C O N T E N T S
0. Introduction
I. Data available over the Internet
II. CD-ROM source list
III. Research data on tape and other media
IV. Weather-related mailing lists
This is a guide to various sources of meteorological, oceanographic,
and geophysical data. Some of these data types are intended for enjoyment
or hobbyist use; other data are more research-oriented. Much of the
research data is not free.
If you are reading this document after 20 Jul 1993, you are reading an
outdated copy. A current copy can be obtained by anonymous FTP to
rtfm.mit.edu, from the (compressed) file weather-data.Z in the
directory /pub/usenet/news.answers. A current copy is also maintained in
vmd.cso.uiuc.edu in the file wx/sources.doc. These files are updated every
two weeks, when a new copy is posted to sci.geo.meteorology, news.answers,
and sci.answers.
If you can't use FTP, send email to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with
send usenet/news.answers/weather-data
as the only text in the message (leave the subject blank).
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.
This article is copyright (c) 1993 by Ilana Stern. It may be freely
distributed provided that this copyright notice and the above information
on retrieving a current copy are not removed. 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.
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Subject: Data available over the Internet
Copyright (c) 1993 by Ilana Stern.
C O N T E N T S
1. How to use anonymous FTP
2. How to use telnet
3. Index of FTP and Telnet sites by topic
A. Current weather images via FTP
B. Current weather data via telnet
C. Meteorological, oceanographic, and geophysical research data
D. Other satellite images
E. Map data
F. Other stuff
G. Special images (may be transient)
4. Alphabetical list of FTP, and Telnet sites, with information
5. Weather and other meteorological data via Gopher
6. Weather and other meteorological data via WAIS
7. Weather and other meteorological data via AFS (Andrew File System)
1. How to use anonymous FTP
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) allows transfer of files between two computers
which are on the Internet. To access the FTP areas listed here, at your
system prompt type "ftp" followed by the name or IP number (the number
in brackets next to the system name in the listing below) of the desired
system. For example, to access vmd.cso.uiuc.edu you'd type
ftp vmd.cso.uiuc.edu
or
ftp 128.174.5.98
Use "anonymous" as your login and your email address as the password (if
requested).
[Note: quotes ("like this") are used to set off names of directories and
files, or commands you'd type, and are not part of these names.]
Not all FTP systems accept the same commands, but here's a list of the
most useful:
ls list files in the current directory.
cd change directory, e.g. "cd wx" changes to the wx directory.
binary sets binary mode; USE THIS FOR RETRIEVING IMAGES!
ascii sets ascii mode (the default). Use for retrieving text.
get retrieves a file, e.g. "get readme" gets a file called readme.
bye exits FTP.
If you can't seem to connect to the site, re-check its description
in the document; on the line with the site name it will tell you whether
it is an FTP site or a Telnet site. If it's a Telnet site, follow the
instructions in the following section instead.
If you can't FTP from your site, use one of the following ftp-by-mail servers:
ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com ftpmail@src.doc.ic.ac.uk
ftpmail@cs.uow.edu.au ftpmail@grasp1.univ-lyon1.fr
Send an e-mail message to the closest address, with the lines:
reply your_address@some.where <- replace with your real email address
connect vmd.cso.uiuc.edu <- for example
cd wx
binary
get SA060900.GIF
quit
For complete instructions, send a one-line message reading "help" to the
server. Please don't ask me for help!
2. How to use telnet
Type "telnet" followed by the name or IP number (the number in brackets next
to the system name in the listing below) of the desired system. These
publicly accessible systems generally allow you to log in but put you in
a restricted shell, from which only a certain menu of commands is available.
The description for the site will include the login to use.
If you can't seem to connect to the site, re-check its description in the
document; on the line with the site name it will tell you whether it is an
FTP site or a Telnet site. If it's an FTP site, follow the instructions in
the previous section instead.
3. Index of FTP and Telnet sites by topic
This index lists the names of FTP and Telnet sites of interest, with only
a brief blurb as to their contents. Section 4 gives more information about
each of these sites. Some sites appear more than once under different
subject headings. Some sites have identical contents; please use the
site closest to you.
