Subject: Sources of Meteorological Data FAQ part 2/2 Newsgroups: sci.geo.meteorology,news.answers,sci.answers From: ilana@kiowa.scd.ucar.edu (Ilana Stern) Date: 15 Nov 1994 12:00:14 GMT Archive-name: weather/data/part2 Last-modified: 8 Nov 1994 Recent changes: ==within last two weeks== ==within last four weeks== This is a guide to sources of meteorological, oceanographic, and geophysical data which can be obtained via tape, CD-ROM, and other media. Contents: 1) Overview 2) How to get a current copy of this document 3) CD-ROM source list 4) Data centers Each (major) section has a "Subject:" line, so you can search on the subject title above to find the section quickly. --------------- Subject: Overview This is part 2 of a guide to various sources of meteorological, oceanographic, and geophysical data. Some of these data sets are intended for enjoyment or hobbyist use; other data are more research-oriented. Much of the research data is not free and is not directly available over the network; usually, only information about this data is available, and you must place an order for the actual data. The contents of this series of FAQs are: Part 1: Meteorological data available via the Internet Part 2: Meteorological data available via tape, CD-ROM, and other media The section on mailing lists which used to be included in this FAQ is now a separate FAQ, "Mailing lists and newsgroups for meteorology". This article is copyright (c) 1993 by Ilana Stern. It may be freely distributed for non-commercial purposes only, provided that this copyright notice and the instructions on retrieving a current copy are not removed. The information in this article is provided as-is, with no warranties or assurances as to its accuracy. I prefer that archives maintain current copies, since this information changes rapidly. If you would like to put this article in an archive and want to receive a new copy automatically at every update, please send me email. Corrections, additions, and comments should be sent to Ilana Stern at ilana@ncar.ucar.edu. Please include in your message where you read this document. Note that if I know about it, it's in this document. --------------- Subject: How to get a current copy of this document If you are reading this document after 29 Nov 1994, you are reading an outdated copy. A current copy can be obtained by anonymous FTP to rtfm.mit.edu, from the file weather/data/part2 in the directory /pub/usenet/news.answers. These files are updated every two weeks, when a new copy is posted to sci.geo.meteorology, news.answers, and sci.answers. This document also appears on the mailing lists CLIMLIST and met-stud, which are described in the FAQ, "Mailing Lists for Meteorology". If you can't use FTP, send email to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with send /pub/usenet/news.answers/weather/data/part2 as the only text in the message (leave the subject blank). --------------- Subject: CD-ROM source list 1) Basic information 2) List of CD-ROMs by topic, with summaries A) Weather data B) Research data C) Miscellaneous 1. Basic information CD-ROMs tend to be relatively expensive, but can hold as much as 600 megabytes of data. Prices are current as of October 1991; prices for some discs are not known. Some discs are provided with driving software. Most of the software is for IBM-PC or compatible systems, but some is available for the Macintosh, and, increasingly, for Unix systems. Some of these listings are not for CD-ROMs, but are for floppies or tapes. These are listed here, rather than in the section on data available on other media, because they have been prepared as a package. The research data available on tape is generally copied from a computer archive as requests come in. Commercial sources are flagged as such. Inclusion of a commercial source in this listing does not imply endorsement. 2. List of CD-ROMs by topic, with summaries A. Weather data Climate Change Data ($950, or 595 pounds sterling from UK source): Monthly 5-degree surface temperature anomaly grids 1854-1990, pressure grids 1873-1990. Monthly world temperature data at about 3500 stations and precipitation data at about 6500 stations, for period of record (long). Retrieval and mapping software included, available for various systems. Contact: Dr. Phil Jones, Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ United Kingdom. Distributed in North America by Chadwyck-Healey Inc.,1101 King St, Alexandria, VA 22314. 