Quality assurance and quality control of NWS Historical Cooperative Observations

Over the past several decades, many National Weather Service (NWS) Weather Forecast Offices throughout the nation have maintained their own repositories of monthly/daily weather observations from the Cooperative Observer Program (COOP). However, not all Weather Forecast Offices have verified that records for each COOP station's data history match available data within the appropriate National/Regional Archives and Data Repositories. The purpose of this paper is three-fold: 1) to demonstrate the methodology for verifying COOP station's history with available data sources, 2) to illustrate potential sources for filling data period of record gaps and missing data values, and 3) to ensure that all appropriate and available COOP Data are archived at NOAA's National and Regional Climate Centers and are made available for climate data analysis.

The methodology utilizes the National Climatic Data Center's Environmental Document Access and Display System (EDADS), NWS's Cooperative Station Service Accountability (CSSA) Website, NOAA's Regional Climate Centers Applied Climate Information System (xmACIS), and the Datzilla System, NOAA's data-product error reporting and tracking system. Station History information from EDADS/CSSA are compared to available imaged COOP forms from EDADS and keyed data accessible in xmACIS such that data within a station's period of record can be verified to match. If data gaps are found or data values appear to be in error when compared to EDADS and/or xmACIS, data from active COOP stations or data stored at NWS Weather Forecast Offices can be used to fill in gaps and correct data. Datzilla is an important tracking tool within this process as it is used to assess the veracity of COOP Station History and Data and logs all changes that are subsequently made in EDADS and/or xmACIS. By utilizing the aforementioned methodology, NWS Weather Forecast Offices across the nation can ensure that valuable data for their COOP Stations are accurately archived at NOAA's National and Regional Climate Centers.