# Presentation: 012340

## NOAANational Weather Service Data Rescue Support

**Data Res****cue****...Befo****re**** ****it’s**** ****too**** ****lat****e!**

**Richard Crouthamel, ****D.Sc.**
**Douglas Klotter**

## Partnerships/Relationships

- Crouthamel and Klotter ...
- Funded by Riverside Technology, inc. under contract with NWS International Activities Office
-  Directors of a non-profit entity –        The International Environmental Data Rescue Organization (IEDRO)

## What is IEDRO?

- The **I**nternational **E**nvironmental **D**ata **R**escue **O**rganization
- _Non-profit_ 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to locating, rescuing and digitizing all environmental data, worldwide
- IEDRO works in partnership with governments, foundations, and individuals  to obtain funding and implement Data Rescue and Digitization
_**http://IEDRO.ORG**_

## Data Rescue...Why now?

**Existing hydromet data exists on poor quality paper**
**Poor quality inks fade with time**
**Data records are subjected to unique temperature, humidity and dust extremes**
**Paper archives scattered in warehouses, barns, homes**
**Paper data often discarded due to lack of storage**

## Typical ‘good’ Archive

## Less than “good” archive (Pyroheliometer Records)

## 	Poor Archive!

## Data Rescue Activities

- CURRENTLY with the NWS
- Hydrometeorological Upper-air Data
- Hydrometeorological Surface Data
- FUTURE POSSIBILITIES (NWS/IEDRO)
- Glacier Photographs
- Strip chart data
- Bathymetric Data

## Progress so far...

- Approximately **250,000** upper-air observations have been rescued in 6 African countries so far
- Data is now being rescued at two sites in Uruguay (36,000 images representing about **108,,000** surface observations) and at a  private museum in Chile (**30,000** surface observations)
- “**Open and Unrestricted Exchange of **_**digitized**_** Data**” has been accepted by all participating countries

## Representative Progress

## More Good News

## Continuing Data Rescue efforts

- Digitization of the following data sources:
- 6 African countries (Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger, Senegal, Zambia)
- 2 South American Countries (Chile, Uruguay)
- Data Rescue Failure due to local management problems (Dominican Republic)

## Priorities for Data Rescue 

- Data vulnerability
- NOAA’s need for the digitized data
- In-country support availability
- Keying requirements for NCDC contractors

## Vulnerability...tied to a country’s wealth

## NOAA’s need for the digitized data

- Africa (large data holes)
- Southern Hemisphere (fewer data sites)
- Central America (NCEP precipitation analysis)

## In-country support availability

- Focuses on organizations where the data rescue equipment & support represents a substantial contribution to their operations resulting in proactive, voluntary (free labor) support
- Africa – most NMSs are poor
- Southern Hemisphere – non-government entity has limited support (museum)
- Central America - most NMSs are poor

## FY2007 NWS New Proposals

**Current : Chile, Uruguay, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger, Senegal, Zambia**
**2007 Proposed: Argentina, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Tanzania, Botswana, Namibia**
**Future: Guatemala, El Salvador, Belize, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Angola, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, South Africa**
**:**

## FY2007 Proposals

## GENERIC PROBLEM

- Countries are reluctant to “give away” data without any immediate benefit.
- Limited staff and no funds to pay for imaging
- Little contact between NOAA and the countries
- Still lack of conviction that data rescue is important
- Time for NOAA to digitize data measured in years

## Still lack of conviction that data rescue is important

- NOAA and IEDRO staff must compile overwhelming scientific evidence of need for historic environmental data
- Cost/Benefit studies, engineering examples, input from agriculture, medicine, transportation fields should be included
- Benefits not only to world community
-    but also to individual communities

## Time for NOAA to digitize data measured in years

- Current data rescue countries are disappointed with the lengthy time the digitization process is taking
- NOAA, with perhaps some IEDRO funding needs to examine specific ways the digitization process can be speeded up.
- Better on-site preparation and operations
- Better scheduling by NCDC contractors

## Conclusion

- We’ve made a good solid start at rescuing foreign hydrometeorological data
- We must challenge the existing paradigms we have been using to keep the effort going to solve the data gathering and digitization problems
- We need more frequent communication among NCDC, the contractors and those of us providing the imaged data

## Thank You!

- Thank you from both the NWS International Activities Office and **IEDRO** for funding these very important efforts!