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STAR / SMCD / OPDB - NOAA Products Validation System (NPROVS)

NPROVS Data Access

Selected NPROVS data files are available for download. The data are divided into two categories: daily collocation files and files intended for use with NPROVS graphical applications.

Collocation Files

Collocation files containing a single day of collocations are available for the Conventional NPROVS and for the NPROVS special system. The files are available in netCDF format. The structures of the NPROVS collocation netCDF files are generally consistent but will vary slightly depending on the amount of data contained within each file and the available data platforms.

The top group within the file will contain one or more directories that contain the data for each data platform. The daily collocation files usually contain a single directory that is named after the date of the data in the file. In some cases, particularly when multiple days are combined into the same file, there will be more than one date directory.

Within the date directory are subdirectories that contain the data for each platform. The names of the platform subdirectories are comprised of the platform name and an NPROVS internal id that is unique to each data platform.

Also within the date directory is a subdirectory called "Collocation_Info". This directory contains the date, time, latitude and longitude of every collocation in the file. The dimension (Num_Collocations) and order of these variables match the dimension and order of all variables in the file.

The top group of the file also contains variables that describe the included data platforms in the file.

Num_Platforms: the dimension of the variables and is the number of included platforms.
platform_name: the platform names.
platform_dir_name: matches the name of the subsirectories in the data group. This typically makes it convenient to know the directory names without needing to perform a query on the file.
platform_id: An integer that is unique to each data platform. This number is used internally by NPROVS to keep track of which data platform is which.
platform_type: An integer used internally by NPROVS to know what type of data each platform contains. The NPROVS graphical routines use this to know what variables and what sounding profiles are available for a given platform.

Graphical Application Files

In addition to the collocation files, NPROVS also produces files that are designed for specific use with the available graphical applications. The graphic files are available for downloading from the Graphical Applications page. The data files may be downloaded from the following links:

ProfileDisplay: The files for ProfileDisplay are often the collocation files combined into multiple days. The program is able to read the netCDF collocation files as well as older binary files. ProfileDisplay is able to display each individual collocation, calculate vertical accuracy statistics and filter the data that are displayed and used in the calculation of statistics.
NPROVS Archive Statistics (NARCS): The NARCS files are used by the NARCS graphical application.
- Files in main directory: The *.narcs files contain statistics generated for the most recent five year period.
- full_run: The full_run directory contains NARCS files that show statistics from 2008 to present for NPROVS and from 2013 to present for NPROVS Special.
- alaska: The alaska directory contains site specific statistics for every radiosonde station in the Alaska region.
- chuas: The chuas directory contains site specific statistics for every radiosonde station in the Caribbean region.
Orbital Display System (ODS): The ODS files contain a single day of data for the various platforms. These files allow for the generation of images showing the available parameters. The most recent five days of data are available for downloading.