A. Current weather images
134.36.22.11 NOAA AVHRR images of Europe
ats.orst.edu GOES vis/IR images of North, Central America
boa.gsfc.nasa.gov GMS vis/IR images
cumulus.met.ed.ac.uk Meteosat vis/IR images of Europe
explorer.arc.nasa.gov GMS vis/IR images
ftp.fu-berlin.de Meteosat vis/IR images of Europe
ftp.netsys.com Full-disk GOES images of Pacific
liasun3.epfl.ch Meteosat vis/IR images of Europe
marlin.jcu.edu.au GMS-4 images of Australia, TOGA/COARE area
plaza.aarnet.edu.au GMS vis/IR images
satftp.soest.hawaii.edu SST data from AVHRR on NOAA-11, NOAA-12
spot.colorado.edu Surface maps, radar summaries, vis/ir US
unidata.ucar.edu Surface maps (US, Europe, China), soundings
uriacc.uri.edu NOAA-11 images of the northeast US
vmd.cso.uiuc.edu GOES-7 vis/IR images, surface analyses over US
wilbur.stanford.edu Meteosat vis/IR images of Europe, vis/ir US
B. Current weather data
ats.orst.edu Some US city and Oregon weather forecasts
hermes.merit.edu US/Canada weather forecasts, global reports
downwind.sprl.umich.edu 3000 US/Canada weather forecasts, global reports
ncardata.ucar.edu Colorado weather forecasts
tortel.dcc.uchile.cl Chilean weather forecasts (in Spanish)
C. Meteorological, oceanographic, and geophysical research data
cdiac.esd.ornl.gov Info on climate change topics
delocn.udel.edu Info on ocean data available from many sources
eosdis.larc.nasa.gov Info on datasets available from EOSDIS
glis.cr.usgs.gov Info on datasets available from USGS
hurricane.ncdc.noaa.gov Info on datasets available from NCDC
nasagiss.giss.nasa.gov Cloud, SST, surface T, vegetation data
ncardata.ucar.edu Info on datasets available from NCAR
nodc.nodc.noaa.gov Info on datasets, satellites, sensors
nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov Info on datasets available from NSSDC
storm.ofps.ucar.edu STORM-FEST data
D. Other satellite images
ames.arc.nasa.gov Various earth-from-space images
explorer.arc.nasa.gov Viking, Magellan, Voyager images from CD-ROMs
sanddunes.scd.ucar.edu AVHRR images of USA via telnet
snow.nohrsc.nws.gov Snow cover maps of US from GOES
sseop.jsc.nasa.gov Pictures taken from the space shuttle
E. Map data
csn.org Mapping software and datasets
hanauma.stanford.edu CIA World Bank database, 0.5 deg elev dataset
ncardata.ucar.edu Elevation data
spectrum.xerox.com Various USGS data
F. Other stuff
archive.afit.af.mil NORAD "Two-line Element"(TLE) for NOAA sats
csn.org Information on other Internet resources
cumulus.met.ed.ac.uk Software for computer-aided learning (CALMET)
delocn.udel.edu Software for oceanographic computations
ftp.met.fsu.edu Data analysis software, Internet resource info
ncardata.ucar.edu Script to retrieve vmd.cso.uiuc.edu GIFs
vmd.cso.uiuc.edu Documents on weather-related topics
G. Special images/data
ftp.met.fsu.edu Hurricane Andrew images
earthsun.umd.edu East Coast blizzard movie
spot.colorado.edu Hurricane Andrew images
sumex-aim.stanford.edu East Coast blizzard movie
unidata.ucar.edu Hurricane Hugo images
hurricane.ncdc.noaa.gov Data from East Coast blizzard
4. Alphabetical list of FTP and Telnet sites, with information
This section provides expanded listings of the sites in the previous
section. Remember to set the transfer type to "binary" when retrieving
images!
134.36.22.11 (FTP)
Dundee University archive; Sun raster images, plus PC display software.
Data for the past few years is archived. For information contact
Alan Muir (asm@ua.ndu.ac.uk).
archive.afit.af.mil (FTP)
NORAD "Two-line Element"(TLE) data for the NOAA satellites series
in directory " pub/space".
ames.arc.nasa.gov [128.102.18.3] (FTP)
Change directory to "SPACE/CDROM". Images from Magellan and Viking
missions, other stuff.
ats.orst.edu [128.193.120.19] (FTP)
GOES IR and VIS images over North and Central America, plus a "floater"
image which "could be anything." Also Oregon and US city forecasts.
boa.gsfc.nasa.gov [128.183.93.16] (FTP)
Same GMS images as explorer.arc.nasa.gov; this site should be used by
East Coast and European sites.
cdiac.esd.ornl.gov [128.219.24.36] (FTP)
Contains data and information on general and technical aspects of
carbon dioxide, methane, and other trace gas emissions; the carbon cycle;
and other climate-change topics from CDIAC (the Carbon Dioxide Information
Analysis Center, address in section 3). The data for CDIAC's "Trends 91:
A Compendium of Data on Global Change" is also available here. (Contact
CDIAC at cdp@stc10.ctd.ornl.gov to obtain a copy of the book.)
