Protocols

From its inception, NDSC/NDACC has been established and organized as a collaborative network for providing high-quality data to the atmospheric composition research community. In order to ensure that the network provides consistent, high-quality data of a commonly agreed standard, NDACC has established Protocols that define the network’s governance rules, as well as procedures and guidelines for performing the network operations and managing the data.

The Protocols may be changed with a majority vote by the NDACC Steering Committee with a quorum of two-thirds of the Steering Committee participating in the vote except for the Validation Appendices. These appendices are managed and updated at the discretion of each associate instrument Working Group.

The current NDACC Protocols cover several general categories:

NDACC Protocols for Measurement Affiliation and Validation

NDACC Protocol for Measurement Affiliation
[Process to prepare and submit a proposal for NDACC affiliation of a measurement for both newly proposed and existing NDACC instrumentation types]
NDACC Protocol for the Validation of Instruments and Data Analysis Methods
[Data quality criteria for currently recognized NDACC instrumentation types: overview and instrument specific appendices]
NDACC Protocol for Instrument Intercomparisons and Campaigns
[Suggested structure for formal instrument intercomparison campaigns]

NDACC Protocols for Data Submission, Documentation and Data Use

NDACC Data Protocol for Data Users
[Guidelines for data use and acknowledgement]
NDACC Data Protocol for Instrument Principal Investigators
[Requirements for PIs: data submission and documentation]
NDACC Data Protocol to Address Cessation of NDACC Activity
[Procedures to resolve data delinquency]

NDACC Governance Protocols

NDACC Protocol for Steering Committee Elections and Appointments
[Definitions and selection procedures for Steering Committee members]
NDACC Protocol for Cooperating Networks
[Definition of Cooperating Network and application process]