BADC Workshop 1:Data & Services from the BADC

Royal Met. Soc. Conference – 12 September 2005

Kevin Marsh et al.

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Workshop 1 Outline

• Purpose of Workshop– To briefly present what the BADC can do for you– To gain feedback from the user community

• Workshop plan– Presentation: What is the BADC?– Questions & Points for discussion…

•Ways you might interact with the BADC•Feedback on tools•What do you expect from a data centre?•How to get regular feedback from the users?

– Workshop Feedback form– and What next?

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The BADC in a nutshell

The BADC role is to assist UK researchers to locate, access and interpret atmospheric data and to ensure the long-term integrity of atmospheric data produced by NERC projects.

• The NERC-designated data centre for atmospheric science (under NCAS).

• Over 30 TB of data including NWP forecasts, climate runs, instrumental and satellite products.

• Serving 7,000 users in the UK and overseas (25%).

http://badc.nerc.ac.uk

Facilitation and Curation!

Data Management

Research

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How do they use us?

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Data types

• Ground based observation networks – e.g. Met Office surface stations

• Model output – e.g. NWP, ECMWF reanalyses & Climate models

• Satellite data – e.g. TOMS, Envisat & MSG

• NERC programmes data – e.g. UTLS, CWVC & URGENT

• 115 datasets catalogued

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BADC Dataset Access

• All available via FTP/web:

– Many are restricted to authorised users.

– Nearly all data is held online rather than on tape

– Extensive metadata and documentation.

• Sophisticated interfaces

–web tools

–Data extractor service for extracting subsets, variables and plots etc…

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Archive Example

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BADC Services (1)

Helpdesk - Our User Support team deal with:

• Handling registrations

• Special Met Office and ECMWF Data Extractions– On-Demand Ordering for Met Office Surface data

• Dealing with Queries - response within one working day.

– Data availability– Format Advice– Password– Scientific Context

• Contact us at: badc@rl.ac.uk

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BADC Services (2)

Community Support Services including:

• Geographical/keyword search for station data

• Workspace Provision – collaborative space for sharing preliminary data and documentation (used heavily by UK and wider community)

• Online Trajectory service

• Mailing List Maintenance (40+ lists)

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BADC Services (3)

Additional Services:

• Meeting Registration Service

• Web-hosting

• Conference, Seminar and Meeting Information

• Wikis

• Format checkers

• Campaign Data Support

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Thanks for listening

Any questions?&

Points for Discussion

Workshop Feedback Form…

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BADC Workshop 1

Questions & Points for discussion

•Ways you might interact with the BADC

•Feedback on tools

•What do you expect from a data centre?

•How to get regular feedback from users?

• etc…