Depositing Data at CEDA: A step by step guide
Introduction
CEDA will accept data relevant to atmospheric and earth observation fields. This includes a wide range of instrumental, satellite, aircraft, observations, analyses and model datasets of interest to the scientific community. To archive data with CEDA please follow the steps below (please also see the FAQ's, video tutorial, and webinar).
Step by step guide
Once you have collected/produced your atmospheric or earth observation data; processed, calibrated, validated and quality checked it and prepared it for archiving using correctly applied standard data formats (for example, NetCDF should adhere to the CF conventions and have good quality metadata including global attributes) and meaningful filenames, you are now ready to upload it to the CEDA archive, using the following steps.
1. Register for a CEDA account.
2. Go to arrivals.ceda.ac.uk and login with your CEDA username and password.
3. Click begin. You need to agree to the deposit agreement the first time you use the service.
4. Click browse deliveries.
5. Choose an existing delivery directory or create a new delivery directory by clicking on 'new directory'.
6. Add a suitable name for your delivery e.g. the project, instrument name, model name or what the data contains, etc. and either provide a link to an existing CEDA catalogue dataset record or follow the circled link to generate one now. Adding the information this way helps keep the record and the data together. Supplying metadata alongside a data delivery is an essential component of dataset management (conforming to principles of good data management) and is required by CEDA in the majority of cases, with few exceptions. For upload of intermediate products not intended for immediate archiving at CEDA please contact the data management helpdesk (data.management@ceda.ac.uk) or your CEDA contact to discuss your requirements.
7. To generate a new record, fill in the form (example layout below) with as much information (metadata) about your dataset as you can. This form can also be accessed by clicking the circled link mentioned in the previous step - please complete the form only once per data delivery. Each box has help information if you click on the "i" icon. There are also example templates you can adapt - use the "Show Example" button to view these. Further down this form you can add Project, Instrument or Computation details and can look up and reuse existing records in our catalogue. Further guidance on the types of supplementary information to include is available at this link.
(Please note: one of either a URL to an existing record, a newly created record or a metadata.yaml file is required to submit data. The first two are generally recommended, however if you prefer to supply metadata using a metadata.yaml file, this can be generated with this utility)
Save and preview the record, and go back and edit if required. (Saved, unsubmitted records can be found under ' Metadata records' when logged in). Once it is complete you can submit it for review by the CEDA team, and proceed to upload your data.
8. Upload your files using the following tools if appropriate: unzip zipped files, fix bad names (this removes unusual characters and spacing), remove empty directories, remove zero length files and remove links from filenames.
You can also upload your data via FTP or RSYNC (these can be found by clicking the 'other upload methods' button shown above). If you use these methods you still need to come back to the web interface to submit the uploaded data. Further information on the delivery tools accepted by CEDA and written instructions on using these can be found on this page.
9. Click the 'Review submission' button.
10. Confirm Submission ('Agree and submit').
11. A CEDA contact will check the files and move them to the CEDA archive. Catalogue records will be created to make your data discoverable (using the metadata you supplied in step 7), or else approved by CEDA if you have already created/linked a record. This takes time, so please be patient with us.
12. Finally, we will ask you to review these catalogue records, and when all checks are complete your dataset will be published.
13. If you requested a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) for your dataset, it can then be provided. Further guidance is available here.