800/752-0515. World Weather Disc ($295): Monthly temp, precip, pressure, sunshine data for about 2000 world stations for period of record. Daily weather data at hundreds of US stations. Data for some stations on temp, precip, freeze, drought, soil moisture, wind, storms. Frequency and movement of tropical cyclones. Contact: Cliff Mass, Dept. of Atmos. Sci. (AK40), University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195. 206/685-0910. National Climate Info System Volume 1 ($50): Monthly temperature, precipitation, Palmer Hydrological Drought Index for 344 climate divisions of US. Data can be viewed in tabular or graphical format. The disc covers the period 1895-1989 and contains 1032 time-series graphs, 4180 maps, and 5400 frames of video animation. Contact: National Climatic Data Center, Federal Building, Asheville, NC 28801. 704/271-4800, email orders@ncdc.noaa.gov. SAMSON (Solar and Meteorological Surface Observational Network) (3 disks, $100 each): The three CD-ROMs are divided geographically into regions: eastern, central, and western U.S., and contain hourly solar radiation data along with selected meteorological elements for the period 1961-1990. It encompasses 237 NWS stations in the United States, and also includes Guam and Puerto Rico. The dataset includes both observational and modelled data. The hourly solar elements are: Extraterrestrial horizontal and extraterrestrial direct normal radiation; global, diffuse, and direct normal radiation. Meteorological elements are: Total and opaque sky cover, temperature and dew point, relative humidity, pressure, wind direction and speed, visibility, ceiling height, present weather, precipitable water, aerosol optical depth, snow depth, days since last snowfall, and hourly precipitation. Contact: National Climatic Data Center, see above. CLIVUE CD-ROM ($50): The National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) developed a CD-ROM in support of a museum exhibit which traveled across the U.S. The CD contains a 1,500-station subset of NCDC's nearly 8,000 U.S. daily cooperative stations. The user selects a date and area of the U.S. and the CD-ROM database is queried for stations within the specified domain having data. Then, the system displays daily maximum and minimum temperatures, precipitation, and snowfall for the site. Graphs showing 7 years, 21 years, and the full period of record (varies by station) for the station(s) are available. Visual displays allow users to view trends, variability, and extremes. Contact: National Climatic Data Center, see above. International Station Meteorological Climate Summary (ISMCS) 2.0 ($50) This CD released in August 1992 gives detailed climatological summaries for about 980 locations worldwide. These locations include National Weather Service locations, domestic and overseas Navy and Air Force sites, and selected foreign stations. Limited summaries are also given for an additional almost 5,000 worldwide sites. Tabular or statistical data can be exported to a printer or spreadsheet. Also supports limited mouse capability. Contact: National Climatic Data Center, see above. U.S. Navy Marine Climatic Atlas of the World Ver 1.0 ($50): This CD-ROM includes analysis and display software for climatological averages of atmospheric and oceanographic data. The data are summarized with user-defined 1 and 5 degree grid areas covering the global marine environment. The summaries are produced using predominately ship data collected between 1854-1969. The major elements include air and sea temperature, dewpoint temperature, scalar wind speed, sea- level pressure, wave height, wind and ocean- current roses. This CD also allows the user to define element intervals (e.g. 5 to 10 knots, 2 degree temperature intervals). Contouring for explicitly user-defined regions and exporting data to a printer or diskette are supported. Contact: National Climatic Data Center, see above. Meteosat Images on CD-ROM, 1986 to 1991 (price on request): One full-disk infra-red image per day (usually at 12h00 UTC), one visible image on day 1 of each month (at the same time as the infra-red image), one water-vapour image on day 1 of each month of 1991 (at the same time as the infra-red and visible image). Images of the snow storm over the East coast of the USA on 12&13 March 1993 (from meteosat-3 at 75 degrees East). Images of Kuwait during the Gulf war. Full-disk Images taken by Meteosat-3 at 75 degrees East at the beginning of March 1993. Contact: J. Le Ber, Meteosat Data Service, European Space Agency, Robert Bosch Str. 5, D6100 DARMSTADT GERMANY High Resolution Climatology ($199/variable): *COMMERCIAL* (Floppy disk) Average monthly climatological values of maximum temperature, minimum temperature, and precipitation for every 1 square km of the conterminous US for the 30-year periods 1951-1980 and 1961-1990. The data are stored as a rectangular matrix for each state. Digitized state and county political boundaries are included and referenced to the climate data sets. The data are in raster form as ASCII or 16-bit binary integers. This dataset is distributed on 5.25" or 3.5" floppy disks. Contact: ZedX, Inc., P.O. Box 404, Boalsburg, PA 16827-0404. 