I have found this to be a *great* source of info
and thought I'd pass it on...
Subject: Sources of Meteorological Data FAQ
Summary: Weather and research data available via Internet, CD-ROM, and tape.
Date: Mon, 15 Jun 1992 15:28:47 GMT
Archive-name: weather-data
Last-modified: 3 June 1992
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.
More information on geological/geographical data can be found in the
FAQ for sci.geo.geology, or see the file available via FTP from csn.org.
This guide is divided into four sections. The first discusses data
available over the Internet (using FTP or telnet). The second section
lists some CD-ROMS that are available from various sources. The third
gives addresses for sources of research data on tape. The fourth describes
some mailing lists which may be of interest.
This guide is posted twice a month; a copy can be obtained by
anonymous FTP to pit-manager.mit.edu, from the file weather-data in
the directory /pub/usenet/news.answers.
Corrections, additions, and comments should be sent to Ilana Stern at
========================================================================
Data available via the network
To access the FTP areas listed here, use "anonymous" as the login and
your email address as the password (if requested). If you need help
with FTP, see your sysadmin.
[Note: quotes ("like this") are used to set off names of directories and
files, and are not part of these names.]
==Current weather GIFs via FTP==
vmd.cso.uiuc.edu [128.174.5.98]
FTP: Change directory to "wx" and set transfer type to "binary".
GOES-7 visible and IR imagery are available.
A script to retrieve GIFs automatically is available from the ncardata FTP
area (see below).
Also available in this directory are SPOTFREQ.DOC and CHASE-TV.DOC,
lists of ham radio frequencies and TV stations which carry useful info
for storm chasers.
unidata.ucar.edu [128.117.140.3]
FTP: Change directory to "images" and set transfer type to "binary".
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").
aurelie.soest.hawaii.edu [128.171.151.121]
FTP: Sea-Surface-Temperature data (near-real-time) in "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. The processed images are
available usually within 30 min. of noaa-11 and noaa-12 passages. Data are
compressed binary in netCDF format (get documentation from unidata.ucar.edu,
above) labelled by satellite name (n11/n12) and time. More info available
==Current weather data via telnet==
madlab.sprl.umich.edu 3000 [141.212.196.79]
Telnet: include the "3000". Menu driven.
hermes.merit.edu [35.1.48.150]
Telnet: type um-weather at the "Which Host?" prompt and use menus.
(Connects to madlab.sprl.umich.edu)
==Meteorological, oceanographic, and geophysical research data ==
ncardata.ucar.edu [128.117.8.111]
FTP: contains information on datasets available from NCAR (the National
Center for Atmospheric Research, address in section 3) , not actual
data. If you would like to order data after browsing this information,
FTP; we also write various kinds of tapes. See the README file, and the
information in section 3 of this posting.
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".
cdiac.esd.ornl.gov [128.219.24.36] (formerly suns01.esd.ornl.gov)
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 to obtain a copy of the book.)
==Digital photos of earth from space==
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.
ames.arc.nasa.gov
FTP: change directory to "SPACE/CDROM". Images from Magellan and Viking
missions, other stuff.
==AVHRR satellite images of USA==
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.
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.
==Snow cover maps of US from GOES==
gator.netcom.com [192.100.81.102]
FTP: change directory to "snow". Various snow-related images in GIF
more info.
==Map data==
spectrum.xerox.com [192.70.225.78]
FTP: various USGS data in subdirectories under the directory "pub/map".
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
==Other resource information==
csn.org [128.138.213.21]
FTP: a large, frequently updated file containing detailed information
on FTP sites, Bitnet and Usenet discussion groups, and data sources is
located in the file "internet.resources.earth.sci" in the directory "COGS"
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