A NMHS requires to store and manage a wide variety of Observations data as a collection of time-series observations in order to maintain an official record of historical climatic conditions. This official record is a part of the Global Climate Record.
This official record is required to:
Monitor variations in climatic conditions
Underpin a wide variety of authoritative climate services for societal benefit
Provide historical data to interested parties
Each change to an observation’s estimated result, its quality and temporal constraints must be retained for future reference, together with data provenance details relevant to the change
An observation comprises many facets including that it:
Has an observed property. This may also be known as the observed variable, or the observed phenomena. The CDMS must be able to manage observations from a wide variety of phenomena, e.g. the GCOS Essential Climate Variables;
Occurs somewhere. Typically this is at a sensor. The sensor may be static at a meteorological station, or in transit such as an airborne sensor. The location of the observation must be recorded, together with the spatial reference system that the location is based on;
Has temporal constraints, including the time that the result was observed, the time that the result is valid for, and the time that the result was made available;
Has an observation context defining why the observation is made and which observations network the sensor is part of;
Has a result, which is an estimate of the value of the observation. This estimate may change following subsequent data quality activities;
Has quality represented by one or more quality flags. Each quality flag is from a corresponding ordered list that indicates the result of a quality control process that has been applied to the observation. More that one definition of quality may be required for a given observation. This quality flag (together with the result) may change following subsequent data quality activities;
Has an observation process that defines how the result was obtained; and
Has context such as:
that defined by WIGOS Observations Metadata;
Intellectual Property that may define constraints on the use of the observation; and
data provenance relevant to the changes that have occurred to the observation through its data lifecycle.
Initial version prepared by Radim and Rashid, Aug 2016
Substantial edits – Bruce and Denis, Nov 2016
Created as an issue and acceptance criteria added - David Berry, Nov 2021
Priority
3
Acceptance criteria
[ ] For each observation, the data model must be able to store the property being observed
[ ] Each observed property must have a result / value
[ ] For each observation, the data model must be able to store the date, time and location of the observation
[ ] For each observation, the data model must include temporal constraints (when the observation was made, the time period that the observation is valid for and the time the result or observation was reported)
[ ] Each result / value has quality represented by one or more quality flags. These must be included in the data model.
[ ] Each observation and result was made using a known process, this process must be reportable in the data model
[ ] Each observation must be linkable to contextual metadata, such as that in the WIGOS metadata standard
[ ] Each observation must have clearly define usage rights and IP attribution.
[ ] All changes made to an observation must be recorded and stored in the data model
User story
A NMHS requires to store and manage a wide variety of Observations data as a collection of time-series observations in order to maintain an official record of historical climatic conditions. This official record is a part of the Global Climate Record.
This official record is required to:
Each change to an observation’s estimated result, its quality and temporal constraints must be retained for future reference, together with data provenance details relevant to the change
An observation comprises many facets including that it:
Lineage
Priority
3
Acceptance criteria
Definition of done
References
WMO No. 1131
Contact Details
No response