GCE Standards and DefinitionsTable of ContentsThis page contains lists of site standards for reporting commonly-measured research parameters, as well as definitions of various acronyms used in the GCE Information System. The lists are divided into the following sections:
Site StandardsGeographic Measurements
* Coordinates can be read from 1:24,000 scale USGS Digital Raster Graphic maps using software provided by the Data Manager or using ArcGIS ** UTM coordinates will be converted to projection-free latitude and longitude, either by the Data Manager or by data contributors using approved geographic software, and added as new columns in the data set. Conversion from Lat/Lon to UTM/WGS84 will be provided as an option when requesting data sets online or using offline GCE-IS tools. Sample LabelingSample labeling standards are generally expected to be investigator- or lab-specific, to meet the unique requirements of each investigator's research program. When designing labels to identify GCE samples, particularly for monitoring efforts, investigators should include the following information on each label:
When location information other than geographic coordinates or GCE sites are used, the investigator will be asked to provide geographic information for each location at the time of data submission. If physical samples are retained and stored after analysis, the storage location should be included in the data documentation (Metadata Category V: Supplement_Materials). Hydrographic MeasurementsHydrographic standards are pending. Use Practical Salinity Units for salinity and SI units as a general recommendation. Chemical MeasurementsChemistry standards are pending. Use SI units as a general recommendation. Other MeasuresMake measurements using metric tools and report data in SI units whenever possible. Variable NamesInvestigators are strongly encouraged to use the variable name and unit recommendations listed in the table below whenever possible. This practice will enhance the consistency and readability of all data sets, dramatically easing analysis and comparisons. When naming variables not
listed below, choose descriptive names and capitalize the first letter of each
word when concatenating multiple terms (note: spaces and commas are not
allowed within variable name or unit strings). Avoid using names of
generic properties, such as 'Mass' or 'Length', without including the name of
the property measured as well (e.g. 'Leaf_Length').
* Year date, or Julian Date, is
the number of days elapsed since January 1 of the same year ![]() Acronym DefinitionsResearch Themes
LTER Core Research Areas
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This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grants OCE-9982133, OCE-0620959, OCE-1237140 and OCE-1832178. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in the material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.