The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program (ARM), funded by the Environmental Sciences Division of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), is a major global change research program whose focus is to better understand the influences of human activity on the earth's climate.
The ARM program has set up instruments at three primary measuring sites around the world. These sites are the Southern Great Plains (SGP) of the United States, the Tropical Western Pacific (TWP) and the North Slope of Alaska (NSA). The sites were selected to provide opportunities to observe a wide range of climatologically important meteorological conditions.
Scientists will be able to use the parametric data gathered at these sites to study the effects and interactions of sunlight, energy transfer, and clouds on temperature, weather, and climate.
Members of the ARM Data and Science Integration Team (DSIT) and the ARM infrastructure have worked together to design and implement a MetaData System (MDS) currently in use at the SGP site, and are now in the process of designing an MDS for the NSA site. MetaData is important to the ARM program because it provides information about the scientific utility of the parametric data gathered at the ARM sites and also provides information that will enhance the operations and assist in the maintenance of the sites and the site data systems. The MDS is based on a relational database system.
Various methods exist for populating and viewing the contents of the MDS. Web-based methods include a data entry application, a browse tool, and report generation and subscription services. Other methods used for populating the MDS are the transfer of ascii files to a "data doorstep" on the site data system for loading into the MDS, as well as an event-driven (email) entry process.