NOAA Office for Coastal Management Data Policy for the NERRS National Monitoring Program

The protocols for data ownership, custodial liability, data submission and data access have been developed in accordance with known Federal guidelines and/or standards for environmental data collection activities.

Liability Policy

The dataset enclosed within this package/transmission are only as good as the quality assurance and quality control procedures outlined by the enclosed metadata reporting statement. The user bears all responsibility for its subsequent use/misuse in any further analyses or comparisons. The Federal Government does not assume liability to the Recipient or third persons, nor will the Federal Government indemnify the Recipient for its liability due to any losses resulting in any way from the use of this dataset.

Metadata Dissemination Policy

This dataset was collected under NOAA's National Estuarine Research Reserve System's (NERRS) National Monitoring Program. The principal investigator (PI) listed in the enclosed metadata reporting statement retains the right to be fully credited for having collected and processed the data. Following academic courtesy standards, the PI and NERRS site where the data were collected should be fully acknowledged in any subsequent publications in which any part of this dataset is used. Manuscripts resulting from this NOAA/OCM-supported research and data collection effort that are produced for publication in open literature, including refereed scientific journals, shall acknowledge that the research was conducted under an award from the Estuarine Reserves Division, Office for Coastal Management, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Data Ownership and Dissemination Policy

Data collected in conjunction with the National Estuarine Research Reserve System's (NERRS) National Monitoring Program is considered public information. The principal investigators (PIs) responsible for collecting data at each NERRS site must process the data using Estuarine Reserve Division (ERD) approved quality assurance and quality control (QAQC) protocols. The PI has three (3) months from the date of data collection to process the data, and then three (3) months from the date of data processing to transmit the QAQC processed data to ERD or an ERD approved Centralized Data Management Office (CDMO) in accordance with the standard rules for application to oceanographic data sets (NOAA Administrative Order 216-101). The schedule reflected below assumes an adequate and uninterrupted funding for the monitoring effort at each site, therefore the data processing and the transmission timetable may be adjusted accordingly.

Unpublished intellectual property owned and developed by the recipient with federal assistance funds, i.e., processed data, will not be officially disseminated to the public for a period of one (1) year from the date of data processing. After one (1) year the QAQC processed data will be made officially available to the general public on the Internet by the CDMO. However, if the data are requested pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, the Government is required to release any data which are transferred to the Government by the recipient under the award.

An awardee may own a copyright on the publication of the processed data developed or bought under a Federal assistance award. The Federal awarding agency reserves a royalty-free, nonexclusive, and irrevocable license to reproduce, publish, or otherwise use, and to authorize others to use, for Federal government purposes, the copyright in any work developed under an award, or any rights of copyright purchased by an awardee with Federal assistance support (15 C.F.R. 24.34). Any such publication will include a notice identifying the award and recognizing the license rights of the government under this clause. This paragraph will have no force and effect for the processed data not published by the recipient.

NOAA retains the right to analyze, synthesize and publish summaries of the NERRS System-wide Monitoring Program data. The NERRS retains the right to be fully credited for having collected and process the data. Following academic courtesy standards, the NERR site where the data were collected should be contacted and fully acknowledged in any subsequent publications in which any part of the data are used. The data set enclosed within this package/transmission is only as good as the quality assurance and quality control procedures outlined by the enclosed metadata reporting statement. The user bears all responsibility for its subsequent use/misuse in any further analyses or comparisons. The Federal government does not assume liability to the Recipient or third persons, nor will the Federal government reimburse or indemnify the Recipient for its liability due to any losses resulting in any way from the use of this data.

To learn more about the water quality, meteorological and nutrient parameters and units collected for the System-wide Monitoring Program, visit the parameter explanation page at http://cdmo.baruch.sc.edu/data/parameters.cfm.

Please contact cdmodata@baruch.sc.edu if you have any questions regarding the data or the QAQC process used.