Environmental Fate and Effects Studies

Current as of February 2001

OPP/EFED requests that data and data sets for ground and surface water monitoring studies be provided in ASCII format. The following are general suggestions for submitting machine readable data:

• Data should be provided in files separate from other material such as review text.
• Data files should have a special file extension not used for other kinds of files, probably ".dat" (e.g., "SITE002.DAT").
• Missing measurements should be indicated by a dot ("."). A missing value code should be required when there are multiple endpoints in the same file.
• Individual numbers or values on a line are separated by one or more spaces.
• Lines or rows of data are separated by a hard return.
• Data files should be ASCII. An ASCII file is called a "DOS Text" in WordPerfect for example.
• Character data such as variable names or treatment group names should consist of strings of length not more than 8 characters.
• Ratio endpoints such as emergence (the fraction of seeds that emerge) should be represented as decimal numbers rather than as percentages.

Provide general data in ASCII format for each of these study reports:

• 166-1, Small Scale Prospective Ground Water Monitoring Studies
• 166-2, Small Scale Retrospective Ground Water Monitoring Studies
• 166-3, Large-Scale Retrospective Ground Water Monitoring Studies
• Ground and Surface Water Monitoring Reports

Include graphs, raw data tables with associated descriptive text, and input variables and results of statistical analysis,

Provide all tables of raw data in ASCII. Tables should include:

• information on site location (FIPS code; latitude and longitude),
• time of sample,
• detection limits,
• analytical methods,
• time of collection (date; hour),
• sampling method(s),
• pH/redox potential (measured in-situ),
• water temperature, and
• suspended sediments concentrations

It would be helpful if all Surface and Ground Water Modeling submissions would be accompanied with the following in ASCII:

• all model input parameters with source (reference(s)) identified,
• met files,
• model output.