Subject: Sources of Meteorological Data FAQ part 2/2
From: [email-masked] (Ilana Stern)
Date: 10 May 1994 11:00:25 GMT
Newsgroups: sci.geo.meteorology,news.answers,sci.answers

Archive-name: weather/data/part2
Last-modified: 3 May 1994

Recent changes:

  ==within last two weeks==

  ==within last four weeks==
Changed "Introduction" section to "Overview" to fit better with html version

This is a guide to sources of meteorological, oceanographic, and geophysical 
data which can be obtained via tape, CD-ROM, and other media.  Contents:

 1)  Overview
 2)  How to get a current copy of this document
 3)  CD-ROM source list
 4)  Data centers

Each (major) section has a "Subject:" line, so you can search on the
subject title above to find the section quickly.

---------------
Subject:  Overview

This is part 2 of a guide to various sources of meteorological, 
oceanographic, and geophysical data.  Some of these data sets are intended 
for enjoyment or hobbyist use;  other data are more research-oriented.  
Much of the research data is not free and is not directly available over 
the network; usually, only information about this data is available, and 
you must place an order for the actual data.

The contents of this series of FAQs are:

Part 1:  Meteorological data available via the Internet
Part 2:  Meteorological data available via tape, CD-ROM, and other media

The section on mailing lists which used to be included in this FAQ
is now a separate FAQ, "Mailing lists and newsgroups for meteorology".

This article is copyright (c) 1993 by Ilana Stern.  It may be freely
distributed for non-commercial purposes only, provided that this copyright 
notice and the instructions on retrieving a current copy are not 
removed.  The information in this article is provided as-is, with no
warranties or assurances as to its accuracy.  I prefer that archives
maintain current copies, since this information changes rapidly.  If
you would like to put this article in an archive and want to receive
a new copy automatically at every update, please send me email.  

Corrections, additions, and comments should be sent to Ilana Stern at
[email-masked].  Please include in your message where you read
this document.  Note that if I know about it, it's in this document.

---------------
Subject:  How to get a current copy of this document

If you are reading this document after 24 May 1994, you are reading an 
outdated copy. A current copy can be obtained by anonymous FTP to 
rtfm.mit.edu, from the file weather/data/part2 in the directory 
/pub/usenet/news.answers.  These files are updated every two weeks, 
when a new copy is posted to sci.geo.meteorology, news.answers,
and sci.answers.  This document also appears on the mailing lists
CLIMLIST and met-stud, which are described in the FAQ, "Mailing Lists
for Meteorology".

If you can't use FTP, send email to [email-masked] with 
send /pub/usenet/news.answers/weather/data/part2
as the only text in the message (leave the subject blank).

---------------
Subject: CD-ROM source list

1) Basic information
2) List of CD-ROMs by topic, with summaries
A) Weather data
B) Research data
C) Miscellaneous 

1. Basic information

CD-ROMs tend to be relatively expensive, but can hold as much as 600 megabytes
of data.  Prices are current as of October 1991;  prices for some discs 
are not known.  Some discs are provided with driving software.  Most of
the software is for IBM-PC or compatible systems, but some is available
for the Macintosh, and, increasingly, for Unix systems.

Some of these listings are not for CD-ROMs, but are for floppies or
tapes.  These are listed here, rather than in the section on data available
on other media, because they have been prepared as a package.  The 
research data available on tape is generally copied from a computer
archive as requests come in.  

Commercial sources are flagged as such.  Inclusion of a commercial
source in this listing does not imply endorsement.  

2. List of CD-ROMs by topic, with summaries

A. Weather data

Climate Change Data ($950, or 595 pounds sterling from UK source):
  Monthly 5-degree surface temperature anomaly grids 1854-1990, pressure 
grids 1873-1990.  Monthly world temperature data at about 3500 stations and
precipitation data at about 6500 stations, for period of record (long).
Retrieval and mapping software included, available for various systems.
  Contact:  Dr. Phil Jones, Climatic Research Unit, University of East
Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ United Kingdom.  Distributed in North America by
Chadwyck-Healey Inc.,1101 King St, Alexandria, VA 22314.  800/752-0515.

