THE NERC MST RADAR FACILITY AT ABERYSTWYTH
DATA PROTECTION ACT
For the purposes of tracking data usage and of improving the service, user and project details submitted to the NERC MST Radar Facility will be made available to the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and its delegated authorities. The latter include the staff of the British Atmospheric Data Centre (BADC) and members of the NERC Atmospheric Radar Facilities Steering Committee (NARFSC). The details of publications making use of data from the Facility will be made publicly available. As described below, current projects may be alluded to in the Facility's annual report to NERC, which is publicly available.
PURPOSE OF USE
The data are only to be used for bona fide academic research or educational purposes. People requiring the data for commercial purposes should contact the NERC MST Radar Facility Project Scientist directly.
OWNERSHIP AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The data remain the property of the appropriate funding body and may NOT be sold or otherwise passed on to a third party. Where the data are used in a presentation or publication, an acknowledgement MUST be given:
In the case of data from the MST Radar, the surface meteorological sensors, the surface wind sensors, the laser ceilometer, and the sky camera, a sentence should be given along the lines of - "The MST Radar Facility at Aberystwyth is funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council and the data are provided through the British Atmospheric Data Centre"
In the case of data from the Met Office's boundary-layer wind-profiler or GPS water-vapour receiver, a sentence should be given along the lines of - "Data from the boundary-layer wind-profiler/GPS water-vapour receiver are provided courtesy of the Met Office through the British Atmospheric Data Centre."
In the case of data from the RAL cloud radar, a sentence should be given along the lines of - "Data from the cloud radar are provided courtesy of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Millimetre-Wave Technology Group through the British Atmospheric Data Centre."
NON-UK DATA USERS
The remit of NERC is to fund and to manage scientific research and training within the UK. Although NERC is happy for non-UK users to make use of data from the MST Radar Facility, it only expects the Facility's staff to provide them with limited support. Moreover, in order for NERC to gain the appropriate credit for supporting science, it is necessary for publications making use of data from the Facility to include a UK-based author. Non-UK data users who do not have a direct collaboration with a UK-based scientist are therefore obliged to include the Facility's Project Scientist as a co-author on any publications.
SUPPORTING SCIENTIFIC CASE (SSC)
In order to ensure continued funding of the Facility, it is important to demonstrate to the NERC that there is a sufficient demand for the data products and that the scientific research, for which they are being used, is of a high quality. For this reason, as soon as a new user applies for access to the dataset through the BADC, they will be contacted by the NERC MST Radar Facility Project Scientist; they will be requested to submit a Supporting Scientific Case (SSC) which describes how they intend to make use of the data and full access will only be granted once this has been returned. The level of detail required in the SSC will depend on the intended use of the data - click here for further details.
ANNUAL PROJECT UPDATES
In addition to providing an SSC
at the beginning of their projects, users are obliged to supply a
project update at the end of each financial year. This description
does not need to be very long (a paragraph might suffice) or very
detailed. However, it should provide sufficient information to allow
members of the NARFSC to appreciate how data from the Facility have
been used over the preceding financial year (April - March). The
emphasis here is on results and achievements, as opposed to the hopes
and intentions outlined in the SSC. Text written for another purpose -
e.g. the abstract of a recent paper or presentation - may be submitted
if it fulfils the criteria outlined above. Projects may be alluded to
in the "Science Highlights" section of the Facility's Annual Report to
NERC, which is publicly available, although users will not be
identified by name. When the Facility's Project Scientist contacts
users (at some point between January and March each year) to request
this information, they will also be required to supply details of the
following:
- Publications: including those appearing in books,
newspapers, magazines, newsletters, websites, Masters and PhD
theses, conference proceedings, and refereed journals. These
details will be made publicly available through the Facility's website.
- Presentations: including those given at conferences, seminars and colloquia.
- Internal Links:
- Return to the top of the page
- Contacting the NERC MST Radar Facility Project Scientist
- Gaining access to the data
- Writing a Supporting Scientific Case
- The NERC Atmospheric Radar Facilities Steering Committee (NARFSC)
- Details of publications making use of data from the Facility
- Annual reports to NERC
- Contacting the NERC MST Radar Facility Project Scientist