Data Policy

All data available through the ARS Micronet site are in the public domain, and are not restricted by copyright. If the ARS meteorologic and soil climate data sets are accepted and used by the recipient, the recipient should understand that the ARS and its employees make no warranties, expressed or implied, concerning the accuracy, completeness, reliability or suitability for any one purpose and that ARS and its employees shall be under no liability to any person by reason of any use made thereof.

The ARS requests that the user of these data does not distribute, publish, or disseminate the data under the recipient’s name without full and up-front acknowledgement of the ARS as the source of the data and that the recipient acknowledges the support and role of the ARS in publications that use and are based on the ARS data. Users are strongly encouraged to contact the data providers to ensure sound scientific data interpretation in the context of the historical results and their in situ experience with these data. In cases where the ARS Micronet data is critical and fundamental to (i.e., not ancillary to) a study, or in cases where users involve ARS scientific staff to sufficiently justify co-authorship, the user is encouraged to include appropriate ARS personnel as co-authors.

Publications utilizing data from the ARS Micronet site must include formal acknowledgement of the data provider. The formal acknowledgement includes:

• The statement: “Datasets were provided by the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, Grazinglands Research Laboratory, El Reno, Oklahoma.
• Cite: Starks, P.J., C.A. Fiebrich, D.L. Grimsley, J.D. Garbrecht, J.L. Steiner, J.A. Guzman, and D.N. Moriasi. 2014. Upper Washita River experimental watersheds: meteorologic and soil climate measurement networks. Journal of Environmental Quality 43:1239-1249.