Assessing the importance of data
As new data sources and the amount of unique data collected continues to expand, subjected only to technical limitations, scientific enterprises, with the weather enterprise no exception, are prone to human limitations to interpret and apply additional data to scientific questions and operational challenges. Therefore, in order to assess the value of observations or research byproducts from different sources but of the same type, it is necessary to understand how the data is used, and how often it is used in comparison to “adjacent” data. That is, the value of observational data and data conveyed in the form of research byproducts is higher if it is routinely used in scientific and/or operational pursuits and that use impacts the scientific and/or operational result. This concept should strategically drive research to operations initiatives. For example, in the weather enterprise, there are multiple sources for total precipitable water (TPW) observations. TPW is a measure of the spec