EARTH SYSTEM MONITOR · The GOES imager is essen-tially a telescope that focuses light and infrared ... The infrared resolution is 4 kilometers, except for the 8-kilometer water vapor

U.S. DEPARTMENTOF COMMERCE

National Oceanicand AtmosphericAdministration

EARTH SYSTEM MONITORVol. 6, No. 1 ● September 1995

NOAA’s new space sentinels

INSIDE

3News briefs

6The Global ClimatePerspectives System

9New and updated

online datasets fromNCDC

10New bathymetry of

Lake Michigan

12U.S. Joint GlobalOcean Flux Study

data online

15Data productsand services

16NODC and NGDC

directors retire

A guide to NOAA‘ssatellite, data, andinformation services

GOES-8 and GOES-9 revolutionize meteorological and Earth system studies

Jamison HawkinsGOES Product ManagerOffice of Systems DevelopmentNOAA/NESDIS

Observations from theNational Oceanic and Atmo-spheric Administration’s(NOAA) newest GeostationaryOperational EnvironmentalSatellites, GOES-8 and GOES-9,are on the verge of revolution-izing weather forecasting andresearch in Earth system pro-cesses. The new pair of spacesentinels are the first in a seriesof five satellites that will pro-vide a legion of observations(such as the visible image ofHurricane Erin shown in Figure1) and products through theearly part of the next century.The twins represent the mostadvanced civilian space systemever deployed for meteorology.

Launched April 13, 1994,GOES-I (renamed GOES-8 oncein orbit) is now on station 36,800 kilometersabove the equator at 75° West longitude, scan-ning North and South America and the adjacentoceans. GOES-J (now GOES-9) followed on May23, 1995, and is undergoing an extensive check-out at 90° West. After check-out, due to be com-pleted later this fall, one of the two newspacecraft will be moved west to replace theeight-year-old GOES-7 spacecraft at 135° West toensure continuity of weather coverage over thePacific (Figure 2). Geostationary spacecraft orbitthe Earth once each day, and thus remain fixedover a predetermined spot above the equator.This configuration allows for repeated observa-tions of storms and other phenomena.

The GOES ImagerThe GOES satellites (see Figure 3) carry two

primary instruments. The best known and most

Office of Systems DevelopmentNOAA/NESDIS E/OSDFB#4, Room 3301Suitland, MD 20746E-mail: [email protected]

utilized is the imager. The GOES imager is essen-tially a telescope that focuses light and infraredradiation from the Earth and its clouds andoceans onto a bank of highly-sensitive detectors.The imager is programmed to scan the full diskof the Earth in about 30 minutes once everythree hours. During the intervening two-and-one-half hours, the sensors zoom in to capturesmaller portions of the hemisphere, as well asrepeated views of the contiguous U.S. to allowforecasters to see rapidly developing storms.

The imager scans the Earth line-by-line, andground-based computers assemble the scannedlines into a set five images—one for each of fivewavelengths of light “seen” by the detectors.GOES visible-light detectors yield a high-resolu-tion black-and-white snapshot from space.

The other detector arrays yield infraredviews of the planet 24 hours a day, each reveal-ing unique aspects of clouds, moisture, or landand sea surface. National Weather Service meteo-rologists in forecast offices primarily use the“window” infrared channel, which senses infra-red radiation unattenuated by the clear atmo-

▲ Figure 1. A GOES-8 visible image of Hurricane Erin off the Floridacoast at 8:00 AM EDT August 2, 1995.

– continued on page 2

2 September 1995EARTH SYSTEM MONITOR

EARTH SYSTEM MONITOR

The Earth System Monitor (ISSN 1068-2678) is published quarterly by the NOAAEnvironmental Information Services office.Questions, comments, or suggestions forarticles should be directed to the Editor,Sheri A. Phillips. Requests for subscriptionsand changes of address should be directedto the Associate Editor, Nancy O’Donnell.

The mailing address for the EarthSystem Monitor is:

National Oceanographic Data CenterNOAA/NESDIS E/OC21Universal Building, Room 4061825 Connecticut Avenue, NWWashington, DC 20235

EDITORSheri Phillips

Telephone: 202-606-4561Fax: 202-606-4586

E-mail: [email protected]

ASSOCIATE EDITORNancy O’Donnell

Telephone: 202-606-4561Fax: 202-606-4586


DISCLAIMERMention in the Earth System Monitor ofcommercial companies or commercialproducts does not constitute an endorse-ment or recommendation by the NationalOceanic and Atmospheric Administrationor the U.S. Department of Commerce.Use for publicity or advertising purposes ofinformation published in the Earth SystemMonitor concerning proprietary productsor the tests of such products is notauthorized.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCERonald H. Brown, Secretary

National Oceanic andAtmospheric Administration

D. James Baker,Under Secretary and Administrator

– continued on page 4

GOES, from page 1 of their NOAA satellite cousins in lowerpolar-orbit.

