As a component of the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), U.S. GLOBEC must subscribe to the data management requirements of the U.S. Global Change Program.
All principal investigators are required to submit plans for the collection of data prior to execution of their sampling program. In general, these plans are expected to be similar to the information provided in proposals submitted prior to funding. The purpose of this requirement is to provide a common resource for the participating scientists to evaluate the suitability of the expected data set for achieving their scientific objectives. A single description of the expected data sets, a "data plan", will be derived by the Data Management Office from the submitted plans of individual investigators or groups of cooperating investigators. Where a group of investigators is cooperating in managing and collected data, a single responsible scientist should be identified for each measurement type.
To provide the opportunity for comparison with historical data, measurement techniques should be consistent with techniques used to collect the existing data unless there is significant scientific justification for change. When new techniques are adopted, methods for relating the new data to existing data should be developed. This requirement extends to regional comparisons as well.
The principal investigators will document the procedures that will be used to collect and process samples and data.
For additional information about the U.S. GLOBEC Data Policy, see U.S. GLOBEC Data Policy, U.S. Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics Report Number 10, February 1994 from which much of the above material is extracted.
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Procedures and protocols