Data for the glacier snow densities was submitted by Andrew G. Fountain to the data manager in August, 1997. The column showing "file name" identifies the original file containing that record.
These are provenance ascii text files and can be found by the McMurdo LTER data manager's office.
Once submitted, the data manager used Microsoft Excel, Access or/and Toad for Oracle software to produce files that were in more of a relational mode.
In March, 2000, Thomas Nylen submitted data from the 1997-98, 1998-99 and 1999-2000 seasons. Instead of lumping all of the snow density values for each glacier under one file, they were
separated into files for each glacier. Metadata fields were also completed at this time.
In April, 2000, Denise Steigerwald added fields for dataset code and glstkid. Dataset code would allow the data to be linked to the metadata in a relational database. Glstkid is a code that ties stake records to points on a GIS base map being developed by Michael Prentice at the University of New Hampshire.
In 2006, Chris Gardner and Inigo San Gil standardized the metadata using the EML format. In addition, metadata was distributed at the LTER Metadata catalogs and Federal metadata clearinghouses.
In 2014, metadata was revamped by Inigo San Gil, using the Drupal Ecological Information Management System (DEIMS)
Metadata completed in 2016