csn.org [128.138.213.21] (FTP)
Change directory to "COGS". A large file containing detailed information
on FTP sites, Bitnet and Usenet discussion groups, and data sources is
located in the file "internet.resources.earth.sci". This file contains
more information on mapping, GIS, remote sensing, and geology, subjects
which are mostly outside the scope of this meteorology-oriented FAQ. Mapping
software and datasets are also available in this directory. Contact
bthoen@csn.org (Bill Thoen) for more information.
cumulus.met.ed.ac.uk [129.215.168.19] (FTP)
Change directory to "images". IR and visible images of Europe from
Meteosat, twice daily, in 1152 x 900 GIF format (size of Sun root window).
The subdirectory "gifs" has smaller 3x daily images of the Nordic areas,
the UK, and Europe.
The directory "calmet" contains software and documents in support of
computer-aided learning in meteorology; it is associated with the CALMET
mailing list described in section IV of this document. The file
"intro_to_calmet" in the "documents" subdirectory describes how to find
what's available.
delocn.udel.edu [128.175.24.1] (FTP or Telnet)
Programs to do various oceanographic computations, information about
ocean-related data from various sources, other oceanography information.
Inquiries and calls for help can be addressed to walt@delocn.udel.edu.
Can be accessed via either FTP or Telnet; note that there are DIFFERENT
LOGIN NAMES depending on your access method:
FTP: Login as "anonymous" and enter your username as a password.
Telnet: Use "info" as a login. Menu-driven system.
downwind.sprl.umich.edu 3000 [141.212.196.177] (Telnet)
Include the "3000" when connecting to the machine. This is a menu driven
system which has a large variety of information, including US and Canadian
weather forecasts, ski conditions, earthquake reports, severe weather
reports, and current weather conditions for some international cities.
earthsun.umd.edu [132.178.15.9] (FTP)
Change directory to "/JEI/GOES". 48-hour sequence derived from
GOES IR images is in the file "storm.zip" which was compressed with
PKZIP 2.04. It is a 640x480 .FLC file and thus requires either running the
sequence on a UNIX box or on a DOS machine with a SVGA card that is
moderately VESA compatible with 512K RAM. PLAY79.EXE (for DOS) is
available on the same site; xanim (for Unix) is available from
cs.orst.edu (/pub/src/printers/xanim/xanim.tar.Z) and other sites.
(For more info contact Christopher Keane, keane@earthsun.umd.edu.)
eosdis.larc.nasa.gov [192.107.191.17] (Telnet)
The Langley Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) archives and
distributes Radiation Budget, Cloud, Aerosol, and Tropospheric Chemistry
Data to the general science community. Data are available via FTP, tape
and CD-ROM. Users can use telnet to the DAAC IMS (Information Management
System) to place an order. The IMS features a graphical user interface,
so you must have an X window or Sun OpenWindows display. (You can contact
DAAC by telephone or email as well -- see section III.)
Use 'ims' as the login and 'larcims' as the password. For more
information contact Sue Sorlie (userserv@eosdis.larc.nasa.gov).
explorer.arc.nasa.gov [128.102.32.18] (FTP)
Visible and IR hourly GMS images in gif format (neat pictures, may be
enhanced), and in hdf format (raw, intended for research), in the directory
"pub/Weather/gms". Resolution is 5 km so images are 2-3 MB in size.
Also contains Viking, Magellan, and Voyager data from CD-ROM in the
directory "cdrom". For more information contact medin@cincsac.arc.nasa.gov
(Milo S. Medin).
This site is for users "near" California; East Coast US and European
sites should connect instead to boa.gsfc.nasa.gov, and Australian sites
should use plaza.aarnet.edu.au.
ftp.fu-berlin.de [130.133.4.50] (FTP)
Change directory to "pub/science/meteorology/meteosat-pictures" for
GIFs of Meteosat images, IR and visible, over Europe and the North Atlantic.
One day of data is kept and updated every 6 hours. For more information
contact dennis@metw3.met.fu-berlin.de (Dennis Schulze).
ftp.met.fsu.edu [128.186.5.56] (FTP)
This FTP site at Florida State University is mostly a repository for
public domain software and shareware that is useful to atmospheric
scientists. There are also Hurricane Andrew images in the directory
"/pub/hurricane_Andrew". The file "internet.tex" in the "docs" directory
contains an article by Jon Ahlquist about Internet resources for atmospheric
scientists; this was published in the March 1993 Bulletin of the AMS,
but the on-line version will be updated from time to time. For more
information contact ahlquist@met.fsu.edu.
