########################################################################### # Notice on the use of Antarctic Meteorological Research Center data sets # ########################################################################### # The Antarctic Meteorological Research Center (AMRC) collects, archives # # and provides Antarctic meteorological observational data to the # # community and public for research, logistic, and educational activities.# # The AMRC requests acknowledgement for use of the data in any published # # work. See http://amrc.ssec.wisc.edu/acknowledgement.html for details on # # how to acknowledge AMRC data, displays or information. # # If the AMRC data are critical to the work, co-authorship may be # # appropriate. Please contact the AMRC in such a case. # # # # AMRC Contact Information: # # Address: 947 Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences Building # # 1225 West Dayton Street # # Madison, Wisconsin, USA 53706 # # Telephone: +1 (608) 262-0436 # # Fax: +1 (608) 263-6738 # # E-mail: amrc@ssec.wisc.edu # # Web: http://amrc.ssec.wisc.edu/ # # FTP: ftp://amrc.ssec.wisc.edu/ # # McIDAS ADDE: Group AMRC and ARCHIVE on aws.ssec.wisc.edu # # RAMADDA: https://amrc.ssec.wisc.edu/repository/ # # Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AMRCAWS # # Twitter: http://twitter.com/antmet # # YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/AMRCantmet # # Wikipedia: # # http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_Meteorological_Research_Center # # http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_Automatic_Weather_Stations_Project # # # Updated: 29 September 2012 # # # ########################################################################### Thank you for your interest in our Automatic Weather Station program! This FAQ is designed to point out what's available on our site, and where to find the answers to some basic questions on data format, data availability and the like. We have a multitude of weather stations located across the globe; in Antarctica, in Greenland, and in Peru. This data is received by satellite and accumluated by Service ARGOS before being transmitted to our Data Processing group here at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. One of our primary goals is to better facilitate an understanding of global climatology. A listing of our station locations, names, and ARGOS ID numbers is located in the file "biglist" in the pub directory on this ftp site. Station elevations are not listed in this document, but are in several other documents (detailed below), as well as in each of the ten-minute and three-hourly interval datasets (detailed below). The file "biglist" is meant to serve as a guide to our stations as their ID numbers sometimes change from year to year. The Automatic Weather Station (AWS) data comes in several forms: Our ten-minute interval data, located in year sub-directories of pub/10min/rdr, is data provided *as is*. Little effort has been made to correct the data from the raw information we receive from our weather stations. Because little pre-processing is involved, this data is available much more rapidly than our other main format, the three-hourly interval data (see below). Several important readme files are located in pub/10min/rdr which detail file name construction, formatting, and special updates and corrections regarding the data. The file 'readme.notes' contains basic information about the data itself, including important information on a series of stations beginning in November of 1994 that have five digit ID numbers, and how those stations have been handled. The file 'readme.format' contains information on filename construction of the data, as well as file content, and is a must for those unfamiliar with the data. The file 'readme.updates.oldest' contains information on data corrections and the like from 1994-95; the first two years of our ftp site. The file 'readme.updates.old' covers the updates and additions made during the calendar year 1996 to the site, while 'readme.updates' contains updates made this year. The 'readme.notes' file is important as it lists special news involving the data. As a note, all data is offered in SI or scientific units, that is temperatures in degrees Celsius, pressures in millibars or hectopascals, wind speeds in meters per second, wind direction in meteorological degrees, etc. Within each of the year sub-directories of pub/10min/rdr, alongside the data, are text files, named 'namelist??' (where ?? indicates the last two digits of the year in question). These files address specifically what station's data are contained in which files. We've also recently added a new form of ten-minute data, the "ten- minute average" data set. We've been given permission to freely redistribute data from other AGO sites in Antarctica, and we've made these ten-minute averages from this data, as the data itself was transmitted every minute as available. This data can be found in year sub-directories of pub/10min/avg. Important readme files concerning data format, changes and additions to the data, etc., can also be found in pub/10min/avg. Within each of the year sub-directories of pub/10min/avg, alongside the data, are text files, named 'avglist??' (where ?? indicates the last two digits of the year in question). These files address specifically what station's data are contained in which files, just as the "namelist" files mentioned above. Unlike the ten-minute data, the three-hourly data for both Antarctica and Greenland (detailed below) are corrected; that is, an effort has been made to remove bad data points. This data takes longer to process, and thus will not be as current as the ten- minute data. Our three-hourly interval data for Antarctica is contained in the year sub-directories of pub/antrdr. A list of changes and updates that occurred before the calendar year 1996 can be found in 'readme.aupdates.old' in the same directory. If you need information