Call to action for global access to and harmonization of quality information of individual earth science datasets

Knowledge about the quality of data and metadata is important to support informed decisions on the (re)use of individual datasets and is an essential part of the ecosystem that supports open science. Quality assessments reflect the reliability and usability of data. They need to be consistently curated, fully traceable, and adequately documented, as these are crucial for sound decision- and policy-making efforts that rely on data. Quality assessments also need to be consistently represented and readily integrated across systems and tools to allow for improved sharing of information on quality at the dataset level for individual quality attribute or dimension. Although the need for assessing the quality of data and associated information is well recognized, methodologies for an evaluation framework and presentation of resultant quality information to end users may not have been comprehensively addressed within and across disciplines. Global interdisciplinary domain experts have come together to systematically explore needs, challenges and impacts of consistently curating and representing quality information through the entire lifecycle of a dataset. This paper describes the findings of that effort, argues the importance of sharing dataset quality information, calls for community action to develop practical guidelines, and outlines community recommendations for developing such guidelines. Practical guidelines will allow for global access to and harmonization of quality information at the level of individual Earth science datasets, which in turn will support open science

Call to action for global access to and harmonization of quality information of individual earth science datasets

Knowledge about the quality of data and metadata is important to support informed decisions on the (re)use of individual datasets and is an essential part of the ecosystem that supports open science. Quality assessments reflect the reliability and usability of data. They need to be consistently curated, fully traceable, and adequately documented, as these are crucial for sound decision-and policy-making efforts that rely on data. Quality assessments also need to be consistently represented and readily integrated across systems and tools to allow for improved sharing of information on quality at the dataset level for individual quality attribute or dimension. Although the need for assessing the quality of data and associated information is well recognized, methodologies for an evaluation framework and presentation of resultant quality information to end users may not have been comprehensively addressed within and across disciplines. Global interdisciplinary domain experts have come together to systematically explore needs, challenges and impacts of consistently curating and representing quality information through the entire lifecycle of a dataset. This paper describes the findings of that effort, argues the importance of sharing dataset quality information, calls for community action to develop practical guidelines, and outlines community recommendations for developing such guidelines. Practical guidelines will allow for global access to and harmonization of quality information at the level of individual Earth science datasets, which in turn will support open science

Spatio-temporal variability of SSS and SST in the western Mediterranean basin with the TRANSMED data

International audienceInitiated by the CIESM and upgraded to the operational status within the HyMeX/MISTRALS program, the TRANSMEDinitiative aimed at developing an autonomous and low-cost thermosalinometer system to record SSS (Sea Surface Salinity) andSST (Sea Surface Temperature) while underway. The seven-year time series recorded from February 2012 till present betweenFrance (Marseille) and Algeria yield an unprecedented insight in the basin-wide seasonal evolution of the Western Basin, up tomesoscale features, and is used to validate the Copernicus Marine Service global operational system in the area

Prenatal Diagnosis of a 2.5 Mb De Novo 17q24.1q24.2 Deletion Encompassing KPNA2 and PSMD12 Genes in a Fetus with Craniofacial Dysmorphism, Equinovarus Feet, and Syndactyly

Interstitial 17q24.1 or 17q24.2 deletions were reported after conventional cytogenetic analysis or chromosomal microarray analysis in patients presenting intellectual disability, facial dysmorphism, and/or malformations. We report on a fetus with craniofacial dysmorphism, talipes equinovarus, and syndactyly associated with a de novo 2.5 Mb 17q24.1q24.2 deletion. Among the deleted genes, KPNA2 and PSMD12 are discussed for the correlation with the fetal phenotype. This is the first case of prenatal diagnosis of 17q24.1q24.2 deletion

Estimates of surface drifter trajectories in the equatorial Atlantic: a multi-model ensemble approach

International audienceWe compared the estimates of surface drifter trajectories from 1 to 7 days in the equatorial Atlantic over an 18-month period with five eddying ocean general circulation model (OGCM) reanalyses and one observational product. The cumulative distribution of trajectory error was estimated using over 7,000 days of drifter trajectories. The observational product had smaller errors than any of the individual OGCM reanalyses. Three strategies for improving trajectory estimates using the ensemble of five operational ocean analysis and forecasting products were explored: two methods using a multi-model ensemble estimate and also spatial low-pass filtering. The results were insensitive to the method used to create the ensemble estimates, and by most measures, the results were better than the observational product. Comparison of relative skill of the various OGCM reanalyses suggested promising avenues for exploration for further improvements: forcing with higher frequency wind stress and quality control of input data. One of the lowest horizontal resolution OGCMs, with 1/4° longitude horizontal resolution, made the best trajectory estimates. The individual OGCMs were dominated by errors at spatial scales smaller than about 100 to 200 km, i.e., less than the local deformation radius. But buried in those errors were valuable signals that could be retrieved by combining all the OGCM velocity fields to produce a multi-model ensemble-based estimate. This estimate had skill down to spatial scales about 75 km. Results from this study are consistent with previous work showing that ensemble-mean forecast skill is superior to individual forecasts

NEMO on the shelf: assessment of the Iberia-Biscay-Ireland configuration.

International audienceThis work describes the design and validation of a high-resolution (1/36°) ocean forecasting model over the "Iberian-Biscay-Irish" (IBI) area. The system has been set-up using the NEMO model (Nucleus for European Modelling of the Ocean). New developments have been incorporated in NEMO to make it suitable to open- as well as coastal-ocean modelling. In this paper, we pursue three main objectives: (1) to give an overview of the model configuration used for the simulations; (2) to give a broad-brush account of one particular aspect of this work, namely consistency verification; this type of validation is conducted upstream of the implementation of the system before it is used for production and routinely validated; it is meant to guide model development in identifying gross deficiencies in the modelling of several key physical processes; and (3) to show that such a regional modelling system has potential as a complement to patchy observations (an integrated approach) to give information on non-observed physical quantities and to provide links between observations by identifying broader-scale patterns and processes. We concentrate on the year 2008. We first provide domain-wide consistency verification results in terms of barotropic tides, transports, sea surface temperature and stratification. We then focus on two dynamical subregions: the Celtic shelves and the Bay of Biscay slope and deep regions. The model-data consistency is checked for variables and processes such as tidal currents, tidal fronts, internal tides and residual elevation. We also examine the representation in the model of a seasonal pattern of the Bay of Biscay circulation: the warm extension of the Iberian Poleward Current along the northern Spanish coast (Navidad event) in the winter of 2007-2008

Estimating the wreckage location of the Rio-Paris AF447

BUREAU D’ENQUETES ET D’ANALYSES POUR LA SECURITE DE L’AVIATION CIVILEScientific ReportDuring the night of June 1 2009, the A330 Airbus plane (registered F-GZCP) on the AF447 flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris met significant turbulent atmospheric activity associated with the Intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) near 3°N, 30°30’W. The plane last known position (LKP), 2°58.8’N 30°35.4’W, was transmitted at 2h10 UTC 1 on June 1 2009 by the Aircraft Communication Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS)..

Recent Progress in Performance Evaluations and Near Real-Time Assessment of Operational Ocean Products

Operational ocean forecast systems provide routine marine products to an ever-widening community of users and stakeholders. The majority of users need information about the quality and reliability of the products to exploit them fully. Hence, forecast centres have been developing improved methods for evaluating and communicating the quality of their products. Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment (GODAE) OceanView, along with the Copernicus European Marine Core Service and other national and international programmes, has facilitated the development of coordinated validation activities among these centres. New metrics, assessing a wider range of ocean parameters, have been defined and implemented in real-time. An overview of recent progress and emerging international standards is presented here