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Rules for the Management of Scientific Programmes, Observing Time and Use of Data (as approved by SAC, October 1995 and adopted by the Council, November 1995)

Rules for the Management of Scientific Programmes,
Observing Time and Use of Data

Approved by SAC, October 1995 and adopted by the Council, November 1995

  1. Purpose and Objectives

    1. This document interprets those parts of the Agreement and Statutes of the EISCAT Scientific Association relevant to EISCAT Scientific Programmes, Observing Time and Use of Data and should be read in conjunction with the Statutes. In cases of disagreement, the Agreement and Statutes shall take precedence over these Guidelines.

    2. These Guidelines apply to the use of the EISCAT VHF and UHF radars (including the remote UHF receiving sites in Kiruna and Sodankylä), the Ionospheric Heating facility, the Dynasonde at Tromsø and the EISCAT Svalbard Radar in Longyearbyen.

    3. The objectives of these guidelines are to ensure:
      1. that the best possible scientific returns are obtained and
      2. that each Associate has the opportunity to use an equitable share of the scientific results.

    4. Article 14 of the Statutes states that the observing time shall be divided between:
      1. programmes common to all Associates (Common Programmes)
      2. special programmes of Associate scientists (Special Programmes)
      3. such programmes of third parties as might be agreed on the basis of merit.

    5. Scientific co-operation between scientists of the Associate countries is perceived to be very valuable and scientists are encouraged to inform the Director of work in progress so that he may mediate such co-operations.

  2. Common Programmes

    1. Great importance is attached to the Common Programmes (CP), and in particular to long term routine observations. A regular schedule of well designed operations shall be adopted. These Common Programmes include the Unusual Programmes (UP), which are operated ad hoc during special geophysical conditions (see 3.11 for definition).

    2. The Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) shall advise the Council on the observational procedures for the Common Programmes. To ensure the continuity of the data, substantial changes in the Common Programmes should be avoided except where major changes in EISCAT facilities or scientific objectives make them desirable.

    3. Proposals for changes in the Common Programmes shall be submitted to both the Director and the Chairman of the SAC. The SAC recommendations shall be submitted to the Council for approval.

    4. The choice of observations within the Common Programme, the distribution of time allotted to each, and appropriate scheduling provisions to support important scientific programmes shall be made by the Director on the recommendation of the SAC. The Director may, where appropriate, delegate this task or other tasks related to these Guidelines.

    5. Common Programmes can be interrupted, for example in support of rocket launches, special satellite passages or at short notice during unexpected or unusual phenomena as described at 3.11 (below). Such interruptions shall be kept to a minimum and must be approved by the Director or, if not feasible, by the officer in charge of the programme. Such data shall form part of the Common Programme. The Director shall report the circumstances of such interruptions at the next meeting of the SAC.

  3. Special Programmes

    1. Each Associate should set up an internal review system of their choice to consider proposals for Special Programmes submitted by scientists of that Associate.

    2. Each Associate shall appoint a contact person (Schedule Representative) with whom the Director shall discuss the matters concerning proposals submitted by that Associate.

    3. Proposals which have been allocated observing time under the above review system shall be submitted to the EISCAT Director in the standard format available from EISCAT with the appropriate internal preferences and priorities indicated.

    4. Proposers should consult the "Procedures for EISCAT Special Programme Experiments" issued from time to time by EISCAT. Proposers may request that their proposals be held in confidence.

    5. Associates may combine to propose to allocate a certain fraction of their Special Programme time to scientific programmes of joint interest.

    6. Upon receipt of proposals for Special Programmes (approved by the Schedule Representative), the Director shall either schedule the programme as requested or suggest alternatives if that is impossible. Programmes which are perceived to be potentially damaging to the EISCAT systems shall not be scheduled until suitable precautions or programme revisions have been enacted.

    7. Where proposals from two or more Associates are identical, or nearly identical, the Director shall suggest to the respective contact persons and experimenters - if the proposals so indicate - a pooling of effort and a sharing of observing time. The amount of observing time allotted to such a shared effort by the participating Associates shall be a matter of mutual agreement.

    8. The Associates are invited to involve members of the EISCAT staff as participating members in their scientific programmes. Where such partnerships involve, or might involve, excessive or out of hours working by EISCAT staff (according to EISCAT personnel rules), they require individual approval by the Director.

    9. The Director shall provide the SAC, on request, with a schedule of actual and proposed observations and invite its comments.

