Noting data below MDL within data file

[dylanporyan]

Submitter: Dylan O'Ryan (ESS-DIVE)

I suggest the following changes:

Currently within the RF (water-soil-sediment chemistry) documentation, there is not recommendation on how to note data that is below MDL (method detection limit). In the data file example (Data File instructions, Figure 3), data below MDL is noted with "-9999" within the variable field and a note is added stating this is "below detection limit". It seems that -9999 should be used to note where there is no numerical value (e.g., a broken sample during transport) not data below MDL, since a measurement was conducted.

Additionally, "<MDL" may be entered within the cell, however this would break parsing as this would be considered a text field.

To ensure a consistent method of noting data below MDL, there are some possible recommendations/options available (where MDL is a numerical value):

1. MDL
2. MDL/2
3. MDL/sqrt

Next Steps: ESS-DIVE team will discuss on what is the preferred method of noting data below MDL