World Weather Disc ($295):
  Monthly temp, precip, pressure, sunshine data for about 2000 world stations 
for period of record.  Daily weather data at hundreds of US stations.  Data 
for some stations on temp, precip, freeze, drought, soil moisture, wind,
storms.  Frequency and movement of tropical cyclones.
  Contact:  Cliff Mass, Dept. of Atmos. Sci. (AK40), University of Washington,
Seattle, WA  98195.  206/685-0910.

National Climate Info System Volume 1($50):
  Monthly temperature, precipitation, Palmer Hydrological Drought Index for 344
climate divisions of US.  Data can be viewed in tabular or graphical format.
The disc covers the period 1895-1989 and contains 1032 time-series graphs, 
4180 maps, and 5400 frames of video animation.
  Contact:  National Climatic Data Center, Federal Building, Asheville, NC
28801.  704/271-4800, email [email-masked].

SAMSON (Solar and Meteorological Surface Observational Network) 
  (3 disks, $100 each):
  The three CD-ROMs are divided geographically into regions:  eastern, 
central, and western U.S., and contain hourly solar radiation data along with
selected meteorological elements for the period 1961-1990.  It encompasses 
237 NWS stations in the United States, and also includes Guam and Puerto 
Rico.  The dataset includes both observational and modelled data.  The hourly 
solar elements are:  Extraterrestrial horizontal and extraterrestrial direct 
normal radiation; global, diffuse, and direct normal radiation.  
  Meteorological elements are:  Total and opaque sky cover, temperature and 
dew point, relative humidity, pressure, wind direction and speed, visibility, 
ceiling height, present weather, precipitable water, aerosol optical depth, 
snow depth, days since last snowfall, and hourly precipitation. 
 Contact:  National Climatic Data Center, see above.

CLIVUE CD-ROM  ($50):
  The National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) developed a CD-ROM in support of
a museum exhibit which traveled across the U.S.  The CD contains a 
1,500-station subset of NCDC's nearly 8,000 U.S. daily cooperative stations.  
The user selects a date and area of the U.S. and the CD-ROM database is 
queried for stations within the specified domain having data.  Then, the 
system displays daily maximum and minimum temperatures, precipitation, and
snowfall for the site.  Graphs showing 7 years, 21 years, and the full period 
of record (varies by station) for the station(s) are available.  Visual
displays allow users to view trends, variability, and extremes. 
  Contact:  National Climatic Data Center, see above.

International Station Meteorological Climate Summary (ISMCS) 2.0 ($50)
  This CD released in August 1992 gives detailed climatological summaries 
for about 980 locations worldwide.  These locations include National Weather 
Service locations, domestic and overseas Navy and Air Force sites, and 
selected foreign stations.  Limited summaries are also given for an additional
almost 5,000 worldwide sites.  Tabular or statistical data can be exported 
to a printer or spreadsheet.  Also supports limited mouse capability.  
  Contact:  National Climatic Data Center, see above.

U.S. Navy Marine Climatic Atlas of the World Ver 1.0 ($50):
  This CD-ROM includes analysis and display software for climatological 
averages of atmospheric and oceanographic data.  The data are summarized with 
user-defined 1 and 5 degree grid areas covering the global marine environment.
The summaries are produced using predominately ship data collected between 
1854-1969.  The major elements include air and sea temperature, dewpoint 
temperature, scalar wind speed, sea- level pressure, wave height, wind and 
ocean- current roses.  This CD also allows the user to define element 
intervals (e.g. 5 to 10 knots, 2 degree temperature intervals).  Contouring 
for explicitly user-defined regions and exporting data to a printer or 
diskette are supported. 
  Contact:  National Climatic Data Center, see above.

