PaCTS v1.0

This page describes the first version of PaCTS (Paleoclimate Community reporTing Standard).

Background

This page describes PaCTS v1.0, which represents the first attempt by the paleoclimate community to standardize the reporting of paleoclimate data. To do so, the community organized itself in working groups centered around the main proxy archives. To see detailed discussions about how the standards evolved, see the current working groups (shortcut on the left).

The recommendation follows a vote on this platform, the LinkedEarth twitter account, and a survey distributed to the community through various platforms (e.g., listservs, PAGES network).

PaCTS v1.0

Each property is either deemed essential (without which the record can't be reused), recommended (necessary to reuse the record optimally), and desired.

In this context a legacy dataset is defined as a dataset that has not been contributed by the original author (see here for details).

Cross Archive Metadata

See the discussion in the cross-archive metadata working group page.

Datasets

Table 1: Recommendation for cross-archive metadata

Question	New datasets	Legacy datasets
contributor	Essential	Essential
latitude	Essential	Essential
longitude	Essential	Essential
altitude	Essential	Essential
site name	Essential	Essential
dataset version	Essential	Recommended
any publication information	Essential	Essential
publication authors	Essential	Essential
publication year	Essential	Essential
publication title	Essential	Essential
publication doi	Essential	Essential
publication journal	Essential	Essential
funding information	Desired	Desired
funding principal investigator	Desired	Desired
funding agency	Desired	Desired
funding country	Desired	Desired
funding grant	Desired	Desired
any paleodata information	Essential	Essential
any chrondata information	Essential	Essential
depth/distance/position in the archive	Essential	Essential
information about how depth is transformed to age	Essential	Recommended
sample thickness	Essential	Recommended
original measurements	Essential	Essential
units	Essential	Essential
analysis date	Recommended	Desired
any additional data measured along the primary data of interest	Recommended	Recommended
interpretation	Recommended	Recommended
calibrated values	Essential	Recommended
calibration model	Essential	Recommended
calibration reference	Recommended	Recommended
physical sample name	Recommended	Desired
physical sample IGSN	Recommended	Desired
physical sample collection method	Recommended	Desired
instrument type	Essential	Recommended
laboratory name	Recommended	Desired
analytical method	Essential	Recommended
method reference	Recommended	Desired

Compilations

Table 2: Recommendation for compilations

Question	New compilations	Legacy compilations
compilation name	Essential	Essential
compilation authors	Essential	Essential
funding agency	Desired	Desired
funding principal investigator	Desired	Desired
funding grant number	Desired	Desired
funding country	Desired	Desired
model used to compile data	Essential	Essential
compilation date	Essential	Recommended
compilation version	Essential	Recommended
compilation change log	Essential	Recommended
publication title	Essential	Essential
publication authors	Essential	Essential
publication year	Essential	Essential
publication journal	Essential	Essential
publication doi	Essential	Essential
publication from previous work	Essential	Recommended
unique identifier to the time series used in the compilation	Essential	Recommended

Historical Documents

To see the discussion on historical documents, see this page

Recommendation for historical data

Question	New datasets	Legacy datasets
URL to external Pages (scans, pages)	Recommended	Recommended
quote ID for later reference	Essential	Recommended
reference to quote source	Essential	Essential
pages from which the quote is extracted from	Recommended	Recommended
language of the quote (or its translation)	Recommended	Recommended
quote's protolanguage	Recommended	Recommended
quote	Essential	Essential
quote's license	Recommended	Recommended
quote's doi	Essential	Recommended

Ice Cores

See the discussion on the ice cores working group page.

Recommendation for ice cores

Question	New datasets	Legacy datasets
possible melt in transport	Essential	Essential
depth of any melt layer	Essential	Essential
depth of ash layer	Essential	NA
all proxy observations determined in the core	Essential	Essential
continous vs discrete sampling	Essential	Essential
coring techniques	Essential	Recommended
core cutting techniques	Recommended	Desired
core storage conditions	Recommended	Desired
whether the bedrock has been reached	Recommended	Desired
borehole temperatures	Recommended	Desired
depth and composition of any organic material	Recommended	Desired
if available, any snowpit information from the same location	Recommended	Desired
core densities	Essential	Desired
depth of brittle ice	Essential	Desired
depth of firn/ice transition	Recommended	Recommended
presence of elongated bubbles	Recommended	Recommended