ftp.netsys.com (FTP)
Full-disk GOES images in Sun rasterfile format. Current pictures
are in the directory "pub/images"; older pictures and more information
are in "pub/west". Contact steve@netsys.com (Steve Eigsti) for info.
glis.cr.usgs.gov [152.61.192.54] (Telnet)
This is a menu driven system (Global Land Information System) which allows
users to search a list of research datasets available from the EROS Data
Center at USGS, and order data if desired. Most of the data are ecosystem
maps and elevation/depth maps.
hanauma.stanford.edu [36.51.0.16] (FTP)
The CIA World Bank database contains coastlines, rivers and political
boundaries. An 0.5 degree elevation dataset is also there. A program for
decoding the CIA data can be found as "mfil" on pi1.arc.umn.edu
[137.66.130.11] (Info from ken@msc.edu)
hermes.merit.edu [35.1.48.150] (Telnet)
Type um-weather at the "Which Host?" prompt and use menus.
(Connects to downwind.sprl.umich.edu)
hurricane.ncdc.noaa.gov [192.67.134.72] (FTP)
Information on datasets available from NCDC (the National Climatic Data
Center) in "/pub/upload/inventories". These are inventories of the contents
of various datasets. If you find this information useful, please send
email to tross@ncdc.noaa.gov, as NCDC wants to evaluate this service.
If you wish to order data after browsing this information, contact
their customer service department at 704-259-0682.
Also available in the directory "/pub/upload/blizzard" is a file
"storm.txt" containing observations from the 1993 "Storm of the Century."
liasun3.epfl.ch (FTP)
Change directory to "pub/weather". IR and visible images of Europe
from Meteosat, in GIF format. It appears that this site contains
the same images as cumulus.met.ed.ac.uk.
marlin.jcu.edu.au [137.219.16.14] (FTP)
Change directory to "JCUMetSat". GMS-4 images updated regularly for
various Australian states, Australia as a whole, the globe, the TOGA/COARE
area, and events of interest such as cyclones. The images are in a format
designed for the package JCUMetSat on Amiga computers, but can be converted
to GIF format using the ALCHEMY software (shareware) available at this site.
(More information on the format and images can be obtained from Professor
C.J. Kikkert, eecjk@marlin.jcu.edu.au.)
nasagiss.giss.nasa.gov [192.42.70.2] (FTP)
Various monthly mean data files, including ISCCP C2 cloud data, surface
temperature anomalies, grids of various variables used in the GCM II
(General Circ. Model). Also various maps of vegetation indices, cultivation
indices, wetland ecosystems. The file "GISS.HELP" contains an index
to the contents of this FTP area. Contact giss@nasagiss.giss.nasa.gov
for help or more information. (Note: you will be asked for a password --
just enter your email address.)
ncardata.ucar.edu [128.117.8.111] (FTP)
Information on datasets available from NCAR (the National Center for
Atmospheric Research), and a few small datasets. If you would like to
order data after browsing this information, email to datahelp@ncar.ucar.edu.
Small datasets can be provided by FTP; we also write various kinds of tapes.
See the README file.
A shell archive containing scripts to retrieve GIFs from vmd.cso.uiuc.edu,
get_gifs, is located in the "weather" subdirectory. This subdirectory also
contains Colorado weather and ski reports.
A few special datasets are located in the FTP area, and are free. They
are described in the file "pricing". These include a 1 deg resolution
elevation dataset, a continental outline dataset, and a list of all WMO
stations with latitude, longitude, and elevation.
nodc.nodc.noaa.gov [140.90.235.10] (Telnet)
Login as "NOAADIR". Menu-driven system will let you select datasets
from various government sources according to search parameters, and will
give you contact addresses and other information on them. You can also
get information about satellites, sensors, and research experiments.
nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov (FTP or Telnet)
Telnet: The National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) On-Line Data and
Information Service (NODIS) is a menu-driven interactive system which provides
information on services and data supported by NSSDC. Login as NSSDC. Some
topics: Nimbus-7 GRID TOMS Data, Geophysical Models, Standards and
Technology Information System.
FTP: some information and actual data is also available via anonymous FTP.
plaza.aarnet.edu.au [139.130.4.6] (FTP)
Same GMS images as explorer.arc.nasa.gov; this site should be used by
Australian sites only.
sanddunes.scd.ucar.edu (Telnet)
AVHRR (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer) images from 1989 through
7 Jan 1992 cover CO, WY, KS, NE, and NM, as well as parts of AZ, UT, OK,
and TX. Since 7 Jan 1992, coverage includes these plus CA, OR, NV, WA,
and MT, to 1000 km off Pacific coast. Total coverage of US for 1989-present
will be available soon. West coast data from 1980-1985 will be available
some time this year.
