Metaheader

Each data set as it appears on the Internet starts with a metaheader which contains the description of the data (also called metadata). The metaheader and the data together form the data set. The metaheader in the data sets text-version starts with /* DATA DESCRIPTION: and ends with */. It contains the fields:

Data Description

• Citation: consists of author(s), year, title, source and DOI
• Reference(s): If data were published through a publication
• Project(s): title and acronym of projects, related to the production of the data
• Coverage: spatial and/or temporal distribution of the data set (automatic entry)
• Event(s): detailed metainformation about the sampling/measuring location
• Parameter(s): list of parameters with unit and short name, related to the method, PI and an optional comment, as used in the data set
• License: license, under which the data can be reused
• Size: number of data points (automatic entry, Geocodes are excluded from the count)

The metaheader is followed by download data links for

• Download dataset as tab-delimited text (with a choice for a proper character encoding which is dependent on the local system)
• View dataset as HTML