814/466-2025. US Summary of Day (4 disks, prices vary): *COMMERCIAL* NCDC Summary of Day data, USGS streamflow data, retrieval and analysis software. Contact: Hydrosphere, Inc., 1002 Walnut, Suite 200, Boulder, CO 80302 800/949-4937, 303/443-7839 Atlas of Global Instrumental Climate Data - Version 1.0 ($30): Color-shaded and contoured images of global gridded instrumental data, with each image simultaneously depicting anomaly maps of surface temperature, sea level pressure, and 500 millibar geopotential heights and percentages of reference period precipitation. Monthly, seasonal, and annual composites are available, in either cylindrical equidistant, or northern and southern hemisphere polar projections. Temperature maps are available from 1854 to 1991, precipitation maps from 1851 to 1989, sea level pressure maps from 1899 to 1991, and 500 mb height maps from 1946 to 1991. All images are GIF files (1024 x 822 pixels, 256 color). Shareware for viewing GIF images is also available on the CD-ROM. Contact: Frank Keimig, Department of Geology and Geography, Box 35820, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003-5820. 413/545-0659, email frank@climate1.geo.umass.edu B. Research data NMC gridpoint dataset ($150): Twice daily grids for the Northern Hemisphere at a resolution of about 381 km. Contact: National Center for Atmospheric Research, PO Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307. 303/497-1219, email datahelp@ncar.ucar.edu. National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) discs: Various discs available, including: Gulf of Mexico GLORIA data, Geophysics of North America, global ecosystems, global topography, gravity data, solar activity, and more. A catalog and price list are available via gopher or ftp (see part 1). Contact: NGDC, 325 Broadway E/GC4, Dept. 894, Boulder, CO 80303. 303/497-6958, email info@ngdc.noaa.gov. Global Ocean Temperature and Salinity (2 discs, $80 each or $124/both) Temperature and salinity in the world ocean for about 1900-1990, based on all available XBTs, MBTs, BTs, etc. Contact: National Oceanographic Data Center, NOAA/NESDIS E/OC21, Washington, DC 20235. 202/606-4549. Global Upper Air Climatic Atlas (GUACA) ($200): This two-volume CD-ROM set uses a 12-year (1980-1991) 2.5 degree upper air data base obtained from the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). This CD presents upper air statistics for 15 vertical levels in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere for dry bulb and dewpoint temperature, geopotential height, air density, and vector and scalar wind speed. The disc provides access/display software for gridpoint data, contouring capability for user-defined areas, and vertical profiles. The climatology covers the 12-year period as well as individual year-months. Contact: National Climatic Data Center, Federal Building, Asheville, NC 28801. 704/271-4800, email orders@ncdc.noaa.gov. Radiosonde Data of North America 1946-1992. ($400): Contains all available radiosonde data for North America (U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Caribbean Islands) through the 100-mb level on four disks. Disk periods are 1946-1965, 1966-1979, 1980-1989, and 1990-1992. Data includes significant, mandatory, and special wind levels for all observation times and includes geopotential height, temperature, dew point and wind direction, and scalar speed. The user can select for output to printer, screen, or file, a single station or multiple stations for a defined time period, or all stations within a specified geographic region in either synoptic or station sort. The CD also contains available station metadata. Contact: National Climatic Data Center, see above. Global Tropical and Extratropical Cyclone Climatic Atlas (GTECCA) ($100): This CD-ROM contains all global historic tropical storm track data available for five tropical storm basins. Periods of record varies for each basin, with the beginning as early as the 1870s and with 1992 at the latest year. Northern hemispheric