Images are 1024 lines x 1024 elements before 7 Jan 1992, 2560 lines x
1024 elements after. Images are 1 km resolution and 8-bit format.
Contact Tim Kelley by email kelley@sanddunes.scd.ucar.edu or telephone
303/497-1221 for login, password, and manual. Service is free to Internet
users and is funded by NASA.
satftp.soest.hawaii.edu [128.171.154.121] (FTP)
Sea-Surface-Temperature data (near-real-time) in the directory
"pub/avhrr/images". AVHRR images within the radius of reception of the
university's HRPT station, approximately 5 S to 45 N and 125 W to 165 E,
as well as others world-wide (covering all of the US coastline at the time
of writing, subject to being discontinued). The processed images are
available usually within 30 min. of NOAA-11 and NOAA-12 passages. GMS
images of the full GMS coverage area are available in /pub/GMS. Data are
compressed binary in TDF format as well as PostScript images labelled by
satellite name (n11/n12/g4) and time. More info available from
sat_lab@soest.hawaii.edu.
snow.nohrsc.nws.gov [192.46.108.1] (FTP)
Various snow-related images in GIF format. US snow cover map updated
weekly. JPEG of current AVHRR images. This site will be operational
for the 1993 snow season from in December 1992 through June 1993.
Contact tim@snow.nohrsc.nws.gov (Tim Szeliga) for more info.
spectrum.xerox.com [192.70.225.78] (FTP)
Various USGS data in subdirectories under the directory "pub/map".
spot.colorado.edu [128.138.129.2] (FTP)
Change directory to "pub/weather-images". Weather radar summary map
GIFS and PICT files, surface maps, satellite images for several US cities
and regions. Also images and other stuff for Andrew in the subdirectory
"hurricane.andrew".
sseop.jsc.nasa.gov [146.154.11.34] (FTP)
Many pictures taken from the space shuttle. Files are in a 512x512
format as red, green, and blue bitmaps. Image files are binary format,
and have .DAT as an extension.
storm.ofps.ucar.edu [128.117.90.53] (Telnet)
Hourly and 5-minute composite surface observations, and composite
rawinsonde soundings, from STORM-FEST. Log in as "storm" with
the password "research" to access a menu-driven system which will allow
you to search for the data you want.
(Contact Mark Bradford, bradfrd2@ncar.ucar.edu if you have questions.)
sumex-aim.stanford.edu
Quicktime (for Macintosh) movie of "Blizzard of 93" in the file
/pub/info-mac/art/qt/blizzard-of-93.hqx. (Binhexed file.)
tortel.dcc.uchile.cl [146.83.4.40] (Telnet)
Weather forecasts for Chile, in Spanish. This is a gopher server;
log in as "gopher" (no password) and choose the menu items "Servicios
Miscelaneos", then "Pronosticos Meteorologicos", and then "Informe Diario
Direccion Meteorologica de Chile".
unidata.ucar.edu [128.117.140.3] (FTP)
Change directory to "images". Weather radar summary map GIFS, surface maps
for various places, a few soundings on skew-t log-p diagrams, GOES Hugo images
(in subdirectory "images/hugo"). Surface maps include Europe and China.
uriacc.uri.edu [131.128.1.1] (FTP)
Change directory to "davet.195". Images of the northeast US in GIF format
from the afternoon passes of NOAA-11. (Provided by Dave Tetreault,
DAVET@uriacc.uri.edu.)
vmd.cso.uiuc.edu [128.174.5.98] (FTP)
Change directory to "wx". GOES-7 visible and IR images over the US and
Mexico, and surface analyses over the US, are available in GIF format. A
script to retrieve GIFs automatically is available from the ncardata.ucar.edu
FTP area.
Also available in this directory are many useful documents, including
SPOTFREQ.DOC and CHASE-TV.DOC, lists of ham radio frequencies and TV
stations which carry useful info for storm chasers, WX-PUBS.DOC, which is
a list of weather-related publications, WX-TALK.DOC, which gives information
on the WX-**** mailing lists, and many others. Contact Chris Hayes Novy
(Chris@skywarn.c-lib.siu.edu).
wilbur.stanford.edu [36.14.0.30] (FTP)
Change directory to "pub/weathergifs". IR and visible images of Europe
from Meteosat, in GIF format. It appears that this site contains
the same images as cumulus.met.ed.ac.uk. Also has satellite images of
US.
