Validation Definitions

Beta: early release product to allow users to gain familiarity with data formats and parameters. These are the first publicly available versions of most products. Products are minimally validated and may still contain significant errors. Products are not appropriate as the basis for quantitative scientific publications.
Provisional: partially validated; incremental improvements are still occurring. These are early science validated products and are useful for exploratory and process scientific studies. Quality may not be optimal since validation and quality assurance are ongoing. Users are urged to review product quality summaries before publication of results.
Validated: science quality with well-defined uncertainties; improvements may still be ongoing. These are high quality products suitable for longer term or systematic scientific studies and publication. There may be later improved versions.
    Stage 1 Validation: product accuracy has been estimated using a small number of independent measurements from selected locations and time periods. A paper is in the process of being published in the peer-reviewed literature, and a summary of these results can be found in the product's Data Quality Summary.

    Stage 2 Validation: product accuracy ahs been assessed by a number of independent measurements, at a number of locations or times representative of the range of conditions portrayed by the product, e.g. Fluxnet sites, Aeronet sites. This accuracy assessment is described in a paper in the peer-reviewed literature. A summary of the peer-reviewed paper can be found in the product's Data Quality Summary.

    Stage 3 Validation: product accuracy has been assessed by independent measurements in a systematic and statistically robust way representing global conditions. The accuracy assessment is posted in the product's Data Quality Summary, and a paper has been published in the peer-reviewed literature showing the validation results.

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