Meteosat Images on CD-ROM, 1986 to 1991 (price on request):
  One full-disk infra-red image per day (usually at 12h00 UTC), one visible 
image on day 1 of each month (at the same time as the infra-red image), one 
water-vapour image on day 1 of each month of 1991 (at the same time as the
infra-red and visible image).  Images of the snow storm over the East coast 
of the USA on 12&13 March 1993 (from meteosat-3 at 75 degrees East).  Images 
of Kuwait during the Gulf war.  Full-disk Images taken by Meteosat-3 at 75 
degrees East at the beginning of March 1993.
  Contact:  J. Le Ber, Meteosat Data Service, European Space Agency, 
Robert Bosch Str. 5,  D6100 DARMSTADT GERMANY

High Resolution Climatology ($199/variable):  *COMMERCIAL*  (Floppy disk)
  Average monthly climatological values of maximum temperature, minimum
temperature,  and precipitation for every 1 square km of the conterminous 
US for the 30-year periods 1951-1980 and 1961-1990.  The data are stored 
as a rectangular matrix for each state.  Digitized state and county political 
boundaries are included and referenced to the climate data sets.  The data 
are in raster form as ASCII or 16-bit binary integers.  This dataset is 
distributed on 5.25" or 3.5" floppy disks. 
  Contact:  ZedX, Inc., P.O. Box 404, Boalsburg, PA  16827-0404.  
814/466-2025.

US Summary of Day (4 disks, prices vary):  *COMMERCIAL*
  NCDC Summary of Day data, USGS streamflow data, retrieval and analysis 
software.  
  Contact:  Hydrosphere, Inc., 1002 Walnut, Suite 200, Boulder, CO  80302
800/949-4937, 303/443-7839

B. Research data

NMC gridpoint dataset ($150):
  Twice daily grids for the Northern Hemisphere at a resolution of about 
381 km.  
  Contact: National Center for Atmospheric Research, PO Box 3000, Boulder, 
CO  80307.  303/497-1219, email [email-masked].

National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) discs:
  Various discs available, including:  Gulf of Mexico GLORIA data, 
Geophysics of North America, global ecosystems, global topography,
gravity data, solar activity, and more.  A catalog and price list are 
available via gopher or ftp (see part 1). 
  Contact:  NGDC, 325 Broadway E/GC4, Dept. 894, Boulder, CO  80303.  
303/497-6958, email [email-masked].

Global Ocean Temperature and Salinity (2 discs, $80 each or $124/both)
  Temperature and salinity in the world ocean for about 1900-1990, based
on all available XBTs, MBTs, BTs, etc.
  Contact:  National Oceanographic Data Center, NOAA/NESDIS E/OC21, 
Washington, DC  20235.  202/606-4549.

Global Upper Air Climatic Atlas (GUACA) ($200):
  This two-volume CD-ROM set uses a 12-year (1980-1991) 2.5 degree upper air 
data base obtained from the European Centre for Medium Range Weather 
Forecasts (ECMWF).  This CD presents upper air statistics for 15 vertical 
levels in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere for dry bulb and dewpoint
temperature, geopotential height, air density, and vector and scalar wind 
speed.  The disc provides access/display software for gridpoint data,
contouring capability for user-defined areas, and vertical profiles.  
The climatology covers the 12-year period as well as individual year-months.
  Contact:  National Climatic Data Center, Federal Building, Asheville, NC
28801.  704/271-4800, email [email-masked].

Radiosonde Data of North America 1946-1992. ($400):
  Contains all available radiosonde data for North America (U.S., Canada, 
Mexico, and Caribbean Islands) through the 100-mb level on four disks.
Disk periods are 1946-1965, 1966-1979, 1980-1989, and 1990-1992.  Data 
includes significant, mandatory, and special wind levels for all observation 
times and includes geopotential height, temperature, dew point and wind
direction, and scalar speed.  The user can select for output to printer, 
screen, or file, a single station or multiple stations for a defined time
period, or all stations within a specified geographic region in either 
synoptic or station sort.  The CD also contains available station metadata. 
  Contact:  National Climatic Data Center, see above.