    10. In the event of an unresolvable scheduling conflict between proposed Special Programmes, or between Special and Common Programmes, the Director shall decide on the priorities, if possible by consultation of the SAC Chairman. Conflicts resolved in this manner shall be reported to the next SAC meeting.

    11. If an unexpected or unusual phenomenon, natural or otherwise, occurs, observation of which would be so valuable as to warrant interruption of scheduled programmes (following discussions with the responsible person) or starting the system(s) at short notice, the Director may take the initiative.

      The data collected in this mode shall belong to the Common Programme and all Associates shall be notified as soon as possible of such observations. The SAC shall discuss any such occurrences at its next meeting.

      These rules apply similarly to the operation and data of Unusual Programmes.

  4. Use of EISCAT by Collaborating Scientists, Third Parties and EISCAT Staff

    1. Parties not belonging to the Association may make use of EISCAT on terms approved by the Council. Scientific collaboration with scientists or scientific institutions from non-Associate countries is to be encouraged.

    2. Applications for observing time from third parties, shall be submitted to the Director who shall seek the views of the SAC, and other referees as appropriate. For proposals exceeding the standard time allocated for this purpose by the Council, the Council should decide.

    3. Approved proposals from third parties shall be treated in the same manner as approved Special Programmes of an Associate.

    4. Whenever collaborative work with scientists from non-Associate countries involving the use of significant EISCAT data is undertaken, the Director shall be informed and shall report to the next meetings of the SAC and Council as appropriate.

    5. Any scientific paper resulting from such collaboration shall, if requested by the collaborator, include as co-author(s) the participating scientist(s) from the Associate country or the EISCAT staff, with appropriate acknowledgement of the support provided by EISCAT.

    6. There shall be no bulk transfer of EISCAT data (sufficient to enable the recipient to carry out research principally based on EISCAT data) in raw or reduced form to scientists from non-Associate countries without the permission of the Director, acting in consultation with the SAC. Such bulk transfers, except of those data which are approved standard transfers to international data bases, shall be reported to the next Council.

    7. Notwithstanding 4.6, condensed summaries of data may be supplied to scientists from non-Associate countries for the purpose of identifying specific periods when a combination of EISCAT data with data from some other major facility appears likely to produce significant results.

    8. The Director shall have discretion to make available to any scientist a limited amount of Common Programme data (and Special Programme data more than one year after acquisition) needed to supplement other scientific investigations. Special Programme data may be made available during the first year after acquisition with the permission of the experimenter.

    9. Up to five percent of the Special Programme observing time shall be available for EISCAT staff to be apportioned at the discretion of the Director.

  5. Ownership and Use of Data

    1. The ownership of all EISCAT data shall be permanently vested in the EISCAT Scientific Association, for the benefit of all the Associates.

    2. Published papers in which data from the EISCAT facility have been used shall always contain an acknowledgement of the support provided by EISCAT, preferably in the standard form available from EISCAT.

    3. Authors are encouraged to send pre-prints of papers, as well as reprints after publication to the EISCAT Headquarters where a file of EISCAT publications will be kept.

  6. Distribution of EISCAT Data

    1. Each Associate shall designate one contact person (Data Representative) within that Associate's country to receive data distributed by EISCAT.

    2. Common Programme data will be pre-processed by EISCAT to yield ionospheric parameters in a form suitable for distribution under 4.7. This is regarded as an initial analysis only.

    3. One copy of such pre-processed Common Programme data shall be distributed on a regular basis, free of charge, to the contact persons designated under 6.1 in a form suitable for further processing using common computing equipment.

    4. The Data Representative designated under 6.1 may request raw data (i.e. the original ACF data recorded during the experiment operation) from Common Programmes, Special Programmes of the particular Associate and all Special Programmes recorded more than one year prior to the date of request.

      One copy of all raw data from Special Programmes of the particular Associate, or group of Associates, will be supplied free of charge. All other data sets will attract a charge, related to media costs and overheads, to be recommended by the AFC and approved by the Council. Such costs may be waived at the discretion of the Director.

    5. Original raw data shall not be removed from EISCAT. Visitors shall only remove copied data from EISCAT facilities. Where such copies exceed the provisions of 6.4, they will attract a charge as defined in 6.4. Data removed from EISCAT under these provisions shall be treated as if they had been supplied to the Data Representative designated under 6.1.

    6. EISCAT shall securely archive all recorded EISCAT data.

    7. A brief description of all Common, Special, Unusual and Third-party programmes shall be provided by EISCAT. A summary of observations shall be published in the EISCAT Annual Reports.
Created by tony
Last modified 2009-01-20 15:16 expired