Free and Open Exchange of Environmental Data (Adopted by AMS
Council on 13 January 2002) Bull. Amer. Met.Soc., 83 Publicly
financed environmental data should be regarded as a public good
and made publicly available at costs commensurate with
replication and transmission. Where practical, these data should
be provided free of cost, and no limits should be placed on
their redistribution. The existence of privately funded
compilations of publicly financed data should not preclude open
public access to the original data; nor should it preclude the
creation of publicly financed and publicly accessible
compilations of the data. Principal investigators should make
publicly financed research data publicly available at minimal
cost and as soon as feasible. Arrangements for the exclusive use
of datasets by the principal investigators for some period of
time (preferably as short as possible) should be negotiated with
the funding agency or agencies. In circumstances in which
environmental data are acquired or generated t