The Oklahoma Mesonet: A Pilot Study of Environmental Sensor Data Citations

Authors

  • Betsy Van der Veer Martens School of Library and Information Studies, University of Oklahoma, 208 Schusterman Library, Tulsa, OK 74135
  • Bradley G. Illston Oklahoma Mesonet, Oklahoma Climatological Survey, University of Oklahoma, 120 David L. Boren Blvd., Suite 2900, Norman, OK 73072
  • Christopher A. Fiebrich Oklahoma Mesonet, Oklahoma Climatological Survey, University of Oklahoma, 120 David L. Boren Blvd., Suite 2900, Norman, OK 73072

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2017-047

Keywords:

data citation, environmental sensors, mesoscale networks, Oklahoma, weather

Abstract

This pilot study of 110 scientific papers utilizing environmental sensor data from the Oklahoma Mesonet during its first two decades of operations demonstrates the diversity of potential purposes in scientific research for a robust, rigorously maintained, accessible source of environmental sensor data, as well as the challenges involved in identifying uses of that data within scientific papers. The study authors selected three publication years (1995, 2005, 2015) from an extensive corpus of peer-reviewed journal publications, identified each paper’s specific citation of and uses of the Mesonet’s environmental sensor data, and derived a typology of those usages (assimilation, experimentation, observation, simulation, utilization, validation) found to be most common. The rapid increase in data assimilation research projects today is discussed in terms of the difficulty and importance of correct attribution to individual data sources in these complex research projects. The study examines the possible role played by highly-cited papers that describe the quality assurance procedures in sensor data sources, which may serve as surrogates to signal the quality of the data provided by such sources, and which may also provide a useful contribution towards understanding data citation as a special form of scholarly citation.

Author Biographies

Betsy Van der Veer Martens, School of Library and Information Studies, University of Oklahoma, 208 Schusterman Library, Tulsa, OK 74135

Betsy Van der Veer Martens is an associate professor at the School of Library & Information Studies at the University of Oklahoma, and has written on bibliometrics in the Annual Review of Information Science & Technology and the Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology.

Bradley G. Illston, Oklahoma Mesonet, Oklahoma Climatological Survey, University of Oklahoma, 120 David L. Boren Blvd., Suite 2900, Norman, OK 73072

Bradley G. Illston is a senior research scientist at the Oklahoma Climatological Survey. His research focuses on urban meteorology and soil moisture, and has appeared in such journals as the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, the Journal of Atmospheric & Oceanic Technology, and the Soil Science Society of America Journal.

Christopher A. Fiebrich, Oklahoma Mesonet, Oklahoma Climatological Survey, University of Oklahoma, 120 David L. Boren Blvd., Suite 2900, Norman, OK 73072

Christopher A. Fiebrich is the Associate Director of the Oklahoma Climatological Survey and Manager of the Oklahoma Mesonet. His research interests include the history and operation of climate observational networks, and he has published extensively in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Earth-Science Reviews, the Journal of Atmospheric & Oceanic Technology, the Journal of Environmental Quality, and elsewhere.

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Published

2017-10-04

Issue

Vol. 16 (2017)

Section

Research Papers

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Copyright (c) 2017 The Author(s)

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