5. Weather and other meteorological data via Gopher
Gopher is a utility program which finds and retrieves information
over the network. It uses FTP, telnet, and other tools, but all you
interact with is a simple menu system. You can either run your own
gopher client program (you can get this free software by ftp to
boombox.micro.umn.edu [134.84.132.2] in the directory pub/gopher) or
you can telnet to a public gopher client and connect to other gopher
servers through it.
To connect using your own client, just type "gopher" followed by the name
or IP number of the system you wish to connect to. You can telnet or
rlogin to a public gopher client instead; here's a list from the
alt.gopher FAQ:
machine IP login as where
consultant.micro.umn.edu 134.84.132.4 gopher North America
gopher.uiuc.edu 128.174.33.160 gopher North America
gopher.sunet.se 192.36.125.2 gopher Europe
info.anu.edu.au 150.203.84.20 info Australia
gopher.chalmers.se 129.16.221.40 gopher Sweden
tolten.puc.cl 146.155.1.16 gopher South America
Through gopher, you can connect to other gopher servers all over the
world. Many gopher servers, particularly at US Universities, have
local weather reports as one of the menu items. There are also some
gopher servers dedicated to weather information, which you can reach
either directly or through the public clients listed above using the
menu item "Other Gopher and Information Servers":
UofI Weather Machine:
wx.atmos.uiuc.edu port 70 [128.174.80.10] (Gopher)
The UofI Weather Machine has forecasts, images, surface and upper-air
weather, local (Illinois) weather, and various useful documents, including
GRIB and ON84 format descriptions, station lists, graphics information, etc.
Questions, comments, and requests for changes should be sent to
gopher@wx.atmos.uiuc.edu.
CIESIN-NASA-EOS Global Change Information Network:
flubber.ciesin.org [160.39.1.202] (Gopher)
This gopher server has some papers on global change (not many yet).
Under the "Environmental Internet Catalog" there are resources
under various useful topics, particularly under "Earth Science",
"Ecology and the Environment", and "Weather and Meteorology".
It allows gopher access to some of the FTP and telnet resources described
in this document. Comments should be sent to CIESIN.Info@ciesin.org.
MN Climatology Working Group:
nx1.soils.umn.edu port 70 [128.101.77.165] (Gopher)
How to connect via PeachNet Information Service: Under the menu
"General Information Services" there is an entry for the Univ. of
MN Soils Sciences Dept. Selecting this item will give you several
options, including "MN Climatology Working Group". This directory
contains lots of files with climate data for Minnesota, mostly
obscurely named. Comments and questions to gopher-admin@soils.umn.edu.
This source is in the process of becoming a full-fledged project;
the name of the machine will soon be changed to gopher.soils.umn.edu,
the filenames will be modified to something more useful, more
real data will be added, and the gopher information will be propagated
to other machines. Watch this space.
Universidad de Chile:
tortel.dcc.uchile.cl [146.83.4.40] (Gopher)
You can also connect via telnet, using the login "gopher". Chilean
weather forecasts and information (in Spanish) is available; choose
"Servicios Miscelaneos", then "Pronosticos Meteorologicos", then
"Informe Diario Direccion Meteorologica de Chile".
Free University of Berlin:
gopher.fu-berlin.de port 70 (Gopher)
Select "Das Wetter in und um Berlin". Meteosat pictures of Europe and
the Northern Atlantic, visible and infrared, updated every six hours are
under "Meteosat-Bilder"; current weather observations are under "Die
Beobachtung"; forecast for the Berlin area is under "Die Vorhersage".
6. Weather and other meteorological data via WAIS
WAIS is a tool similar to Gopher which searches through indexed databases
to find items containing keywords which are specified by the user. As
with Gopher, either you need to have wais running on your system, or
you need to use a publicly-accessible wais client. Some Gopher clients
allow WAIS searches. A public-access wais client you can rlogin or
telnet to using 'wais' as a login is quake.think.com [192.31.181.1].
Here are some sources that may be of use:
DOE_Climate_Data.src:
ridgisd.er.usgs.gov [130.11.48.107] (WAIS)
Service: 210 Database: /usr/opt/wais/db/DOE_Climate_Data
Contains information about various climate data sets. The maintainer
is tgauslin@ridgisd.er.usgs.gov.
NOAA_National_Environmental_Referral_Service.src:
ridgisd.er.usgs.gov [130.11.48.107] (WAIS)
Service: 210 Database: /usr/opt/wais/db/nedres
midwest-weather.src:
wais.cic.net [192.131.22.3] (WAIS)
Service: 210 Database: midwest-weather
National Weather Service forecasts for midwest U.S. states, updated
hourly from the `gopher' weather server at the U of Minnesota by emv@cic.net.
weather.src:
quake.think.com [192.31.181.1] (WAIS)
Service: 210 Database: weather
This is the WEATHER server, brought to you courtesy of the WAIS folks
from Thinking Machines, and the weather folks at VMD.CSO.UIUC.EDU and the
University of Michigan.