extratropical storm track data will be included from 1965 to 1992. Tropical track data includes time, position, storm stage (maximum wind, central pressure when available). The user can display tracks, track data for any basin or user-selected geographic area, or tracks passing within a user-defined radius of any point. Narratives for all tropical storms for the 1980-1992 period will be included as well as basin-wide tropical storm climatological statistics. Contact: National Climatic Data Center, see above. Global Daily Summary (GDS) ($100): This CD-ROM provides access to a 10,000-station set of daily maximum/minimum temperature, daily precipitation, and 3-hourly present weather for the 1977-1991 period of record. Data can be selected for viewing or output to file for geographic areas or by a predefined user-selected list of stations. The dataset includes element flags for suspected erroneous data. A data inventory contains station name, latitude/longitude, elevation, period of record, and the number of observations of available data. Requires a bare minimum of 4 MB of RAM, with 8MB of RAM recommended for superior performance. Contact: National Climatic Data Center, see above. GALE dataset (price not known): GALE (Genesis of Atlantic Lows), 1/15/86-4/15/86: ship data, raobs, aircraft, radar, etc off N Carolina coast. Available through Dept. of Atmos. Sci. (AK40), University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195. ERICA dataset ($35): ERICA (Experiment on Rapidly Intensifying Cyclones over the Atlantic), 12/1/88-2/26/89: rawinsondes, aircraft, radar, buoys, satellite data, etc. Contact: C. Kreitzberg, Dept. of Physics and Atmospheric Science, Philadelphia, PA 19104. (215) 895-2726, kreitzcw@dunx1.ocs.drexel.edu. GEDEX (Greenhouse Effect Detection Experiment)(price not known): Two discs containing surface, upper air, and/or satellite-derived measurements of temperature, solar irradiance, clouds, greenhouse gases, fluxes, albedo, aerosols, ozone, and water vapor, along with Southern Oscillation Indices and Quasi-Biennial Oscillation statistics. Many of the data sets provide global coverage. The spatial resolutions vary from zonal to 2.5 degree grids. Some surface station data sets span more than 100 years; most satellite-derived sets cover only the past 12 years. Temporal coverage is monthly for most sets. An update will be available by June 1992. Contact: NCDS/Goddard Distributed Active Archive Center, Code 935, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771. 301/286-3209, email NCDSUSO@NSSDCA.GSFC.NASA.GOV. A more complete description of these discs may be obtained from the ncardata.ucar.edu FTP site, in the file "catalogs/nondss/gedex". HCDN (Hydro-climatic data network) streamflow dataset (price not known): Contains dataset, search software, and USGS Open-File Report 92-129 (Slack, J.R., and Landwehr, J.M., 1992, Hydro-climatic data network (HCDN): A U.S. Geological Survey streamflow data set for the United States for the study of climate variations, 1874-1988). Contact: USGS, National Water Data Exchange (NAWDEX), MS 421 - National Center, Reston VA 22092. The principal author of this dataset, James R. Slack, can be reached via email at jrslack@qvarsa.er.usgs.gov. The information on the CD-ROM is also available via anonymous FTP from srv1rvares.er.usgs.gov in the directory "hcdn92". The following 6 discs/disc sets are available from NSIDC User Services, National Snow and Ice Data Center, CIRES - Campus Box 449, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0449. 303/492-6199, FAX 303/492-2468, email: nsidc@kryos.colorado.edu, Omnet: NSIDC. DMSP F8 Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) Brightness Temperature Grids for the Polar Regions (Price on request): 18 CD-ROM discs contain daily gridded brightness temperature (Tb) for the north and south polar regions (areas where sea ice occurs), on polar stereographic grids, 9 July 1987 through 31 December 1991. Each CD-ROM contains approximately 3 months of data. Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) F8 platform carried this first functional SSM/I instrument. The SSM/I is a 7-channel, 4-frequency, linearly polarized, passive microwave radiometric system; channels are 85.5 GHz Vertical/Horizontal, 37.0 GHz Vertical/Horizontal, 22.2 GHz Vertical, 19.3 GHz Vertical/Horizontal. Fortran program provided on diskette to extract single channel from inter-leaved storage format. Images can be displayed using IDL or other Unix or PC software. For 1992 and later data, see DMSP F11 SSM/I Brightness Temperature Grids for the Polar Regions, below. Contact NSIDC, information above. DMSP F8 Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) Sea Ice Concentration Grids for the Polar Regions 1987 - 1991. (Price on request): DMSP F8 SSM/I Ice Concentration Grids for the Polar Regions consist of daily first-year, multi-year, and total ice concentration on 25 x 25 km polar stereographic grids for north and south polar regions. SSM/I sea ice CD-ROMs contain two sets of grids, 1) NASA Team algorithm; 2) J.C. Comiso algorithm. Orbital antenna temperatures are processed to gridded brightness temperatures and then used to derive gridded ice concentrations. The SSM/I sensor flies on U.S. Air Force Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) platforms; the first operational SSM/I (Special Sensor Microwave/Imager) was that on DMSP F8. Two CD-ROMs contain all F8 SSM/I ice concentrations, 9 July 1987 - 31 December 1991. North polar files are 137202 bytes, south polar are 105922 bytes. Data are in HDF format and can be read using software from the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NSCA), available by anonymous ftp from NCSA (ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu) or with commercial packages such as IDL. The SSM/I is a 7-channel, 4-frequency, linearly polarized, passive microwave radiometric system: 85.5 GHz Vertical/Horizontal, 37.0 GHz Vertical/Horizontal, 22.2 GHz Vertical, 19.3 GHz Vertical/Horizontal. DMSP F11 SSM/I ice concentrations for 1992 and later dates will be produced starting in late 1994, after the ice algorithms have been modified for F11 data. Contact NSIDC, information above. DMSP F11 Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) Brightness Temperature Grids for the Polar Regions. (Price on request): CD-ROM discs contain daily gridded brightness temperature (Tb) for the north and south polar regions (areas where sea ice occurs), on polar stereographic grids, beginning on 3 December 1991. Each CD-ROM contains approximately 3 months of data in single-channel files, in HDF (Hierarchical Data Format). As of 8/94, 5 volumes cover 12/91 - 2/93. Inquire for latest available data. Software to read and manipulate the data in HDF is available via ftp from National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA): ftp to ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu; help is available from NCSA at helphdf@ncsa.uiuc.edu. Data can also be displayed and manipulated using commercial packages such as IDL. The Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) F11 platform carries this SSM/I instrument, a 7-channel, 4-frequency, linearly polarized, passive microwave radiometric system; channels are 85.5 GHz Vertical/Horizontal, 37.0 GHz Vertical/Horizontal, 22.2 GHz Vertical, 19.3 GHz Vertical/Horizontal. This product uses the same grid and projection as the NSIDC DMSP F8 SSM/I brightness temperature and sea ice concentration CD-ROMs (1987 - 1991, see above). Contact NSIDC, information above. Nimbus-7 Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR) Polar Radiances and Arctic and Antarctic Sea Ice Concentrations, 1978 - 1987. (Price on request): Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR) Polar Radiances and Sea Ice Concentrations on CD-ROM contain gridded brightness temperatures (Tb) and sea ice concentrations for 10/78 - 8/87 (the life of the Nimbus-7 SMMR scanner) for both polar regions on 12 CD-ROMs. Data were collected at 6.60, 10.69, 18.00, 21.00 and 37.00 GHz in an alternate-day operating pattern due to spacecraft power limitations. [NOTE: Input data set is SMMR TCT tapes; this is different from the previous SMMR CD-ROM product distributed by NSIDC in 1989.] Tb (in Kelvins) and sea ice concentration (in percent) grids have 25 x 25 km grid elements in polar stereographic projection. Volume 7 contains all SMMR sea ice concentrations for both polar regions, plus 5 months of Tb grids for the north polar region. The Tb grids are stored as 16-bit integers; one day of Tb data is 0.27 mbytes for the north polar region, 0.21 mbytes for the south. Ice grids are stored as 8-bit integers, each file = 136192 bytes for the north, 104912 bytes for the south. The NASA Team Algorithm (Cavalieri et al., 1984; Gloersen and Cavalieri, 1986) was used to calculate ice concentrations from the Tbs. Data produced by Dr. P. Gloersen, NASA/GSFC, Oceans and Ice Branch. Documentation is provided on the CD-ROMs, in a hard-copy User's Guide, and in the "SMMR Atlas", NASA Special Report SP-511 (Gloersen, et al., 1992.) Contact