The GOES imager has a visible reso-lution sensitive enough to spot cloudfeatures roughly 1 kilometer across (theladybug on the fence) from its perch36,800 kilometers above the equator(home plate). The infrared resolution is4 kilometers, except for the 8-kilometerwater vapor channel. Why this all mat-ters is a lesson in the demands ofweather forecasting.

How did we get here?Since NOAA began scanning Earth

from geostationary orbit operationallyin 1975 with GOES-1, the science ofweather forecasting has entered a newdimension. No longer limited by thecomparatively small sampling ofground-based measurements used toconstruct analyses of the state of theatmosphere, meteorologists adapteddata from weather satellites to see be-tween the cracks in the conventionalobserving network, and to take frequentlooks at threatening storms.

Limitations in scanning on theoriginal series of GOES in the 1970’sand 1980’s required observing the entireEarth from limb-to-limb, and in onlytwo or three wavelengths of light. Fur-thermore, a typical forecast office wasonly capable of receiving two GOESpictures per hour. Small cloud features,within which lay clues to the onset andevolution of severe weather, went unno-ticed in many cases. NOAA teams as-sembled to define requirements for newsatellites in 1983 insisted on more fre-quent, higher-resolution views from

sphere, to scrutinize cloud patterns forvarious signatures of developing (ordissipating) bad weather. At times fore-casters use images of atmospheric watervapor produced by another infraredchannel sensitive to upper level mois-ture. This channel depicts the gyres andwaves of atmospheric motion even inthe absence of clouds. A third IR chan-nel is tuned to reveal thermal gradientson the Earth’s surface, and can be usedto examine “hot spots” caused by forestfires, or to see the subtle temperaturedifferences between nighttime fog andsurrounding land (see Figure 4). Thefourth IR channel is designed to recog-nize the presence of low-level moisturein an otherwise clear region. Animatingsuccessive images, or combining datafrom different channels yields yet moreinformation about atmospheric struc-ture and motion.

How good is the view?While swirling loops of fuzzy cloud

tops have become the staple of highly-visual weather shows, the quality of theGOES images available to NOAA fore-casters and researchers far exceeds whatmakes it to local TV stations. In fact, thequality difference is staggering.

Stand at home plate in a majorleague ball park and scan the centerfield fence. Can you make out a ladybugcrawling across the beer advertisement?If you’ve got the vision of Supermanyou can, but now describe how dark orlight the bug is, on a scale of 1 to 1024.The GOES 8 visible sensors could do it,representing a visual acuity that is theequivalent of 40 times better than that

▲ Figure 2. Area observed by two GOES spacecraft in their operational positions.

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3September 1995 EARTH SYSTEM MONITOR

News briefsCollaborative effort to producenew U.S. snow climatology booklet

Nolan Doesken, Assistant State Clima-tologist from Colorado, completed his visitto the National Climatic Data Center(NCDC) under the State Climatologistexchange program. His work includedassembling sections of a snow climatologybooklet containing information on snowproperties, snow structure, measurementdifficulties, measurement inconsistencies,proper procedures for consistent measure-ments, record snowstorms, and a bibliog-raphy. Mr. Doeskin collaborated withNCDC personnel in gathering informationand photographs for the booklet. The1961-1990 climatic normals produced byNCDC for approximately 2000 U.S. loca-tions will be used in the preparation oftables and graphs of comparative snowfallstatistics, seasonal snowfall distribution,average snowfall, probability distribution,long-term variations and daily snow fre-quency.

This U.S. Snow Climatology Booklet willlikely become a popular resource for basicsnow information. It will help educateweather observers and assist them in re-cording more accurate and consistentsnow observations. This should lead tohigher quality and more homogeneousclimate records in the United States. Thebooklet is expected to be available by theend of 1995.

NGDC completes participation injoint project with Japan

The Solar-Terrestrial Physics Divisionof the National Geophysical Data Center(NGDC) has completed its participation inthe joint U.S.-Japan project to formalizethe exchange of global scientific data setsknown as the Global Observation Informa-tion Network (GOIN). This participationinvolved developing an interactive datasearch and browse capability through theWorld Wide Web for three Space Weather-related data sets selected as key by ourJapanese counterparts: ionosphericsounding, magnetic observations, andDefense Meteorological Satellite Programimagery. Japanese counterparts includedNagoya University, Kyoto University, andthe Communications Research Laboratory,all of which have developed similar capa-bilities for complementary data sets.

On June 6, 1995, a demonstrationwas held to illustrate how data are beingshared across the Pacific. The VIP demon-stration featured dignitaries in Washington

Spring, MD on June 13, 1995. TedHabermann accepted the awards on be-half of the NGDC.