Global Tropical and Extratropical Cyclone Climatic Atlas (GTECCA) ($100):
  This CD-ROM contains all global historic tropical storm track data 
available for five tropical storm basins.  Periods of record varies for each 
basin, with the beginning as early as the 1870s and with 1992 at the latest 
year.  Northern hemispheric extratropical storm track data will be included
from 1965 to 1992.  Tropical track data includes time, position, storm stage 
(maximum wind, central pressure when available).  The user can display tracks,
track data for any basin or user-selected geographic area, or tracks passing 
within a user-defined radius of any point.  Narratives for all tropical 
storms for the 1980-1992 period will be included as well as basin-wide 
tropical storm climatological statistics.  Available November 1993.
Contact:  National Climatic Data Center, see above.

GALE and ERICA datasets (2 discs, price not known):
  GALE (Genesis of Atlantic Lows), 1/15/86-4/15/86:  ship data, raobs,
aircraft, radar, etc off N Carolina coast.  ERICA (Experiment on Rapidly
Intensifying Cyclones over the Atlantic), 12/1/88-2/26/89:  rawinsondes,
aircraft, radar, buoys, satellite data, etc. 
  Contact:  C. Kreitzberg, Dept. of Physics and Atmospheric Science, 
Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA  19104.  NOTE:  T. Thornton got no
reply from this address, it may not still be valid (9/93).

GEDEX (Greenhouse Effect Detection Experiment)(price not known):
  Two discs containing surface, upper air, and/or satellite-derived 
measurements of temperature, solar irradiance, clouds, greenhouse
gases, fluxes, albedo, aerosols, ozone, and water vapor, along with
Southern Oscillation Indices and Quasi-Biennial Oscillation statistics.
Many of the data sets provide global coverage.  The spatial resolutions
vary from zonal to 2.5 degree grids.  Some surface station data sets 
span more than 100 years;  most satellite-derived sets cover only the
past 12 years.  Temporal coverage is monthly for most sets.  An update
will be available by June 1992.
  Contact:  NCDS/Goddard Distributed Active Archive Center, Code 935,
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD  20771.  301/286-3209, email 
[email-masked].
  A more complete description of these discs may be obtained from 
the ncardata.ucar.edu FTP site, in the file "catalogs/nondss/gedex".

HCDN (Hydro-climatic data network) streamflow dataset (price not known):
  Contains dataset, search software, and USGS Open-File Report 92-129
(Slack, J.R., and Landwehr, J.M., 1992, Hydro-climatic data network (HCDN): 
A U.S. Geological Survey streamflow data set for the United States for the 
study of climate variations, 1874-1988).  
  Contact:  USGS, National Water Data Exchange (NAWDEX), MS 421 - National 
Center, Reston VA  22092.
  The principal author of this dataset, James R. Slack, can be reached via 
email at [email-masked].
  The information on the CD-ROM is also available via anonymous FTP 
from srv1rvares.er.usgs.gov in the directory "hcdn92". 

DMSP SSM/I Brightness Temperature Grids for the Polar Regions, volume 1-18, 
9 July 1987 - 31 December 1991 (Price on request):
  Each volume contains 3 months of daily polar brightness temperature
grids from SSM/I flying on DMSP F8 platform.  Passive microwave
brightness temperatures (7 dual-polarized frequencies ranging
from 19.3 to 85.5 GHz.) used primarily to derive sea ice
concentration; coverage is north and south polar regions.
  NSIDC will process and distribute similar product for SSM/I data from 
DMSP F11 in the near future.
  Data format: 16-bit raster images (2-byte integers), in "SSM/I grid 
format".  
  Associated software:  Extraction and ice concentration software, IMDISP 
image display program for IBM PC, IMAGIC image display program for the 
Macintosh II.  Software distributed on diskettes, with user's guide.  
  Contact:  World Data Center A for Glaciology [Snow and Ice], National Snow 
and Ice Data Center, University of Colorado, CIRES - Campus Box 449, Boulder, 
CO  80309.   303/492-2366, FAX 303/492-2468, email [email-masked] 
Omnet: NSIDC (Claire Hanson).

