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How to Curate Atmospheric Data for Long-Term Use

Proper curation of atmospheric data in digital collections enables research and education by organizing and offering regularly measured data available for modeling and analysis. Once digitized, the housed data becomes available on a lasting basis. Many organizations with such collections make them freely available online or by written request.

Instructions

- 1
  Set up the database, creating a separate field for each reading, such as temperature and atmospheric pressure.
- 2
  Determine the data entry process. If you have only a handful of measurements, you might enter by hand, but, for projects covering a number of data points with numerous fields, use an automated system. For instance, the Oklahoma Mesonet transmits data from more than 100 weather stations across the state to a central database via its online network.
- 3
  Enter the data into the appropriate fields. Double-check data entry to ensure its correctness.
- 4
  Determine the desired output methods for data sharing. Many organizations host their databases online, and allow users to generate data sets as needed. Some use .pdf files, while others generate spreadsheets, such as the comma delimited format or .xls files.
- 5
  Code the script to generate the results page, if making the data available online. PHP and Java are commonly used languages for this purpose.
- 6
  Test the system and correct any issues, then retest before introducing the database to users.

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