Climate Database for the Long-Term Ecological Research Network (LTER)

The National Science Foundation's (NSF) Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program and many U. S. Forest Service Experimental Research Stations collect and maintain extensive, long-term ecological databases including streamflow and meteorological measurements. These databases have been widely used in intersite comparisons, modeling studies, and land management-related studies. To facilitate intersite research among the network of LTER sites, information managers have developed a prototype to provide climatic summaries dynamically over the Internet ("fsl.orst.edu/climhy/climdb/"), and serves as one model for improving access to data across sites (Baker et al. 2000, Henshaw et al. 1998).

Individual sites maintain local climate data in local information systems while a centralized site continually harvests, updates, and provides access to all sites' data through a common database. Common distribution report formats and graphical displays have been established to meet specific needs of climate data users. Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites have generally followed established LTER Climate Committee guidelines (Greenland 1986) for collecting baseline meteorological data.