DMSP SSM/I Ice Concentration Grids for the Polar Regions, Volume 1: 9 July 
1987 - 31 December 1989; Vol 2: 1 January 1990 to 31 December 1991:  
(Price on request) 
  Contains sea ice concentration derived from SSM/I brightness
temperatures, using NASA Team algorithm and J. Comiso algorithm,
for Northern and Southern Hemispheres.  
  DMSP F11 SSM/I ice concentrations will be processed and distributed by 
NSIDC in the near future.
  Data format:  8-bit raster images (1-byte integers) in "SSM/I grid format".  
Grid files have HDF (Hierarchical Data Format) header labels.   
  Associated software: Source code used to derive ice concentration from 
brightness temperatures.  IMDISP image display software. Software distributed 
on diskettes. NCSA software that reads HDF-labelled data is available via 
ftp from NCSA. 
  Contact: World Data Center A for Glaciology, information above.

Nimbus-7 SMMR Polar Radiances, Volumes 1-12, 25 October 1978 - 20 August 
1987 (life of SMMR sensor) (Price on request):
  Contains passive microwave brightness temperatures (5 dual-polarized
frequencies ranging from 6.6 to 37 GHz) and derived sea ice concentration
for the north and south polar regions.
  Data format:  2-byte integers, in single-frequency grids.
  Associated software:  IMDISP image display program (C code) for IBM PC; 
landmask and latitude/longitude overlay (Fortran).  Software distributed on 
IBM PC diskettes.  
  Contact: World Data Center A for Glaciology, information above.

Historical Arctic Rawinsonde Archive on CD-ROM (3 volumes, price on request):
  The Historical Arctic Rawisonde Archive on CD-ROM, volumes 1-3, contains 
over 1.2 million vertical soundings of temperature, pressure, humidity, and 
wind, representing all available rawisonde ascents from Arctic land stations
poleward of 65 degrees North through 1987.  (Data for 1988-1990, and monthly 
averaged data, will be prepared for CD-ROM volume 4 in the near future.)
  For most stations the record begins in 1958, a few begin in 1947 or 1948.  
The data are one file per year per station.  Coverage is relatively uniform, 
except in the interior of Greenland.  Typically 20-40 levels are available in 
each sounding.
  Software:  Documentation is provided on the CD-ROM volumes, and in hard 
copy (NSIDC Special Report 2, 1992).  Software (Fortran and C) is provided
on the CD-ROM volumes to retrieve a subset of the sounding data.  
  Reference:  Kahl, J.D., M.C. Serreze, S. Shiotani, S.M. Skony, and R.C. 
Schnell, In situ meteorological sounding archives for arctic studies, Bul. 
Amer. Met. Soc., 73(11), 1824-1830, 1992.  
  Contact: World Data Center A for Glaciology, information above.

Eastern Arctic Ice, Ocean and Atmosphere Data, Volume 1, CEAREX-1 ($50):
  Contains sea ice acceleration, deformation and stress; hydrography
(CTDs); meteorology; bathymetry; acoustics and ambient noise (sample
data) from Coordinated Eastern Arctic Experiment (CEAREX).  Includes
meteorology from Marginal Ice Zone Experiment (MIZEX), 1983, 1984, 1987.
Experiment location: Arctic Ocean north of Svalbard; Fram Strait, September 
1988 - May 1989.  Amount of data: 460 mbytes.  
  Data format: ASCII files.  Associated software: none.  Additional volumes 
are planned; content not yet determined. 
  Contact: World Data Center A for Glaciology, information above.

NWS/NOHRSC snow cover data ($50 each year):
  Airborne snow water equivalent and satellite areal extent of snow cover 
data for 1990-1993 are now available on CD-ROM for major portions of the 
U.S., Alaska, and Canada. The CD-ROMs include: (1) airborne snow water 
equivalent data and the digitized flight line network, (2) calibrated AVHRR 
and GOES satellite data used to map snow cover, (3) the classified snow cover 
images (4) national and regional snow cover image products, and (5) ancillary 
data sets including digital elevation data, digitized NWS basin boundaries, 
and the alphanumeric results of the satellite snow cover mapping by basin and 
by elevation zone.
  Contact:  CD-ROM Snow Cover Data, National Operational Hydrologic Remote
Sensing Center (NOHRSC), Office of Hydrology, National Weather Service,
6301 34th Avenue South: Room 112, Minneapolis, MN 55450-2985.
612/725-3258, FAX 612/725-3338, email [email-masked] (Tim Szeliga)

STORM-FEST data (3 discs, price unknown):
  Data from the STORM-FEST experiment -- surface observations and rawinsonde, 
satellite, radar, NOWRAD, and profiler data -- plus Zeb software for viewing 
the data.  
  Contact Steve Williams, [email-masked].

