Are you planning to share your data with other investigators or submit data to an archive for public distribution? If so, we suggest that you look at the ORNL DAAC's Best Practices for Preparing Environmental Data Sets to Share and Archive.
At the request of data providers, the ORNL NASA DAAC has updated guidance (earlier version published in 2000) so that all data products will meet basic standards before they are archived or distributed.
Guidance is provided for essential information such as documentation, metadata, file names, and file formats. This information will allow users to understand the contents and readily use the data.
To learn more, visit http://www.daac.ornl.gov/PI/pi_info.html.