Currently you'll get the best results by asking this server for 'weather'.
The returned list of files should include this file, as well as the day's
satellite weather maps. You might want to refine your search by including
"gif" if you'd rather get the maps, or "txt" if you want the textual
weather forecasts. You can try by city name, too. Comments to
weather-server@quake.think.com.
7. Weather and other meteorological data via AFS (Andrew File System)
If your site uses AFS, you can change directory to these directories
and retrieve these files. Please don't ask me about AFS, because I
don't use it.
/afs/sites/athena.mit.edu/project/weather (AFS)
Contains images from vmd.cso.uiuc.edu and from wx.atmos.uiuc.edu in
various subdirectories (SATELLITE, SURFACE, etc.). The most recent images
are flagged with the name 'latest' so you can easily find them. There's
also an animation program. Contact ericldab@athena.mit.edu for more info.
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Subject: CD-ROM source list
Copyright (c) 1993 by Ilana Stern.
C O N T E N T S
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 ($50):
Monthly temperature, precipitation, Palmer drought index data for 344
climate divisions of US. Data can be viewed in tabular or graphical format.
Contact: National Climatic Data Center, Federal Building, Asheville, NC
28801. 704/259-0682.
Meteosat Images on CD-ROM, 1986 to 1991 (price unknown):
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.
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: ice and snow coverage, ocean sediment
drilling data, ionospheric vertical soundings ($100), solar variability
(sunspots, magnetic field data, flares, tree-ring data -- $100), geophysics
of North America (earthquake data, magnetic fields, topography, gravity,
geopolitical info -- $600), and more.
Contact: NGDC, 325 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80303. 303/497-6958.
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. 202/673-5549.
GALE and ERICA datasets (2 discs, price not known):
GALE (Genesis of Atlantic Lows), 1/15/86-4/15/86: ship data, raobs,
aircraft, radar, etc off N Carolina coast. 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,
Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104.
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".
DMSP SSM/I Brightness Temperature Grids for the Polar Regions, volume 1-15,
9 July 1987 - 31 March 1991 (Price on request):
Each volume contains 3 months of daily brightness temperature grids.
Sensor is currently flying; one additional CD-ROM volume is produced
approximately every 8 weeks. Passive microwave brightness temperatures
(7 dual-polarized frequencies ranging from 19.3 to 85.5 GHz.), used
primarily to derive sea ice concentration; Northern and Southern
Hemispheres.
Data format: 16-bit raster images (2-byte integers), in "SSM/I grid
format".
Associated software: Extraction and ice concentration software, IMDISP
image display program for IBM PC, IMAGIC image display program for the
Macintosh II. Software distributed on diskettes.
Contact: World Data Center A for Glaciology [Snow and Ice], National Snow
and Ice Data Center, University of Colorado, CIRES - Campus Box 449, Boulder,
CO 80309. 303/492-5171, FAX 303/492-2468, email nsidc@kryos.colorado.edu
(Claire Hanson).
DMSP SSM/I Ice Concentration Grids for the Polar Regions, Volume 1,
9 July 1987 - 31 December 1989 (Price on request):
Contains sea ice concentration derived from SSM/I brightness
temperatures, using NASA Team algorithm and J. Comiso algorithm,
for Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
Data format: 8-bit raster images (1-byte integers) in "SSM/I grid format".
Grid files have HDF (Hierarchical Data Format) header labels. Additional
volumes will be produced, for the entire time series.
Associated software: Source code used to derive ice concentration from
brightness temperatures. IMDISP image display software. Software distributed
on diskettes.
Contact: World Data Center A for Glaciology, information above.
Nimbus-7 SMMR Polar Radiances, Volumes 1-12, 25 October 1978 - 20 August
1987 (life of SMMR sensor) (Price on request):
Contains passive microwave brightness temperatures (5 dual-polarized
frequencies ranging from 6.6 to 37 GHz) and derived sea ice concentration
for the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
Data format: 2-byte integers, in single-frequency grids.
Associated software: IMDISP image display program (C code) for IBM PC;
landmask and latitude/longitude overlay (Fortran). Software distributed on
IBM PC diskettes.
Contact: World Data Center A for Glaciology, 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: World Data Center A for Glaciology, information above.
NWS/NOHRSC Snow cover data ($200 each year):
Airborne snow water equivalent and satellite areal extent of snow cover
data for 1990-1992 are now available on CD-ROM for major portions of the
U.S. and southern 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)
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.
