GAPP DATA MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE (DMC) MINUTES (13 May 2002)

A GAPP Data Management Committee (DMC) meeting was held at the GCIP/GAPP Mississippi River Climate and Hydrology Conference on 13 May 2002. DMC Members present included: Steve Williams, Alan Robock, Raymond McCord, Tilden Meyers, Jin Huang, and Roy Jenne. In addition, the meeting was attended by approx. 10 other participants of the Conference. DMC Members unable to attend included: Wayne Faas, Dan Tarpley, Bill Kirby, and Pat Hrubiak. Minutes of the meeting are as follows:

Meeting commenced at 1530 CDT. The following issues were discussed.

1) GAPP implementation Plan. A draft Chapter on GAPP Data Management was prepared for submission to the GAPP Implementation Plan and posted on the DMC WWW page directly at: http://www.joss.ucar.edu/gapp/dmc/gappdm.html. All DMC members were asked to review this document and submit changes. No major changes were recommended. All DMC members (particularly those who did not attend the meeting) are asked to finalize any comments and submit to Steve Williams by 31 May 2002. A revised version of this Chapter will be submitted to the GAPP Implementation Plan [Action Item - Steve Williams]. This Chapter will be used to begin formulation of the Draft GAPP Data Management Plan Document. Also, few attendees of this meeting had seen the other sections of the GAPP Implementation Plan and all were encouraged to review them as well.

2) GAPP Data Management Plan. A lengthy discussion was held concerning how to obtain and prioritize the GAPP data requirements which are required for the formulation and drafting of the Data Management Plan. Starting with GCIP data sets is a good idea, but it was recognized that GAPP does have a different focus and thus different data requirements. There was agreement that all GAPP produced data sets developed as a result of the project grants must be submitted to the archive.

How do we best obtain the data requirements information for GAPP? To-date, there have been only 6 responses to the GAPP Data Questionnaire and clearly this approach is not working despite repeated reminders from Rick Lawford and Jin Huang to all GAPP PIs. Other suggestions included: 1) the DMC being more proactive with the other GAPP Working Groups members. It appears that communication between these groups is currently minimal or non-existent. 2) Requesting other GAPP Working Group Chairs to solicit data requirements (and priorities) from their respective Working Groups to the DMC. 3) Re-drafting the Data Questionnaire to a simpler form. 4) Better advertise the data services available from JOSS. Of all these options it was felt that better communication between Working Groups would best provide the needed input to the DMC.

Based on available input, a preliminary outline of the Data Management Plan will be distributed to all Committee Members by summer [Action Item - Steve Williams].

3) GCIP/GAPP "Legacy" Data Sets. As some of these data sets have been completed (and many others are nearing completion), A discussion was held on the best way to announce, archive, and distribute them. Ideas included CD-ROM, tape media, and/or on-line access. Because of size limitations, some may not be compatible for CD-ROM and many drawbacks were raised about tape copies. It was decided to first make these data sets available on-line through a special GCIP "Legacy" Data Set WWW page as well as linkable through the current GCIP and GAPP Data Management WWW pages followed by an evaluation of possible data set candidates for CD-ROM [Action Item - Steve Williams]. It was recommended that copies of these data sets also be provided to NCDC as part of the final GCIP archive repository.

4) GCIP/GAPP Data Management Paper. A majority of the attendees felt that it would be a good idea to prepare a paper describing the GCIP/GAPP Data Management accomplishments as well as describing access to the data base. Alan Robock suggested that such a paper should be submitted to the GCIP special issue of JGR (submitted papers due 30 September 2002) as it would enhance the other GCIP papers in this special issue. An abridged version could later be prepared for submission to other journals such as the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. All DMC Members are requested to notify Steve Williams by 15 June 2002 if they have an interest to contribute and co-author such a paper.

5) Other Business. No date was set for the next meeting; it will be determined via e-mail. Possible next meeting could be held as early as Autumn 2002 or when appropriate, given the progress of the Data Management Plan draft.

Meeting adjourned at 1710 CDT.