How to access Profiler Data

• To: science
• Subject: How to access Profiler Data
• From: NCDC.SERVICE
• Date: Wed, 15 Jul 1992 13:34:02 -0600

Posted: Tue, Jul 14, 1992  12:02 PM EDT              Msg: AGJC-5307-6109
Subj:   How to access Profiler Data ?

           NCDC ON-LINE METADATA/DATA SYSTEM UPDATE



NCDC has expanded its' on line data and metadata access
through INTERNET.  Using the on-line data access system developed
by the joint efforts of NCDC, Forecast Systems Lab (FSL) and the
STORM Project Office, several different products are now
available.  Selection of profiler data from the Wind Profiler
Demonstration Network, surface airways observations from NMC and
NCDC upper air observations are all on-line. All datastreams are
in an E-BUFR format.  System requirements and disc space dictate
that limited data remains on line.  Please see associated table
with archival information.  The profiler metadata (inventory,
station history and dataset dictionary) information are available
for downloading.  Surface observations for over 700 stations
nationwide are on-line for the last 2-3 complete months.
Upper air observations are available as well but with a greater
time lag due to processing requirements and receipt of data.
Please check the system for availability.

The read library and file dump program for E-BUFR formatted data
are available on-line but in a different area.  (See page two for
details on acquiring that software)

Please note in the table below the length of time the data will
be available on-line.  Access to the data and downloading are
currently available to you without charge by using INTERNET.
Please use the address 192.67.134.72 or hurricane.ncdc.noaa.gov

The Login    is : storm
The Password is : research

Please feel free to browse the system, download profiler,
surface, and/or upper air data, check system for latest data
available or leave comments and suggestions on your needs and
ideas to make the system better........


               ARCHIVAL PERIOD FOR ON-LINE ACCESS



PROFILER                       OTHER OBSERVATIONS


WINDS-60   Last 31 DAYS      SURFACE   DATA  Beginning  01/01/92
SURFACE-60 Last 31 DAYS      UPPER AIR DATA  Beginning  11/01/91
MOMENTS-60 Last 07 DAYS
MOMENTS-06 Last 07 DAYS

NOTE : After these archive dates data are available for off-line
access only.  Profiler data available off-line starting in Jan
1991. Surface data available starting with Jan 1992 and Upper Air
data starting with Nov 1991.  These starting dates refer to data
in E-BUFR format.  Check system for current data availability.
Data for Surface and Upper air are available beginning in 1948
for other formats in an offline capacity.

Data from the field experiment STORM-FEST are available on-line.
The dates of the field experiment were 1 February 1992 through 15
March 1992.

              Read Library and File Dump Programs

The following are instructions for accessing the read library and
the file dump program. These instructions allow the user login
using INTERNET via FTP. Please use the following address: open
192.67.134.72. or open hurricane

The Login is    : anonymous
The Password is : guest

You are now in the UNIX environment and will need to change
directories to get to where the code resides. Type cd
pub/E-BUFR/ebdump . Then display the contents of
the directory by typing ls . There will be four files listed:
ebdump.tar, README, ebdump.vms, and README.vax. The README file
contains instructions on the use of the read library and the
ebdump program. The ebdump.tar and ebdump.vax files contain an
archive of the source code. To download the files to your UNIX
machine, type mget README ebdump.tar ; to download the files to
your VMS machine, type mget README.vax ebdump.vax. You can logout
of the server by typing quit.

If you are on a UNIX system, you will have to use the tar command
to extract the source code from the archive. At your prompt, type
tar xvf ebdump.tar  If you do an ls command next, you will see
many files, including one named "Makefile". In order to compile
the source code and get an executable of the ebdump program, type
make. The ebdump program is meant as an example of how the read
library can be used. It is a stand-alone program that can be used
to view the data. To execute ebdump, simply type ebdump. The
program will prompt you so it will know what data to display.

Users are encouraged to study the README file, which gives
instructions on how to use the read library. There are many
software routines to use with E-BUFR formatted data. They are
described in the README file. Software routines whose name begins
with BF extract information from buffer message sections.
Routines names that begin with DSP use extracted information and
provide output. Ebdump is intended as a prototype program to be
used as a guide for users in writing their own programs accessing
the read library routines.