303/231-9373, 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.
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Subject: Research data on tape and other media
Copyright (c) 1993 by Ilana Stern.
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
section I). 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 section I). 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 section I).
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 section I).
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. 704/259-0682.
National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC): NGDC, 325 Broadway, Boulder,
CO 80303. 303/497-6958.
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.
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Subject: Weather-related mailing lists
Copyright (c) 1993 by Ilana Stern.
C O N T E N T S
1. CLIMLIST: conferences, data availability in climatology
2. Weather-users: discussions of weather servers
3. WX-TALK: general and specialized weather-related discussions
4. Wxsat: redistribution of bulletins on weather satellites
5. CALMET: discussion of computer-aided learning in meteorology
6. Met-stud: meteorology students' mailing list
1. CLIMLIST (moderated by John Arnfield)
CLIMLIST is a moderated electronic mail distribution list for climat-
ologists and those working in closely-related fields. It is used to
disseminate notices regarding conferences and workshops, data avail-
ability, calls for papers, positions available etc, as well as requests
for information. An updated directory of email addresses for the
subscribers to the list is distributed every month (usually on the 15th).
To subscribe, mail to whichever of these addresses works for you:
AJA+@OHSTMAIL.BITNET / aja+@osu.edu / johna@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu
with the following information:
Your name; your email address; your departmental & institutional
affiliation; whether your email address is shared or personal; your area
of interest or responsibility within climatology.
2. Weather-users (administered by scott@zorch.sf-bay.org)
This list is for discussions of weather servers; sharing of code to
automatically query weather servers; and announcements of availability
(or lack thereof) and changes to weather servers. Initially, Jeff Masters
(sdm@downwind.sprl.umich.edu) has agreed to send Weather Underground status
notices to this list.
To join or quit the list, email to weather-users-request@zorch.sf-bay.org;
the list mail address is weather-users@zorch.sf-bay.org.
3. WX-TALK and other WX-lists
WX-TALK, formerly STORM-L, is a mailing list for weather-related topics,
special event notifications, job announcements, and administrative
messages. This list, and other specialized weather-related lists, are
run from the vmd.cso.uiuc.edu (UIUCVMD) machine at Urbana-Champaign,
Illinois. WX-TALK is for discussions and questions; the others are intended
to distribute information on particular topics, but you should not
post mail to them.
To join the list, send a message consisting of the single line
SUB WX-TALK Your Name
to whichever of these addresses works for you:
LISTSERV@UIUCVMD / LISTSERV@UIUCVMD.BITNET / LISTSERV@VMD.CSO.UIUC.EDU
or uiucuxc!vmd!listserv from uucp.
Contributions should then go to WX-TALK@[working address]
For more information, and a list of the other WX-lists on vmd.cso.uiuc.edu,
use anonymous FTP to retrieve the file WX-TALK.DOC from vmd.cso.uiuc.edu
in the directory "wx".
4. Wxsat (administered by Richard B. Emerson)
Wxsat resends all NOAA/NESDIS bulletins on polar and geostationary weather
satellites as well as occasional material on Meteosat. Bulletins with
orbital predictions, spacecraft operation schedules, and related messages
are copied from NOAA.SAT on SCIENCEnet and forwarded to all addresses on
the list. The list is configured to accept and broadcast mail from
subscribers to the list at large. Wxsat does not store or distribute imagery
and is not primarily a "chat" list. Wxsat is oriented towards users with a
daily operational need for TBUS and related bulletins.
An archive of roughly 60 days' messages are available for retrieval via
email messages to wxsat-archive@ssg.com. Send the message "help" in the
text to the archive server for details on how to retrieve the current index
and other files.
Subscription requests go to wxsat-request@ssg.com. The service is free
to all Internet users but donations are accepted as this is a volunteer
operation.
5. CALMET (Computer Aided Learning in Meteorology)
CALMET is a mailing list dedicated to computer-aided learning in
meteorology. It is associated with the ftp site cumulus.met.ed.ac.uk.
To join the list, send mail to calmet-request@ed.ac.uk. Messages
to the list go to calmet@ed.ac.uk.
6. Met-stud (administered by Dennis Schulze)
This mailing list is open to all, but particularly intended as a
communications facility among meteorology students worldwide. Subjects
of discussion could include scholarships, summer schools, conferences,
and comparisons of the meteorology programs at various universities.
Meteorological problems and questions could also be discussed.
Subscription requests and other administrative mail should be sent
to dennis@metw3.met.fu-berlin.de. Messages to the mailing list go to
met-stud@metw3.met.fu-berlin.de. Although the list is based in Germany,
the language used is English.
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