Nimbus-7 Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS) Phytoplankton Pigment 
concentration Data and NOAA AVHRR SST images (5 discs, price on request)
  From JPL.  Contact [email-masked] (Ruby Lassanyi) at the
JPL Physical Oceanography User Support Office for more details.

TOGA/COARE GMS-4 images (2 discs, $75 for the set):
  GMS-4 images during the TOGA/COARE Intensive Observation Period
(November 1992 to March 1993) regridded over 135E - 175E, 10S - 10N,
5km square pixel size.  1910 infrared and 877 visible images of albedo and 
brightness temperature with overlays of the geographic grid and the 
positions of moorings and ships.  Images are in compressed PostScript 
format but tools are included to uncompress and convert the data
into other formats.
  Contact:  Satellite Oceanography Laboratory, University of Hawaii, 1000 
Pope Road, Honolulu, HI 96822.  The check should be made to the order
of "RCUH".

Surface Radiation Budget (SRB) Global Datasets (price not known):
  Contains Version 1.1 SRB shortwave products for the period March 
1985 through December 1988 as produced by the World Climate Research
Programme's (WCRP) SRB Satellite Data Analysis Center (SDAC). 
Inputs to the Version 1.1 product are results from the International
Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) and the Earth Radiation
Budget Experiment (ERBE).  SDAC uses two methods (known as the
Pinker and Staylor algorithms) to estimate surface downward and
net irradiances, surface albedo, downward direct/diffuse ratio,
surface cloud forcing, and daylight cloud fraction.  In addition,
various other radiation, cloud, meteorological and diagnostic  
parameters are provided to aid the user in understanding variations 
in the SRB parameters.
  The SRB CD-ROM has been formatted and produced to work with IBM PCs,
Apple Macintoshes and Unix systems with ISO-9660 CD-ROM driver support.
In addition, read and display software for IBM PCs and Apple Macintoshes 
are available upon request.  
  Contact:  Langley DAAC User Services, MS 157B, NASA Langley Research
Center, Hampton, VA, 23681-0001. (804)864-8656, [email-masked]

United Kindom Digital Marine Atlas V2.0 (UKP56.40):   (Floppy disk)
  This is an IBM compatibile PC based Marine Atlas covering the Northeast 
Atlantic and mainly centered on the British Isles.  It comes on five 
1.4MB floppies and runs under DOS (V3.0 or higher).  It has several 
sections covering areas such as general Bathymetry, Marine Geology, 
Marine and Coastal Nature Conservation in Breat Britain, Marine Biology, 
Physical Oceanography, Marine Chemistry, Fisheries and the BODC data 
catalogues amongst others.
  Contact:  UKDMAP Project Manager, British Oceanographic Data Centre,
Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory, Bidston Observatory, BIRKENHEAD,
Merseyside L43 7RA United Kingdom.  +44 51 653 8633, Fax: +44 51 652 3950.

C. Miscellaneous 

NASA discs:
  Various discs available, including:  Voyager spacecraft images (12 discs,
under $20 each!), Viking images of Mars, Magellan Venus data, Halley's
comet data (25 discs), excerpts from astronomical catalogs, and more.
  Contact:  NSSDC (NASA Space Science Data Center), Code 933.4, NASA
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD  20771.  301/286-6695.  They
also publish a free newsletter.

CD-ROM, INC:		*COMMERCIAL*
  Several hundred discs available, including:  "GRIPS 2" high resolution
images of topography, Landsat, vegetation maps, plus software ($49), 
"JEDI" 3 discs full of earth, space, and sea science data intended for
school use ($31), 13 business/economic discs, >50 literature and
entertainment discs, >40 health-related discs, many science discs.
Prices range from $29-$895.  Free catalog available from them.
  Contact:  CD-ROM, Inc, 1667 Cole Blvd. Suite 400, Golden, CO  80401.
303/526-7600, FAX 303/231-9581.  