NSIDC, information above. Historical Arctic Rawinsonde Archive (HARA), 1947-1987. (Price on request): The Historical Arctic Rawisonde Archive on CD-ROM, volumes 1-3, contains over 1.2 million vertical soundings of temperature, pressure, humidity, and wind, representing all available rawisonde ascents from Arctic land stations poleward of 65 degrees North from the beginning of record through 1987. For most stations the record begins in 1958, a few begin in 1947 or 1948. The data are one file per year per station. Coverage is relatively uniform, except in the interior of Greenland. Typically 20-40 levels are available in each sounding. Documentation is provided on the CD-ROM volumes, and in hard copy (NSIDC Special Report 2, 1992). Software (Fortran and C) is provided on the CD-ROM volumes to retrieve a subset of the sounding data. Data for 1988-1990, and monthly averaged data, will be distributed in late 1994. Sounding data were obtained from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Boulder, Colorado and the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) of NOAA in Asheville, North Carolina. Data from drifting ice islands, ships and aircraft dropsondes are being assembled as a separate archive. Contact NSIDC, information above. Eastern Arctic Ice, Ocean and Atmosphere Data, Volume 1, CEAREX-1 ($50): Contains sea ice acceleration, deformation and stress; hydrography (CTDs); meteorology; bathymetry; acoustics and ambient noise (sample data) from Coordinated Eastern Arctic Experiment (CEAREX). Includes meteorology from Marginal Ice Zone Experiment (MIZEX), 1983, 1984, 1987. Experiment location: Arctic Ocean north of Svalbard; Fram Strait, September 1988 - May 1989. Amount of data: 460 mbytes. Data format: ASCII files. Associated software: none. Additional volumes are planned; content not yet determined. Contact NSIDC, information above. NWS/NOHRSC snow cover data ($50 each year): Airborne snow water equivalent and satellite areal extent of snow cover data for 1990-1993 are now available on CD-ROM for major portions of the U.S., Alaska, and Canada. The CD-ROMs include: (1) airborne snow water equivalent data and the digitized flight line network, (2) calibrated AVHRR and GOES satellite data used to map snow cover, (3) the classified snow cover images (4) national and regional snow cover image products, and (5) ancillary data sets including digital elevation data, digitized NWS basin boundaries, and the alphanumeric results of the satellite snow cover mapping by basin and by elevation zone. Contact: CD-ROM Snow Cover Data, National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center (NOHRSC), Office of Hydrology, National Weather Service, 6301 34th Avenue South: Room 112, Minneapolis, MN 55450-2985. 612/725-3258, FAX 612/725-3338, email tim@snow.nohrsc.nws.gov (Tim Szeliga) STORM-FEST data (3 discs, price unknown): Data from the STORM-FEST experiment -- surface observations and rawinsonde, satellite, radar, NOWRAD, and profiler data -- plus Zeb software for viewing the data. Contact Steve Williams, sfw@ncar.ucar.edu. AVHRR monthly global MCSST / CZCS data (5 discs, price on request) The AVHRR MCSST and CZCS phytoplankton pigment concentration data set contains monthly averaged sea-surface temperatures (day and night) derived from NOAA satellite AVHRR which are temporally and spatially coregistered with phytoplankton pigment concentration data acquired from the CZCS instrument on Nimbus-7. The CZCS data cover 1978-1986 and AVHRR data cover the period from 1981-1986, giving 5 years of coregistered data. Contact: PO.DAAC at JPL. Contact the User Services Office at podaac@podaac.jpl.nasa.gov for more details. TOPEX/Poseidon altimeter merged geophysical data record (Price on request) Global coverage data from the TOPEX/POSEIDON mission from both the U.S. and French altimeters with high precision orbits and environmental corrections. The data are distributed on CD-ROMs (ISO 9660) and in an integer format usable on VAX, UNIX, PCs, and Macs. Each CD-ROM contains two ten-day cycles of data, precision orbit, and cross-over files for each cycle and read software for VAX and UNIX. As of May '94 cycles 1-52 exist on CD-ROM. Contact: PO.DAAC, information above. TOGA related satellite and in-situ data CD-ROM '85-'90. (Price on request). PO.DAAC has produced a set of seven CD-ROMs which contain satellite, in-situ, and model derived data pertaining to atmospheric and oceanographic parameters. Parameters include ocean currents, sea-surface temperature and salinity, air temperature and