OPS 2-11
A multi-stage approach to QA/QC of sensor based measurements
The National Ecological Observatory Network’s Fundamental Instrument Unit (NEON-FIU) is responsible for making automated terrestrial observations at 60 different sites across the continent. FIU will provide data on key local physical, chemical, and climate forcing, as well as associated biotic responses (CO2, H2O, and energy exchanges). The sheer volume of data that will be generated far exceeds that of any other observatory network or agency, (i.e., > 45 Tb/year from 10’s of thousands of remotely deployed sensors). We address the question of how to provide such data in near-real time while maintaining high quality standards.
NEON’s QA/QC system is a dynamic process that is informed by site specific instrumentation and data (temporal and spatial) as well as modeled relationships between measurements. Such a framework allows NEON to attain the highest levels of accuracy, precision, and operational time, while efficiently optimizing the effort needed to produce quality data products.
Results/Conclusions
Here, we illustrate preliminary results of our quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) program applied to NEON’s first release data. Results from the first stage of this process, automated plausibility tests, are presented for several measurement streams. These tests include null and gap checks, range checks, persistence checks and de-spiking of the data. In addition, spatial consistency checks are presented for temperature in the form of tower level measurement comparisons.