DATA QUALITY MONITORING (GDPFS) - Lead Centre Monitoring

DATA QUALITY MONITORING

[ Introduction ] [ Participating Centres ] [ Lead Centre Monitoring ] [ Procedures and Formats ] [ Report Types ] [ Related Links ]

Lead Centre Monitoring

Lead Centres have been established by CBS for coordinating the monitoring results of specific observation types. The Lead Centres produce six-monthly consolidated reports of the observations of the data type they have been entrusted to monitor that display consistently low quality. These reports are also known as 'suspect' lists. The following lead centres have been established.

Centre	Data Type	Area of responsibilty
WMC Washington	aircraft and satellite data	global
RSMC ECMWF	upper-air data	global
RSMC Exeter	surface marine data	global
RSMC Nairobi	land surface observations	RA I
RSMC Tokyo	land surface observations	RA II
RSMC Buenos Aires	land surface observations	RA III
RSMC Montreal	land surface observations	RA IV
WMC Melbourne	land surface observations	RA V
RSMC Offenbach	land surface observations	RA VI

Approved quality monitoring procedures and formats for the exchange of the monitoring results have been developed. It should be noted that the selection criteria for 'suspect' data is stricter than the monthly monitoring criteria published in the Manual on the GDPS as Attachment II.8. This is primarily due to the larger sample size used for the six-monthly monitoring.

The six-monthly consolidated suspect reports are distributed to Members so that they can take remedial action as required. Recommendation 8 CBS-XI) and Recommendation 2 (CBS-Ext.(94)) provide for notification of Members/agencies responsible for observations of low quality. These Members/agencies then report to lead centres and the WMO Secretariat on their remedial efforts.