Public Archive Data MoU
The open-weather Public Archive is open access and licensed under the Creative Commons licence Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0. If you are a contributor, you can revoke this permission at any time by writing to us.
In addition to this Creative Commons licence when downloading, storing, using and sharing this data we ask that you honour the conditions of this Data Memorandum of Understanding (Data MoU).
Data provenance
1.1 Open-weather
Open-weather is a feminist experiment in imaging and imagining the earth and its weather systems using DIY community tools. Co-led by Sophie Dyer and Sasha Engelmann, open-weather encompasses a series of how-to guides, critical frameworks and public workshops on the reception of satellite images using free or inexpensive amateur radio technologies. In the tradition of intersectional feminism, open-weather investigates the politics of location and interlocking oppressions that shape our capacities to observe, negotiate, and respond to the climate crisis. In doing so, open-weather challenges dominant representations of earth and environment while complicating ideas of the weather beyond the meteorological.
1.2 Open-weather network
The open-weather network is made up of more than one hundred DIY Ground Satellite Stations across the world. Open-weather recognises that there may be varied levels of engagement with the Public Archive by different members of the platform, and considers each of these engagements as legitimate.
1.3 Open-weather Public Archive
The Open-weather Public Archive is a repository of satellite imagery, metadata, textual ‘Weather Notes’ and visual documentation uploaded by the open-weather network. The archive launched in 2020 using Google forms and sheet, before relaunching in 2024 on a Greenhost
1.4 NOAA POES Satellites
The satellite images in the Open-weather Public Archive are from the three US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellites, NOAA-15, NOAA-18 and NOAA-19. The images were received on the satellites’ analogue 137 MHz Automatic Picture Transmission (APT). NOAA-15, NOAA-18 and NOAA-19 satellites are classed as Polar Operational Environmental Satellites (POES) and are part of a larger fleet of satellites, the first of which were launched in the 1970s.
Citation
2.1 Citing the complete dataset
Open-weather Public Archive, 2020 – YYYY, multiple locations. Open-weather CC BY 4.0
2.2 Citing a subset of entries
When citing under 20 entries, list the ground station operator names in last-name alphabetical order:
Name [first last], Name [first last]… and Name [first last], Year [or range], open-weather Public Archive, Location [or Multiple locations]. Open-weather CC By 4.0
For example:
Soph Dyer, Sasha Engelmann, and Lotti Jones, 2024, open-weather Public Archive, Multiple locations. Open-weather CC BY 4.0
When citing over 20 entries, mention the criteria used to define the subset:
Open-weather Public Archive [define subset], Year [or range], open-weather Public Archive, Multiple locations. Open-weather CC BY 4.0
For example:
Open-weather Public Archive (manual ground stations only), 2023 – 2024, open-weather Public Archive, Multiple locations. Open-weather CC BY 4.0
2.3 Citing an individual entry
For an individual entry include:
Name [first last], open-weather Public Archive, Date [Month DD YYYY], Location. Open-weather CC BY 4.0.
For example:
Lotti Jones, open-weather Public Archive, September 14 2024, Leipzig, Germany. Open-weather CC BY 4.0
Privacy and consent
3.1 Privacy
Unless the Contributor Form is submitted, no data is stored by open-weather. The use of legal names is optional. Pseudonyms or anonymous contributions are welcomed.
The latitudes and longitudes entered into the Contributor Form are truncated to two decimal places so as to protect the precise location of satellite ground stations.
3.2 Consent
Contributions to the Public Archive are made with the understanding that a snapshot of the archive can be downloaded at any given time.
If you download and adapt the material for another purpose, when feasible, we ask that you cross reference with the current online version to see if any permissions, specifically contributor names, have been changed or revoked.
If you are a contributor and you would like to change or revoke your authorship, please contact us.
Storage
4.1 Storage of this Data MoU
This Data MoU is intended as part of the Open-weather Public Archive. It should be stored alongside downloaded copies of the Open-weather Public Archive, whole or partial.
Acknowledgements
5.1 Thank you
We, open-weather, thank the contributors who populated this archive. We also thank our collaborators who built its social and technical infrastructure, especially Rectangle (Lizzie Malcolm and Daniel Powers). The redesigned archive (2024–) was made possible by the U.K. Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and British Academy.
Last edited by open-weather on 16 October 2024