Lake Sediments

See the discussion on the lake sediments working group page

Accumulation rate

Recommendation for accumulation rate on lake sediment cores

Question	New datasets	Legacy datasets
accumulation rate	Essential	Essential
thickness	Essential	Essential
density	Essential	Essential
units	Essential	Essential
chronological constraints	Essential	Essential
accumulation rate type	Essential	Essential
method	Essential	Essential
pretreatment method	Recommended	Recommended
interpretation	Recommended	Recommended

Compound Specific Isotopes

Recommendation for compound specific isotopes on lake sediment cores

Question	New datasets	Legacy datasets
sample depth	Essential	Essential
compound(s) analyzed	Essential	Essential
source of compound in sediments	Essential	Essential
isotope measured	Essential	Essential
interpretation	Recommended	Recommended

Density

Recommendation for density measurements on lake sediment cores

Question	New datasets	Legacy datasets
density name (e.g., wet bulk density)	Essential	Essential
water content/porosity	Recommended	Recommended
original measurements	Essential	Essential
units	Essential	Essential
density type (inferred or measured)	Essential	Recommended
method (e.g. direct sampling)	Essential	Essential
interpretation	Recommended	Recommended

Imagery data

Recommendation for imagery data on lake sediment cores

Question	New datasets	Legacy datasets
reflectance or transmittance (by wavelength)	Essential	Essential
units	Essential	Essential
original measurements	Essential	Essential
post acquisition processing methods	Essential	Recommended
data reduction methods (peak or trough area method)	Recommended	Recommended
pretreatment methods	Essential	Recommended
analytical method	Essential	Recommended
analytical instrument	Recommended	Recommended
interpretation	Recommended	Desired

Magnetic data

Recommendation for magnetic data on lake sediment cores

Question	New datasets	Legacy datasets
position of the core within the lake basin	Essential	Essential
ancillary data about the archive (carbonate and organic content)	Recommended	Recommended
flag that the signal recorded hasn't been altered by geochemisty	Essential	Recommended

Mineralogy

Recommendation for mineralogy on lake sediment cores

Question	New datasets	Legacy datasets
relative abundance (by mineral)	Essential	Essential
units	Essential	Essential
original measurements	Essential	Recommended
mineralogy type	Recommended	Recommended
pretreatment method	Essential	Recommended
analytical method	Essential	Essential
analytical instrument	Recommended	Recommended
interpretation	Recommended	Recommended

Multiple cores

Recommendation for multiple cores

Question	New datasets	Legacy datasets
mid-point depth (core depth)	Essential	Recommended
mid-point depth (composite depth)	Essential	Essential
thickness	Essential	Recommended
information about the relationship between core depth and composite depth	Essential	Recommended

Particle size

Recommendation for particle size on lake sediment cores

Question	New datasets	Legacy datasets
% volume or mass by grain size class/interval	Essential	Essential
units	Essential	Essential
original measurements	Essential	Recommended
summary statistics used to characterize distribution	Recommended	Recommended
particle size type	Essential	Recommended
pretreatment methods	Essential	Recommended
anlytical method (e.g. laser diffraction)	Essential	Recommended
analytical instrument	Recommended	Recommended
interpretation	Recommended	Recommended

Marine Sediments

See the discussion on the marine sediments working group page.

General

Recommendation for marine sediments

Question	New datasets	Legacy datasets
gear type for collection of the archive	Recommended	Recommended
volume of sediment analyzed	Recommended	Recommended

Alkenones

Recommendation for alkenones on marine sediments

Question	New datasets	Legacy datasets
index value	Essential	Essential
method of sediment extraction	Essential	Essential
raw peak areas	Recommended	Recommended
alkenone concentration	Essential	Recommended
C37-C39 compound concentration	Essential	Recommended
analytical method (retention time vs mass spec, LOD, LOQ)	Essential	Essential

Bulk sediment geochemistry

Recommendation for bulk sediment geochemistry on marine sediments

Question	New datasets	Legacy datasets
sample pretreatment	Essential	Recommended

GDGTs

Recommendation for GDGTs measurements on marine sediments

Question	New datasets	Legacy datasets
GDGT index	Essential	Essential
core lipids or IPLs analyzed	Essential	Essential
method of sediment extration	Essential	Recommended
raw peak areas	Recommended	Recommended
definition of the index used	Essential	Essential