pressure, cloud, and precipitation. Software will be included. The data have been provided by agencies worldwide. (Available in June '94.) Contact: PO.DAAC, information above. Software atlas and plotting tool for oceanographic sections (diskettes) ATLAST, a PC software atlas and plotting tool for oceanographic sections (Rhines) OCEANATLAS, a Macintosh software atlas and plotting tool for oceanographic sections (Swift et al.) are available on diskettes. Contact: PO.DAAC, information above. TOGA/COARE GMS-4 images (2 discs, $75 for the set): GMS-4 images during the TOGA/COARE Intensive Observation Period (November 1992 to March 1993) regridded over 135E - 175E, 10S - 10N, 5km square pixel size. 1910 infrared and 877 visible images of albedo and brightness temperature with overlays of the geographic grid and the positions of moorings and ships. Images are in compressed PostScript format but tools are included to uncompress and convert the data into other formats. Contact: Satellite Oceanography Laboratory, University of Hawaii, 1000 Pope Road, Honolulu, HI 96822. The check should be made to the order of "RCUH". Surface Radiation Budget (SRB) Global Datasets (price not known): Contains Version 1.1 SRB shortwave products for the period March 1985 through December 1988 as produced by the World Climate Research Programme's (WCRP) SRB Satellite Data Analysis Center (SDAC). Inputs to the Version 1.1 product are results from the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) and the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE). SDAC uses two methods (known as the Pinker and Staylor algorithms) to estimate surface downward and net irradiances, surface albedo, downward direct/diffuse ratio, surface cloud forcing, and daylight cloud fraction. In addition, various other radiation, cloud, meteorological and diagnostic parameters are provided to aid the user in understanding variations in the SRB parameters. The SRB CD-ROM has been formatted and produced to work with IBM PCs, Apple Macintoshes and Unix systems with ISO-9660 CD-ROM driver support. In addition, read and display software for IBM PCs and Apple Macintoshes are available upon request. Contact: Langley DAAC User Services, MS 157B, NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA, 23681-0001. (804)864-8656, userserv@eosdis.larc.nasa.gov United Kindom Digital Marine Atlas V2.0 (UKP56.40): (Floppy disk) This is an IBM compatibile PC based Marine Atlas covering the Northeast Atlantic and mainly centered on the British Isles. It comes on five 1.4MB floppies and runs under DOS (V3.0 or higher). It has several sections covering areas such as general Bathymetry, Marine Geology, Marine and Coastal Nature Conservation in Breat Britain, Marine Biology, Physical Oceanography, Marine Chemistry, Fisheries and the BODC data catalogues amongst others. Contact: UKDMAP Project Manager, British Oceanographic Data Centre, Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory, Bidston Observatory, BIRKENHEAD, Merseyside L43 7RA United Kingdom. +44 51 653 8633, Fax: +44 51 652 3950. C. Miscellaneous NASA discs: Various discs available, including: Voyager spacecraft images (12 discs, under $20 each!), Viking images of Mars, Magellan Venus data, Halley's comet data (25 discs), excerpts from astronomical catalogs, and more. Contact: NSSDC (NASA Space Science Data Center), Code 933.4, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771. 301/286-6695. They also publish a free newsletter. CD-ROM, INC: *COMMERCIAL* Several hundred discs available, including: "GRIPS 2" high resolution images of topography, Landsat, vegetation maps, plus software ($49), "JEDI" 3 discs full of earth, space, and sea science data intended for school use ($31), 13 business/economic discs, >50 literature and entertainment discs, >40 health-related discs, many science discs. Prices range from $29-$895. Free catalog available from them. Contact: CD-ROM, Inc, 1667 Cole Blvd. Suite 400, Golden, CO 80401. 303/526-7600, FAX 303/231-9581. Digital Chart of the World ($200): The Digital Chart of the World (DCW) is a comprehensive 1:1,000,000-scale vector basemap of the world containing cartographic, attribute, and textual data. It is provided with software that permits the database to be accessed, queried, and displayed on PC-class computers. The primary source for the database is the U.S. Defense Mapping Agency (DMA) Operational Navigation Chart (ONC) series. There are 4 discs: (1)North America, (2)Europe/Northern Asia, (3)South American/Africa/Antarctica, and (4)Southern Asia/Australia. The data are organized into 17 thematic coverages, including political boundaries and ocean coast lines, cities, transportation networks, drainage, land cover, and elevation contours. Contact: USGS Open File Section, Box 25286, Denver, CO 80225. 