An Introduction to Atmospheric and Oceanographic Data

The purpose of this NCAR Instructional Aid (IA) is to serve as a "data-primer" for students and those in other fields of research who are interested in carrying out research involving the analyses of data in the atmospheric and oceanographic sciences. This IA will describe, in very general terms, the datasets most commonly used to study the atmosphere-ocean system and the formats used for archival. The datasets include observations from conventional meteorological sources such as stations and ships, from satellites, and analyzed grids produced at operational weather forecast centers. Detailed descriptions of instruments, methodologies and relative quality is not attempted. Rather, the focus is upon the broad characteristics of the data sources and the datasets. The characteristics not only include the observed variables and their spatial and temporal extent but also common problems, data limitations and sources of error. Datasets available from NCAR are used to illustrate typical archives. A bibliography containing selected references for each chapter provide the interested reader with more details. Atmospheric and oceanographic data are generally archived at data archiving and distribution centers. Addresses, both conventional and electronic, of several major data centers are provided. A discussion of the Internet includes how to find datasets using the World Wide Web. Finally, a list of commonly used abbreviations and acronyms is provided to familiarize newcomers with atmosphere/ocean jargon.