Digital Chart of the World ($200):
  The Digital Chart of the World (DCW) is a comprehensive 1:1,000,000-scale 
vector basemap of the world containing cartographic, attribute, and 
textual data.  It is provided with software that permits the database to 
be accessed, queried, and displayed on PC-class computers.  The primary 
source for the database is the U.S. Defense Mapping Agency (DMA) Operational 
Navigation Chart (ONC) series.  
  There are 4 discs:   (1)North America, (2)Europe/Northern Asia, (3)South 
American/Africa/Antarctica, and (4)Southern Asia/Australia.  The data are 
organized into 17 thematic coverages, including political boundaries and 
ocean coast lines, cities, transportation networks, drainage, land cover, 
and elevation contours.  
  Contact:  USGS Open File Section, Box 25286, Denver, CO  80225. 
303/236-7476.

---------------
Subject: Data Centers

These sites maintain data archives for use by scientists.  Usually,
researchers affiliated with a data center can use the data on-site for
free, but other researchers who require tapes or other media must
pay a small charge for data transfer.  

Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC):  
  Research and distribution center for data related to carbon dioxide, 
methane, and other trace gas emissions; the carbon cycle; and other 
climate-change topics.  You can access catalog information by FTP (see 
part 1).  Datasets are available on various media including CD-ROM and 
magnetic tape.  They also publish a free newsletter.
  Contact: CDIAC, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P. O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge, 
TN  37831-6335. 615/574-0390, FAX 615/574-2232, email [email-masked].  

Langley Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC):
  Archive and distribution center for radiation budget, cloud, aerosol, and 
tropospheric chemistry data.  You can access catalog information by telnet
(see part 1).  Data are available via FTP, tape and CD-ROM.
  Contact:  Langley DAAC, NASA Langley Research Center, MS 157B, Hampton, 
VA  23681-0001 804/864-8656, FAX 804/864-8807, 
email [email-masked].

NASA Space Science Data Center (NSSDC):  
  Astronomical and atmospheric data.  You can access catalog information by
FTP or telnet (see part 1).  
  Contact: NSSDC, Code 933.4, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, 
MD  20771.  301/286-6695. 

National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR):
  Over 400 datasets available to the research community on various media.  
You can access catalog information by FTP (see part 1).
  Contact: NCAR Data Support Section, PO Box 3000, Boulder, CO  80307.  
303/497-1219, FAX 303/497-1137, email [email-masked].
  (DISCLAIMER:  NCAR is a non-profit government organization operated by 
UCAR under a grant from the NSF.  Our charges reflect the actual cost of 
data retrieval and magnetic media.  I receive no benefit from you ordering
data.  Please, research-related inquiries only.)

National Climatic Data Center (NCDC):  NCDC, Federal Building, Asheville, 
NC 28801.  704/271-4800.

National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC):  NGDC, 325 Broadway, Boulder, 
CO  80303.  303/497-6958,  [email-masked].

United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)/Global Resource Information
Database (GRID):
  Digital environmental data and information related to the Earth's 
surface, oceans and atmosphere, free of charge to non-commercial users.  
Typical global data sets include elevation, hydrology, soils, life zones,
vegetation, wetlands, climate, natural/physical boundaries, earthquake 
hazards, vegetation index (NOAA/GVI), human population etc.
  For a free catalog of global datasets, contact:  Facility Manager,
UNEP/GRID-Geneva, 6 rue de la Gabelle, CH-1227 Carouge, Geneva SWITZERLAND.
(0041-22) 343-8660, FAX (0041-22) 343-8862, email [email-masked]
or [email-masked].
  For a free catalog of datasets for Africa and Latin America, contact:
Facility Manager, UNEP/GRID-Nairobi, P. O. Box 30552, Nairobi, KENYA.
(00254-2) 230-800, FAX (00254-2) 226-491.