Circular 40/2017/TT-BTNMT technical regulations on standardization of meteorological observation data sets

CIRCULAR

Providing technical regulations on standardization of meteorological, hydrological, hydrographic, air and water environment observation, investigation, and survey data sets

Pursuant to the Law on Hydrometeorology dated November 23, 2015;

Pursuant to Decree No. 36/2017/ND-CP dated April 4, 2017 of the Government defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment;

At the proposal of the Director General of the Vietnam Meteorological and Hydrological Administration, the Director of the Department of Science and Technology, and the Director of the Department of Legislation;

The Minister of Natural Resources and Environment hereby promulgates the Circular providing technical regulations on standardization of meteorological, hydrological, hydrographic, air and water environment observation, investigation, and survey data sets.

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope of regulation

This Circular provides technical regulations on standardization of meteorological, hydrological, hydrographic, air and water environment observation, investigation, and survey data sets.

Article 2. Subjects of application

This Circular applies to domestic agencies, organizations, and individuals; foreign organizations and individuals in Vietnam that are involved in the construction of the national hydro-meteorological database and the management, exploitation and exchange of hydro-meteorological information and data.

Article 3. Interpretation of terms

In this Circular, the terms below are construed as follows:

1. Standardization of hydro-meteorological data sets means a way to specify the content, structure, information type and data storage format applicable to hydrometeorological data sets, which are employed in submitting and exchanging data.

2. Hydrometeorological metadata means specific hydro-meteorological data describing the content, format, quality, origin, processing method and other characteristics of hydro-meteorological data.

3. Data structure means the way of organizing data in a computer, showing the hierarchy and association of data groups.

4. Information type of data means the name, value type and length of the data field.

5. National elevation system means an elevation system used uniformly across the country with the fixed base elevation located at Hon Dau - Hai Phong.

6. VN-2000 means the name of the Vietnam’s current national references and coordinates systems, which is uniformly employed across the country under Decision No. 83/2000/QD-TTg dated July 12, 2000 of the Prime Minister on the use of Vietnam’s national references and coordinates systems VN-2000.

7. Chart datum (zero-elevation surface or zero-level reference) means the conventional reference surface serving as origin to measure the depth of the sea. It is a vertical surface specified as “0" for each maritime area, usually the lowest astronomical tide (LAT) of such area. The State-standardized zero-level reference means the historical lowest tide observed at Hon Dau station.

8. Extensible Markup Language (XML) means a markup language used to create structured documents for data exchange purposes.

Chapter II

TECHNICAL REGULATIONS

Article 4. Elevation system, spatial coordinates, and time reference system

Information and data on hydro-meteorological, air and water environment observation, investigation, and survey must use the following elevation system, spatial coordinates, and time reference system:

1. Elevation system:

a) Use the national elevation system for meteorological and hydrological information and data;

b) Use chart elevation for hydrographic information and data.

2. Spatial coordinate system: Use the National References and Coordinates Systems VN-2000.

3. Time reference system: Days, months, year according to the solar calendar; hours, minutes, seconds in Vietnam’s Time Zone (UTC+07:00).

Article 5. Content, structure, type of information and data

1. Content of information and data:

a) Surface meteorological data and information: Air temperature, dew point temperature, air humidity, atmospheric pressure, evaporation, sunshine duration, wind direction and speed, clouds, precipitation, soil temperature, ground state, horizontal visibility, and meteorological phenomena;

b) Hydrological information and data: River water temperature, water level, water surface width, basin length, catchment area, cross-sectional area, water speed, flow rate, depth, turbidity, slope, riverbed roughness coefficient, total flow volume, tidal volume, suspended matter discharge, suspended matter content, total suspended matter;

c) Agro-meteorological data and information: Water temperature in the field, moisture in deep soil layers, air disturbance in the near-surface air layer, amount of water in the soil, amount of useful water;

d) Hydrometeorological information and data: Sea surface winds, visibility to the sea, sea level, mean sea level, tides, residual oscillations, wave types, wave factors, wave shapes, wave heights, sea surface temperature, sea surface state, sea salinity, sea brightness, dangerous hydrometeorological phenomena;

dd) Information and data on air and water environment: Chemical composition of rainwater, physical and chemical parameters of the air environment, physical and chemical parameters of the water environment in rivers, lakes, seas; information about floating objects in rivers and lakes;

e) Radio-meteorological information and data: direct radiation, radiation balance, reflectance, scattering, total radiation, albedo, time difference, solar elevation, sky color, buffer state, solar disk state, atmospheric transparency and turbidity;

g) Ozone - ultraviolet radiation information and data: Total amount of ozone, intensity of ultraviolet radiation;

h) Radiosonde information and data: Air temperature, air humidity, atmospheric pressure, and wind;

i) Pilot wind information and data: Overhead wind;

k) Investigation and survey information and data: hydrology, hydrometeorology, marine environment.

2. The structure and types of information and data, including information hierarchy, symbols, data types, field lengths, units and descriptions, are specified in Appendix 01 of this Circular.

Article 6. Metadata

1. The content, structure, and information types of meteorological, hydrological, hydrographic, air and water environment observation, investigation, and survey metadata shall comply with Dublin Core data standards and must be encrypted.

2. Meteorological, hydrological, hydrographic, air and water environment observation, investigation, and survey metadata includes:

a) Group of content information: title, subject, description, type, summary;

b) Group of copyright information: author, sub-author, publisher, copyright;

c) Group of explanatory information: date, container, link, identifier, language.

3. Metadata shall be created during the construction of the database and updated regularly.

4. The structure and information type of metadata including information hierarchy, symbols, information field, value types and descriptions are detailed in Appendix 02 of this Circular.

Article 7. Data and metadata formats

1. Data and metadata formats shall be built using XML language.

2. Data and metadata shall be exchanged and distributed in the form of data files through storage devices and data transmission services.

Article 8. Quality inspection of information and data

Regarding the content quality of information and data, the following items shall be inspected:

1. Check the content, structure, and type of information and data.

2. Check the completeness of information and data.

3. Check the application schema in exchanging, distributing, and updating data and metadata.

4. Details of items and inspection levels are specified in Appendix 03 of this Circular.

Chapter III

ORGANIZATION OF IMPLEMENTATION
 

Article 9. Effect

This Circular takes effect from December 8, 2017.

Article 10. Responsibilities for implementation

1. The Chief of the Ministry Office, Director General of the Vietnam Meteorological and Hydrological Administration, Director of the Department of Science and Technology, and Director of the Department of Legislation, heads of units under the Ministry, directors of Departments of Natural Resources and Environment of provinces and municipalities, and relevant organizations and individuals shall be responsible for the implementation of this Circular.

2. The Vietnam Meteorological and Hydrological Administration shall be responsible for guiding, inspecting, and supervising the implementation of this Circular.

3. In the course of implementing this Circular, if there are difficulties or problems, agencies, organizations and individuals should report them to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment for consideration and settlement./.

* All Appendices are not translated herein.