on the format of the data or the file names, consult the file 'readme.3format'. The 'readme.anotes' file will also come in handy as it lists special news involving the data. Within each of the year sub-directories of pub/antrdr, alongside the data, are text files, named '3hrlist??' (where ?? indicates the last two digits of the year in question). These files address specifically what station's data are contained in which files. The three-hourly interval data for Greenland is contained in the year sub-directories of pub/grnrdr. A list of changes and updates that occurred before the calendar year 1996 can be found in 'readme.gupdates.old' in the same directory. If you need information on the format of the data or the file names, consult the file 'readme.3format'. Within each of the year sub-directories of pub/grnrdr, alongside the data, are text files, named 'g3hrlist??' (where ?? indicates the last two digits of the year in question). These files address specifically what station's data are contained in which files. Our Peru data is kept in pub/peru and is in a special format detailed in the file 'readsnow.txt'. We have available some sub-surface temperature data; these are kept in files located in the directory pub/subsurf. At the moment, there is data for GISP2 AWS from Greenland and for Pegasus South AWS from Antarctica. The files 'readme.sub' and 'readme.sub37' detail file formats. The directory pub/summary/monthly contains printable text files in a format emulating that of the data sheets and the data in our published data book. The format of the files can be found in the file 'readme.sum' while updates and corrections to the data can be gleaned in 'readme.sumupdates'. The data themselves are contained in year sub-directories of pub/summary/monthly. The directory pub/summary/tables contains text files which hold Antarctic monthly summary information in a tabular format, based on our 3-hourly data. The file 'readme.mon' contains format information, and 'readme.monupdates' contains information on any changes or updates to files within the directory. Subdirectories of pub/summary/tables contain files organized by region and station divided up into single years. More monthly summary data can be found in the directory pub/summary/monthly as noted above. Monthly summary data organized by station and provided for all the years of the station's existence up through the last full year of three-hourly data we have available can be found in subdirectories of pub/aws/summary/multiyear. The 'stations' directory contains the data organized by station, while the 'regions' directory has files which combine together all of our stations' data for a particular region. The two directories each have a 'readme.format' file discussion file format, and the 'regions' directory also contains the file 'readme.supdates' which lists changes and updates to the data therein. We also now have available some climatic data for various stations. This data can be found in pub/aws/antrdr/climate. There are several readme files contained therein which describe the files. An archive of Black Island data resides in pub/aws/antrdr/climate/blackisland. Data from the South Pole manned station can be found in the pub/aws/antrdr/climate/southpole directory. The pub/aws/adg directory contains Acoustic Depth Gauge data for some of our weather stations. The directory pub/buoy contains meteorological data from various buoys in the Weddell Sea region, collected by the University of Helsinki, and provided here with permission. The file 'read.me' in that directory details file formats and how to contact the scientists in Finland with any questions or comments. The directory pub/requests is an area we use to make special data requests available. It is not of general public interest. If you intend to use the data we provide here in a published work, we ask that you please acknowledge the Automatic Weather Station Project "The authors appreciate the support of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Automatic Weather Station Program for the data set, data display, and information, NSF grant numbers ANT-0944018 and ANT-1245663." Our site is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you have questions or problems, send e-mail to aws@ssec.wisc.edu You can contact us by several methods. One is by email at amrc@ssec.wisc.edu. Another method is via telephone at: (608) 265-4816. Yet another is through regular mail at: AWS or AMRC Project 947 Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Sciences Space, Science and Engineering Center University of Wisconsin-Madison 1225 W. Dayton St. Madison, WI 53706 The AWS and AMRC projects have several email aliases that we use to send out items of interest. We have a list of addresses that we send information to regarding the current technical status of the center. For example, if we are experiencing difficulties regarding the acquisiton of data, or if our web pages are experiencing difficulties, we send out an email to this list. We also have several email lists that we send information to about when data is posted to our ftp sites - namely data for McMurdo Station, South Pole, Palmer, observations from USAP ships, and AWS data. To be placed on any of these lists, email amrc@ssec.wisc.edu, indicating which address list you would like to be added to, and we will do that. The lists available currently are: ANTCOMMUNITY This list is a general list intended for Antarctic scientists, researchers, or those who wish to keep informed of Antarctic news and events. This is a relatively low traffic list. ANTOPS This list is intended to keep people informed of problems with AWS/AMRC systems, the acquisition of data, or any other issues that arise that reduce the ability to access data. ANTAWS This list keeps those interested in the AWS project informed of news with the project. ANTOBS This list announces the posting of new data onto web or ftp sites. FAQ last updated 07/19/04