Micropaleontology

Recommendation for micropaleontological determination on marine sediments

Question	New datasets	Legacy datasets
raw counts	Essential	Essential
minimum number of speciments	Essential	Recommended
size fraction	Essential	Essential
seasonality	Recommended	Recommended
habitat depth	Essential	Recommended
training set	Recommended	Recommended

Foraminifera

Geochemistry

Recommendation for geochemical measurements on foraminifera

Question	New datasets	Legacy datasets
Genus	Essential	Essential
Species	Essential	Essential
taxonomy being followed	Essential	Recommended

Stable Isotopes

Recommendation for stable isotopes measurements on foraminifera

Question	New datasets	Legacy datasets
cleaning methodology	Essential	Essential
cleaning methodology reference	Recommended	Recommended
number of specimens utilized by sample	Essential	Essential
size fraction	Essential	Essential
method of sediment disintegration and washing	Essential	Recommended
equilibirum offset	Essential	Recommended
seasonality	Recommended	Recommended
habitat depth	Essential	Recommended
standard (e.g. VPDB)	Essential	Essential
contamination indicators	Recommended	Recommended

Trace elements

Recommendation for trace elements measurements on foraminifera

Question	New datasets	Legacy datasets
cleaning methodology	Essential	Essential
cleaning methodology reference	Recommended	Recommended
number of specimens utilized per sample	Essential	Essential
size fraction	Essential	Essential
method of sediment disintegration and washing	Essential	Essential
correction	Essential	Essential
seasonality	Recommended	Recommended
habitat depth	Recommended	Recommended
contamination indicators	Essential	Recommended
standard	Essential	Essential

Boron isotopes

Recommendation for boron isotopes measurements on foraminifera

Question	New datasets	Legacy datasets
separation method	Essential	Essential
analysis method	Essential	Essential
sample size (ng of boron analyzed)	Essential	Essential
standard	Essential	Essential
water depth (benthic foraminifera)	Essential	Recommended

MARPA

See the discussion on the MARPA working group page. Please note that most of the properties described in this working group formed the basis for the cross-archive recommendations.

Recommendation for MARPA archives

Question	New datasets	Legacy datasets
interpolated chronology	Essential	Essential
X-ray pictures	Recommended	Recommended

Speleothems

See the discussion on the speleothems working group page.

Cave

Recommendation for cave metadata for speleothems archives

Question	New datasets	Legacy datasets
cave geology	Essential	Recommended
rock age	Essential	Recommended

Modern cave conditions

Recommendation for modern cave conditions metadata for speleothems archives

Question	New datasets	Legacy datasets
soil thickness	Recommended	Recommended
vegetation type	Recommended	Recommended
karst residence time	Recommended	Recommended
karst transit time distribution	Recommended	Recommended
karst porosity	Recommended	Recommended
rock overburden thickness	Recommended	Recommended
flow route type	Recommended	Recommended
in-cave temperature	Essential	Recommended
in-cave humidity	Essential	Recommended
in-cave pCO2	Essential	Recommended
in-cave drip rate	Recommended	Recommended
in-cave drip chemistry	Recommended	Recommended

Physical Sample

Recommendation for physical samples metadata for speleothems archives

Question	New datasets	Legacy datasets
distance from cave entrance	Recommended	Recommended
thickness of overlying bedrock over the speleothem	Recommended	Recommended
speleothem type (e.g. candlestick, flowstone)	Essential	Recommended
drip type	Recommended	Recommended
type of measurements available	Essential	Recommended

Sample data

Recommendation for sample data metadata for speleothems archives

Question	New datasets	Legacy datasets
thickness of analyzed sample	Essential	Essential
evidence of equilibrium	Essential	Recommended
isotope standards	Essential	Essential
correction made for aragonite	Essential	Recommended

Trees

See the discussion on the trees working group  page.

