Moving Climate Data Records from Research to Operations

The Nation and broader scientific community have a pressing need for the routine and systematic production of Climate Data Records (CDRs), a position strongly supported through recent reports from the U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP), the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report. The National Academy's Earth Science 'Decadal Survey' (2007) recommended interagency coordination in the developing these products. In response, representatives from NOAA's National Climatic Data Center, NASA Headquarters and the U.S. Geological Survey have been developing a conceptual framework for systematically moving mature satellite algorithms from the research domain into sustained and coherent operational production and, as appropriate, into Climate Information Records (CIRs). Notionally entitled 'The Evolution of a CDR', the strategy includes continuing opportunities to develop new research algorithms, the systematic evolution, generalization and maintenance of mature research algorithms, the routine generation, validation and stewardship of CDRs and CIRs, and support of climate studies based on CDRs and CIRs. It also defines product maturity levels, a critical notion for identifying the appropriate agency for current support and the further steps required for the research-to- operations transition and CDR release. NOAA's National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) initiated the Scientific Data Stewardship (SDS) Project to lead the NOAA's CDR activities and to coordinate with the partner agencies. The SDS Project expects to execute its responsibilities in partnership with the larger scientific community through annual NOAA Announcements of Opportunity -- open to academic, commercial, non-profit and government proposers -- as well as through community reviews and working groups. This presentation will describe the Evolution of a CDR/CIR concept, NOAA's SDS approach, initial goals and objectives, and a vision for the future.