved in contributing to the paper in other ways.

In case of radiosonde data, the GDP developers are the relevant experts, who are qualified to answer questions on the data product and who should be considered for co-authorship. The co-authorship is not a pre-condition for release of GRUAN data. However, it is highly recommended that any data user should contact the responsible site scientist or GDP developer and ask if he/she wants to become co-author, or if an acknowledgement would be sufficient. Users of GRUAN data are encouraged to establish direct contact with site scientists/GDP developers for the purpose of complete interpretation and analysis of data for publication purposes.

GRUAN-processed data

On several occasions data has been processed for sites that are not part of GRUAN. Examples of these are the MOSAiC expedition (Shupe et al., 2022; Maturilli et al., 2022), the StratoClim campaign (Brunamonti et al., 2018), and a satellite comparison study over Eureka (Weaver et al., 2019). Although the Lead Centre gladly supports external research projects by providing GRUAN’s reference-quality data, there must be a clear distinction between these campaign data and the data stream from regular GRUAN sites. The rationale for this is to ensure that GRUAN sites get proper acknowledgement for their efforts and resources that go into maintaining a GRUAN measurement program.

Therefore, GRUAN Data Product files, or GRUAN data, is a term exclusively reserved for measurements performed by GRUAN sites, whereas data from non-GRUAN sites that has been processed by the Lead Centre or another processing centre, will be referred to as GRUAN-processed data.

WMO data policy

GRUAN is a WMO co-sponsored programme, and therefore it is appropriate to comply with WMO policy, practice, and guidelines for the exchange of meteorological and related data and products. The WMO unified data policy, adopted as resolution 1 at Cg-Ex 2021 (WMO), is to give WMO-members access to timely and reliable weather, climate, water and related environmental data and information. This unified data policy combines the resolutions 40 25 (Cg-XIII) and 60 (Cg-17), which from a practical point of view can be regarded as an extension of the original resolution 40 (Cg-XII) for uninhibited exchange of meteorological observation and model data to include the fields of atmospheric composition, oceanography, cryosphere and space weather. Although no specific numbers are given as to what constitutes a timely exchange, in case of climate data the tentative maximum delay of one year is mentioned. 

Data retention for campaigns

Site managers can apply for data retention for campaign data to ensure first publication rights. The retention only applies to campaign measurements, and should not exceed one year after the completion of the campaign. 

Deliberate data retention for certain measurements that are performed in the framework of a scientific measurement campaign, is a common practice to ensure first-publication rights for the campaign participants. 

Data retention can only be applied to campaign data collected at a GRUAN site, and it should not be applied to measurements that are performed as part of the site’s regular GRUAN commitment, such as operational radiosoundings, GNSS-PW measurements or stratospheric water vapour observations. 

Eligible for retention are additional measurements in the framework of the campaign effort, such as radiosoundings outside the regular schedule, or soundings with other radiosonde types or additional non-regular instruments attached to the radiosonde. The campaign data and the processed GDP files will not be distributed until the data retention period has expired. 

The one-year limit for the retention of campaign data is consistent with the WMO unified data policy, which calls for a maximum delay of one year for climate data.

Downloads

  • GRUAN-TN-10: The GRUAN Policy for the handling, sharing, and distribution of GRUAN measurement data
  • WMO: WMO unified data policy, resolution 1 Cg-Ext 2021