All NDACC PIs shall submit their certified NDACC data to the NDACC DHF, at latest one year after data acquisition, in the appropriate data format.
Compliance with the data archiving policy is important for the credibility and vitality of the Network.
Non-compliance is indicated by not following the NDACC protocols, and by loss of communication with the Instrument Working Group (IWG).
A case where the instrument is not properly functional or some other situation impacts the ability to take measurements, either for short- or long-term duration, does not constitute non-compliance. In this case the PI and IWG should determine if the measurement should be temporarily marked as ‘inactive’ until measurements resume. Text in the ‘Measurements and Analysis Directory’ paragraph can indicate if this is a temporary situation.
In case of non-compliance as defined above:
- On the first occurrence, the corresponding IWG Co-Chairs will communicate with the PI to remind the PI of the above requirements, indicating that failure to rectify the situation could lead to a permanent status change to inactive or disaffiliation from NDACC. This can only be remedied by a new application to become an affiliated member of NDACC.
- If compliance as defined above is not restored after 2 reminders by the IWG in a 6-month period, without any acceptable justification by the PI, the Steering Committee Co-Chairs may send a follow-up letter to the PI’s institute to inform the appropriate parties about the non-compliance, and possible Network disaffiliation, and to ask for support to the PI (if needed) in order to enable compliance with the NDACC protocols.
- In case where neither of the two above actions in a 1-year timeframe lead to compliance with the NDACC protocols, and the PI (or PI’s institute) does not commit to any near-future data provision, the DHF manager and the IWG Co-Chairs will declare the instrument as permanently inactive. The station will be flagged as “inactive’ in the Measurements and Analyses Directory, on the map, and in data searches in the DHF.
- In the case when no data has ever been submitted, the instrument will be disaffiliated; the entry in the Measurements and Analysis Directory and on the searchable map will be removed, and the measurement description will be removed from the website.
- In case the measurements are no longer performed, and an NDACC measurement capability no longer exists, the station will be flagged as ‘inactive’ in the Measurements and Analyses Directory, on the map and in data searches in the DHF.
In cases 3 and 4, the NDACC Co-Chairs will write a letter to the PI (with cc to his Institute) informing them of the status change, and NDACC account privileges (i.e., rights to access the private NDACC database) will be removed.
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Current online version: September 15, 2025
Revision: September 15, 2025
Clarified distinction between temporarily inactive (instrument down or processing delayed), permanently inactive, and disaffiliated. Refined definition of non-compliant to include data delinquency and absence of interaction with IWG. Renamed document removing reference as annex to Data Protocol for Instrument Principal Investigators.
Original Version: September 13, 2018
Originally titled: ‘Data Protocol – Annex’ with short title: ‘Data Delinquency Document’.