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PaCTS 1.0: A crowdsourced reporting standard for paleoclimate data

Natalie M. Kehrwald·Deborah Khider·Julien Emile-Geay·Nicholas P. McKay·Yolanda Gili·Daniel Garijo·Varun Ratnakar·Peter Brewer·Adam Csank·Emilie Dassie·Kristine Delong·Thomas Felix·William Gray·Lucas Jonkers·Michael Kahle·Darrell S. Kaufman·Julie N. Richey·Andreas Schmittner·Elaine Kennedy Sutherland·Montserrat Alonso-Garcia·Bertrand Sebastian·Oliver Bothe·Andrew Bunn·Manuel Chevalier·Pierre Francus·Amy Frappier·Simon Goring·Belen Martrat·Helen V. McGregor·Kathryn J. Allen·Fabien Arnaud·Yarrow L. Axford·Timothy T. Barrows·Lucie Bazin·Pilaar Birch·Elizabeth Bradley·Joshua Bregy·Emilie Capron·Olivier Cartapanis·Hong-Wei Chiang·Kim Cobb·Maxime Debret·Rene Dommain·Jianghui Du·Kelsey Dyez·Suellyn Emerick·Michael Erb·Georgina Falster·Walter Finsinger·Daniel Fortier·Nicolas Gauthier·Steven George·Eric Grimm·Jennifer Hertzberg·Fiona Hibbert·Aubrey Hillman·William Hobbs·Matthew Huber·Anna L. C. Hughes·Samuel Jaccard·Ruan Jiaoyang·Markus Kienast·Bronwen Konecky·Gael Le Roux·Vyacheslav Lyubchich·Valdir Novello·Lydia Olaka·Judson W. Partin·Christof Pearce·Steven J. Phipps·Cecile Pignol·Natalia Pietrowska·Maria-Serena Poli·Alexander Prokopenko·Franciele Schwanck·Christian Stepanek·George E. A. Swann·Richard Telford·Elizabeth R. Thomas·Zoe Thomas·Sarah Truebe·Lucien von Gunten·Amanda Waite·Nils Weitzel·Bruno Wilhelm·John B. Williams·Mai Winstrup·Ning Zhao·Yuxin Zhou
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Abstract

The progress of science is tied to the standardization of measurements, instruments, and data. This is especially true in the Big Data age, where analyzing large data volumes critically hinges on that data being standardized. Accordingly, the lack of community-sanctioned data standards in paleoclimatology has largely precluded the benefits of Big Data advances in the field. Building upon recent efforts to standardize the format and terminology of paleoclimate data, this article describes the Paleoclimate Community reporTing Standard (PaCTS), a crowdsourced reporting standard for such data. PaCTS captures which information should be included when reporting paleoclimate data, with the goal of maximizing the re-use value of paleoclimate datasets, particularly for synthesis work and comparison to climate model simulations. Initiated by the LinkedEarth project, this standard elicitation process involved an international workshop in 2016, various forms of digital community engagement over the next few years, and grassroots working groups. Participants in this process identified important properties across paleoclimate archives, in addition to the reporting of uncertainties and chronologies; they also identified archive-specific properties and distinguished reporting standards for new vs. legacy datasets. This work shows that at least 135 respondents overwhelmingly support a drastic increase in the amount of metadata accompanying paleoclimate datasets. Since such goals are at odds with present practices, we discuss a transparent path towards implementing or revising these recommendations in the near future, using both bottom-up and top-down approaches.

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Natalie M. Kehrwald, Deborah Khider, Julien Emile-Geay, Nicholas P. McKay, Yolanda Gili, Daniel Garijo, Varun Ratnakar, Peter Brewer, Adam Csank, Emilie Dassie, Kristine Delong, Thomas Felix, William Gray, Lucas Jonkers, Michael Kahle, Darrell S. Kaufman, Julie N. Richey, Andreas Schmittner, Elaine Kennedy Sutherland, Montserrat Alonso-Garcia, Bertrand Sebastian, Oliver Bothe, Andrew Bunn, Manuel Chevalier, Pierre Francus, Amy Frappier, Simon Goring, Belen Martrat, Helen V. McGregor, Kathryn J. Allen, Fabien Arnaud, Yarrow L. Axford, Timothy T. Barrows, Lucie Bazin, Pilaar Birch, Elizabeth Bradley, Joshua Bregy, Emilie Capron, Olivier Cartapanis, Hong-Wei Chiang, Kim Cobb, Maxime Debret, Rene Dommain, Jianghui Du, Kelsey Dyez, Suellyn Emerick, Michael Erb, Georgina Falster, Walter Finsinger, Daniel Fortier, Nicolas Gauthier, Steven George, Eric Grimm, Jennifer Hertzberg, Fiona Hibbert, Aubrey Hillman, William Hobbs, Matthew Huber, Anna L. C. Hughes, Samuel Jaccard, Ruan Jiaoyang, Markus Kienast, Bronwen Konecky, Gael Le Roux, Vyacheslav Lyubchich, Valdir Novello, Lydia Olaka, Judson W. Partin, Christof Pearce, Steven J. Phipps, Cecile Pignol, Natalia Pietrowska, Maria-Serena Poli, Alexander Prokopenko, Franciele Schwanck, Christian Stepanek, George E. A. Swann, Richard Telford, Elizabeth R. Thomas, Zoe Thomas, Sarah Truebe, Lucien von Gunten, Amanda Waite, Nils Weitzel, Bruno Wilhelm, John B. Williams, Mai Winstrup, Ning Zhao, Yuxin Zhou. 2019-10-24. PaCTS 1.0: A crowdsourced reporting standard for paleoclimate data. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019pa003632

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