303/236-7476. GOES Space Environment Data (price unknown): This disk includes data from January 1986 - April 1994 in 1-minute and 5-minute averages. Includes measurements of the 3 components of the Earth's magnetic field, whole-sun X-ray fluxes for the 0.5-to-4.0 and 1-to-8 Angstrom wavelength bands, photon, alpha particle, and electron fluxes. The CD-ROM includes software to display and analyze the Space Environment Monitor data. DOS and IDL (Interactive Data Language) versions of the software allow the use of data on many platforms. Contact: Solar-Terrestrial Physics Division, National Geophysical Data Center, NOAA Code E/GC2, 325 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80303. 303/497-6761, fax 303/497-6513, email goes@farpoint.ngdc.noaa.gov. --------------- Subject: Data Centers These sites maintain data archives for use by scientists. Usually, researchers affiliated with a data center can use the data on-site for free, but other researchers who require tapes or other media must pay a small charge for data transfer. Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC): Research and distribution center for data related to carbon dioxide, methane, and other trace gas emissions; the carbon cycle; and other climate-change topics. You can access catalog information by FTP (see part 1). Datasets are available on various media including CD-ROM and magnetic tape. They also publish a free newsletter. Contact: CDIAC, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P. O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6335. 615/574-0390, FAX 615/574-2232, email cdp@stc10.ctd.ornl.gov. Langley Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC): Archive and distribution center for radiation budget, cloud, aerosol, and tropospheric chemistry data. You can access catalog information by telnet (see part 1). Data are available via FTP, tape and CD-ROM. Contact: Langley DAAC, NASA Langley Research Center, MS 157B, Hampton, VA 23681-0001 804/864-8656, FAX 804/864-8807, email userserv@eosdis.larc.nasa.gov. NASA Space Science Data Center (NSSDC): Astronomical and atmospheric data. You can access catalog information by FTP or telnet (see part 1). Contact: NSSDC, Code 933.4, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771. 301/286-6695. National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR): Over 400 datasets available to the research community on various media. You can access catalog information by FTP (see part 1). Contact: NCAR Data Support Section, PO Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307. 303/497-1219, FAX 303/497-1137, email datahelp@ncar.ucar.edu. (DISCLAIMER: NCAR is a non-profit government organization operated by UCAR under a grant from the NSF. Our charges reflect the actual cost of data retrieval and magnetic media. I receive no benefit from you ordering data. Please, research-related inquiries only.) National Climatic Data Center (NCDC): NCDC, Federal Building, Asheville, NC 28801. 704/271-4800, FAX 704/271-4876, email orders@ncdc.noaa.gov. National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC): NGDC, 325 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80303. 303/497-6958, info@ngdc.noaa.gov. United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)/Global Resource Information Database (GRID): Digital environmental data and information related to the Earth's surface, oceans and atmosphere, free of charge to non-commercial users. Typical global data sets include elevation, hydrology, soils, life zones, vegetation, wetlands, climate, natural/physical boundaries, earthquake hazards, vegetation index (NOAA/GVI), human population etc. For a free catalog of global datasets, contact: Facility Manager, UNEP/GRID-Geneva, 6 rue de la Gabelle, CH-1227 Carouge, Geneva SWITZERLAND. (0041-22) 343-8660, FAX (0041-22) 343-8862, email POSTMAN@grid.unige.ch or POSTMAN@CGEGRD11.BITNET. For a free catalog of datasets for Africa and Latin America, contact: Facility Manager, UNEP/GRID-Nairobi, P. O. Box 30552, Nairobi, KENYA. (00254-2) 230-800, FAX (00254-2) 226-491. -- /\ There is no doubt in my mind that there is a connection between alien \_][ visitation and excessive consumption of bad coffee -- colin newell \___http://www.ucar.edu/dss/ilana.html_______________ilana@ncar.ucar.edu