Recommendation for trees metadata

Question	New datasets	Legacy datasets
missing ring	Essential	Essential
taxonomy (genus/species)	Essential	Essential
tree height	Recommended	Recommended
tree diameter	Essential	Essential
soil description	Recommended	Recommended
soil depth	Recommended	Recommended
bedrock description	Desired	Desired
knots	Desired	Desired
ring count	Essential	Essential
average ring width	Essential	Essential
number of unmeasured innner rings	Essential	Desired
number of unmeasured outer rings	Essential	Desired
missing heartwood rings to pith	Essential	Recommended
missing heartwood rings to pith foundation	Essential	Recommended
number of sapwood rings	Essential	Recommended
last ring under bark	Recommended	Recommended
missing sapwood rings to bark	Recommended	Desired
missing sapwood rings to bark foundation	Recommended	Desired
pith year	Essential	Essential
death year	Essential	Essential

Detrending

Recommendation for detrending of trees records

Question	New datasets	Legacy datasets
software used	Essential	Essential
version used	Essential	Recommended
detrending method name (e.g. polynomial, exponential)	Essential	Essential
method parameters	Essential	Recommended

Stable isotopes

Recommendation for stables isotopes measurements on trees

Question	New datasets	Legacy datasets
whether or not a chronology was established	Essential	Essential
if there is no chronology (or it is floating) how was age established	Essential	Essential
if it is a tropical tree how was the age model established	Essential	Essential
were samples pooled or are samples single ring/single tree measurements	Essential	Essential
what portion of the ring was analyzed	Essential	Essential
whether samples were pre-treated by conversion to alpha cellulose, holo cellulose or left unprocessed	Essential	Essential
pretreatment method	Essential	Essential
analysis date	Recommended	Desired
isotope measured	Essential	Essential
13C data corrected for Seuss effect	Essential	Essential
correction used	Essential	Essential

Chronologies

To know more about the standardization process, check the chronologies working group page.

Absolute chronologies

Lead

Recommendation for chronologies based on lead isotopes

Question	New datasets	Legacy datasets
calculated excess 210Pb values	Essential	Essential
226Ra	Essential	Recommended
total 210Pb	Essential	Essential
salt correction applied	Essential	Recommended
porosity	Recommended	Recommended
depth/position	Essential	Essential
sample thickness	Essential	Essential
core collection date	Essential	Essential
methodology used to calculate age	Essential	Essential

Radiocarbon

Recommendation for chronologies based on radiocarbon

Question	New datasets	Legacy datasets
sample ID	Essential	Essential
type/matrix	Essential	Essential
chemical pretreatment	Recommended	Recommended
analytical method	Essential	Essential
laboratory ID	Essential	Recommended
d13C ratio	Recommended	Recommended
conventional radiocarbon age	Essential	Essential
F14C (13C and background correction applied)	Essential	Recommended
marine reservoir age	Essential	Essential
deltaR value	Essential	Essential
hard/soft water effect	Recommended	Recommended
other corrections	Recommended	Recommended

U series

Recommendation for chronologies based on U-series

Question	New datasets	Legacy datasets
all isotopes ratios and concentrations measured	Essential	Essential
uncertainty for all parameters	Essential	Essential
uncertainty expressed as 2sigma	Essential	Essential
state whether uncertainty on decay constant are included in final estimates	Essential	Essential
sample identifier	Essential	Essential
reference material name	Essential	Essential
reference material descriptions	Essential	Recommended
reference material values	Essential	Essential
decay constant used	Essential	Essential
isotopes in spike	Essential	Recommended
method of spike calibration	Essential	Recommended
method of calibration for all activity or atom ratios reported (e.g. secular equilibirum or gravimetric)	Essential	Essential
activity or atom ratios for 230Th/238U (or 230Th/234U) and 234U/238U	Essential	Essential
230Th/232Th activity or atom ratio	Essential	Essential
calibration model	Essential	Essential
date of analysis or reference age	Recommended	Recommended
concentrations of 238U, 234U, 230Th, 232Th (plus 226Ra and Ba if measured)	Essential	Essential
sample preparation	Essential	Essential
chemical separations	Essential	Recommended
sample preservation	Essential	Recommended
sample mineralogy	Recommended	Recommended
bulk composition and mineral phases (for silicates)	Essential	Recommended

Relative chronologies

Recommendation for relative chronologies

Question	New datasets	Legacy datasets
original measurements	Essential	Essential
alignment target	Essential	Essential
labelling features	Essential	Recommended
method (employed software or manual)	Essential	Essential
flag for mixed chronologies	Essential	Recommended

Software

Recommendation for chronology software

Question	New datasets	Legacy datasets
method (e.g., Bacon, Oxcal, Bchron, BAM...)	Essential	Essential
publication information about the software	Essential	Recommended
code	Desired	Desired
parameters	Recommended	Recommended
ensemble age models if applicable	Recommended	Recommended
ensemble statistics if applicable	Recommended	Desired