The following information is required during the data submission and upload procedure.

(1) Submitters Name

• Select the appropriate data submitter name from the provided list. If you are not on the list contact the data manager to proceed.

(2) Datafile Title

• Give the exact title of the Datafile that is either being created or updated. This title should be the same as the one included within the metadata file; on the 'B_Datafile' tab; labeled 'Study Title'. If you are updating a file please find the existing title from our BNZ Data Catalog and repeat it exactly when submitting updates.

(3) Submission Description

• A brief written description of the Datafile information being submitted. It will likely include the Datafile title, collection dates, key personnel, or project affiliations.

  ex1: LTER-Core Climate-Active Layer Depths: Bonanza Creek Fire Line, Boundary Fire, Survey Line, Core Floodplain sites. Annual data update providing 2007 measurements to append to database. Excel spreadsheets for each major location.

  ex2: Meteorological data for the BBC collapse scar for 2003 and 2004. Climate data collected for thesis work by Isla Myers-Smith along Survey Line Fire boundary. Hourly data logger data for airT, soilT, soilM, Precip, and PAR .

(4) Metadata File Name

• Give the exact file name* of the Excel metadata spreadsheet included in the ZIP file. Blank metadata forms are available for download at on the BNZ Data Submission web page. Always use the most recent version of this form when submitting data.
• You are still required to submit a new metadata file when updating existing files. It should reflect any changes in date range, personnel, and methods or procedures that may have changed since the last data submission for this file. The metadata is all visible through the data catalog, so as you are updating files, please take the time and attempt to improve the quality of the existing metadata if at all possible.

(5) Data ZIP File Name

• Give the exact file name* of the compressed ZIP file being uploaded. To expedite and facilitate tracking and handling of the data, we require that all the individual files you wish to submit be compressed (zipped) into one file for upload. This zip file will contain all of the metadata, data, image, and/or supplemental files for this Datafile.
• If you are unfamiliar with how to ZIP files; go to the BNZ Zip Info web page for some help.

(6) Number of files included in the ZIP File

• Report the total number of files contained in the ZIP file.

* File Names

File names should be as descriptive as possible; attempting to include information about the type of file, a temporal reference, and a contact person. They should not use any illegal characters (/,$,%, etc.) or character spaces. Below are some good examples of file names.

ex1: Myers-Smith_MetDataBBC_2003-2004.txt

ex2: Bonanza_Creek_moisturegradient_isotopestudy_metadata.xls

Once you have submitted data to the system, you will receive a confirmation e-mail letting you know that the information has been received and to give you a link to a web page where you can see the current status of the data submission.