Data Info
For any questions regarding data formats or access, contact the Data Manager.
Submitting Data
The preferred method of submitting data to the data manager is to use the Chemical Sciences Division's FTP site. If possible please submit files in the ICARTT format (more info below).
WP-3D Aircraft Data
Alignment in time with aircraft flight-level data is required for both field and final data:
i) time-align your data to the open-path TDL H2O instrument AND
ii) ensure number of data points is identical to AOC flight-level data (1Hz AOCTimewave) AND
iii) provide start and stop times for data rates other than 1 Hz
Ship Data
For ship data, most measurements use the 1 minute time wave called Start_UTC. Please make sure your data is time aligned with this time, or provide your own start/stop times for each measurement. Ground site data is also on a one minute time if possible.
Data Access
Preliminary and final data files will be posted to the data download (WP-3D, Atlantis, LA Ground Site) as soon as they are available. Access is password protected.
File Format
Data files will be available in the ICARTT format. Please note that this format now specifies that the data is comma-delimited, not space-delimited. NASA maintains the complete documentation for the ICARTT format. A Windows-based application called FScanBrowser was developed by Ali Aknan at NASA to check file format compliance. He also developed a web-based tool to check file formats. For users of the application Igor, there are software tools available including GeneralMacros.ipf, and IcarttFormat.ipf.
ICARTT data file names are defined as dataID_locationID_YYYYMMDD_R#.ict
dataID is the species measured or the instrument; (WP-3D dataID; Atlantis dataID; LA Ground Site dataID);
locationID is NP3 for NOAA WP-3D; Atlantis for R/V Atlantis or CalNexLA for LA Ground Site;
YYYYMMDD indicates date of the beginning of the measurement;
R# indicates revision number. For final data, the character following the R is a number starting with 0. Preliminary data uses letters, starting with A.
Time values are reported in UTC as seconds after midnight from the date given in the file name.
Many investigators use a software program called Igor for data analysis. While the text-based ICARTT format is the data exchange format, all data files will also be available in Igor Binary format.