Data improvement

[robert.grumbine]

Hoping this is still in-scope.

The thing is, data are messy beasts.  One of the important things to remember/know is that they come with errors and issues.  My branch  is one of the sources for information to the MDL, so I'm not calling other people's babies ugly :-)  We're just always looking to make our products better.

One area I've long thought would be good to engage educators and students in, is our Sea Surface Temperature analysis -- http://polar.ncep.noaa.gov/sst/  And specifically, in lakes and near-shore areas.  My draft (suggestions welcome) page is at http://polar.ncep.noaa.gov/sst/lakes/

The problem we have is that there are very few observations from the surface over lakes and near the sea shore.  We have satellite information, and think we've cured most of the problems.  But until we have confirmation from the surface, I must remain skeptical that we've finished the job. 

If you're interested, please feel free to write me directly.  Or maybe best to hash out ideas in the list/group. 

In any case, happy new year to all!

Robert Grumbine

Robert....@noaa.gov

[Murray Brown]

Hi Robert,

 

And best of the season to you also!

 

As you can assume from the yawning silence, the MDL “community” is composed mainly of data managers and customers, so your musings fall on sympathetic ground…but possibly not on the best potential sources for near-shore data.  I recall once that someone at the US NODC told me that the most widely downloaded item on their website was the Water Temperature Guides for popular US beaches.  Think about it….we’re just like the fishes.  We only thrive where the environment is right, and all us near-shore species need to get, work with and use the best data.

 

Good luck with your searches, and please keep us informed when you beat DeLeon to the punch and find the Fountain of Coastal Data.

 

Murray

[robert.grumbine]

I'll mention that I've started hearing from people in this.  Not a huge number, which is fine as I'm only one person.  But it's great to be hearing from people and getting data to compare against!

Even though I'm only one person, though, I can certainly handle several more contributions of data.  Or, for that matter, some word about what people with coastal interest would like from sea surface temperature data sets.

Glad to hear from people,

Bob Grumbine