NCDC hosts annual meeting of theAASC in Asheville, NC

The annual meeting of the AmericanAssociation of State Climatologists (AASC)was held at the National Climatic DataCenter (NCDC) in Asheville, NC, with 33of 49 state climatologists represented.Nearly 80 people attended the two-daymeeting, including retired state climatolo-gists Arnold Court (CA), Paul Waite (IA),John Purvis (SC), Wayne Decker (MO),and Gayther Plummer (GA). Many NCDCemployees involved in work with the stateclimatologists also attended.

After introductory remarks from AASCpresident David Smith, NCDC ProjectsCoordinator and organizer of this year’smeeting, John Hughes, briefed on localarrangements and activities such as toursof the facility and demonstrations ofNCDC’s OASIS online system. NCDC Di-rector Ken Hadeen gave an update onNCDC activities and emphasized the im-portance of participating in the state cli-matologist exchange program offeredyearly at NCDC. There were reports frommost of the states attending.

Other agency representatives attend-ing were David Phillips, Anna Deptuch-Stapf, and James Ross (AtmosphericEnvironment Program, Canada), BobBermowitz (NWS Climate Predictions Cen-ter), Phil Pasteris (U.S. Department of Agri-culture-Climate Data Access Facility),Roger Tucker (U.S. Forest Service), TomLockhart (Meteorological Standards Insti-tute), Bob Lefler and Tom Blackburn (NWSCooperative Program Office), Bob Man-ning (NWS Southern Region CooperativeProgram Manager), and Ray Motha (U.S.Dept. of Agriculture-Agricultural WeatherFacility).

Activities held during the meetingincluded an address by Dr. D. JamesBaker, Undersecretary of Commerce forOceans and Atmosphere and Administra-tor of NOAA, to the attendees at the an-nual banquet held at Grove Park InnCountry Club. David Smith (SC), PastPresident, turned over duties to MyronMolnau (ID), President. Pamela Naber-Knox (WI) was elected President-Elect andKeith Eggleston (NY) was elected to asecond term as Secretary-Treasurer.Laramie, Wyoming was voted as the sitefor the 1996 AASC meeting.

and Tokyo exchanging statements andinformation via a network teleconference.Attendees at the Washington site includedMr. Takakazu Kuriyama, Japanese Ambas-sador to the United States; Dr. John H.Gibbons, Assistant to the President forScience and Technology Policy; Mr. Timo-thy Wirth, Under Secretary of State forGlobal Affairs; Dr. D. James Baker, UnderSecretary of Commerce for Oceans andAtmosphere; and Dan Goldin, NASA Ad-ministrator. The event took place at theOld Executive Office Building, WhiteHouse Briefing Room.

NODC scientists visit Russia to pro-mote data exchange

The National Oceanographic DataCenter’s (NODC) Daphne Johnson andGodfrey Trammell visited the P.P. ShirshovInstitute of Oceanography in Moscow andthe Russian NODC and World Data Cen-ter-B (WDC-B) in Obninsk from August14-25, 1995. The purpose of the trip wasto conduct joint management activitieswith the WDC-B and work on the ex-change of oceanographic data throughthe Intergovernmental OceanographicCommission/International OceanographicData Exchange Global OceanographicData Archeology and Rescue (IOC/IODEGODAR) project.

The scientists reviewed oceano-graphic data sets currently held in Russianarchives which have not yet been submit-ted for exchange under the auspices ofthe GODAR project. Data managementprocedures and formats were also exam-ined for compatibility with NODC stan-dards. The trip resulted in a significantincrease in the number of unique data setsavailable to the world oceanographiccommunity.

NGDC honored for innovativework on the Internet

In recognition of its innovative workin providing environmental data online viathe Internet, the National GeophysicalData Center (NGDC) received the firstannual award for the best World WideWeb home page in NOAA.

The NGDC home page was also se-lected as the best home page in NESDIS.Both awards were presented at the NOAA/World Wide Web Workshop held in Silver


GOES, from page 2 needed to fill in the missing pieces ofthe tropical atmospheric jigsaw puzzle.Better input to models of hurricane pre-diction will mean better forecasts ofstorm track and intensity.

Where does the data go?Until the last five years, installing

and operating a ground receiving anddata processing system for full-resolu-tion GOES data was an expensive, un-wieldy proposition. Thanks totechnological advances in signal pro-cessing, several private companies nowoffer complete image-processing groundstations based on off-the-shelf comput-ers and antennas as small as three-meters in diameter. Price tags rangefrom $18K to $80K, depending on sys-tem functionality.

Most occasional users of GOES datawho are outside the realm of NationalWeather Service operations or otherNOAA research will find the traditionalsatellite data archive or online access toGOES images more feasible than install-ing a ground station.

NOAA’s satellite data archive holdsimages from GOES and other derivedGOES products (winds, moisture and

cloud fields, soundings, etc.) that areavailable in various formats. By early1996, a new NOAA service will offer

GOES data access online. The GOESSatellite Active Archive (GSAA) willhouse a sample of near-real timeproducts, including remappedimages similar to those to be usedat modernized Weather Service

forecast offices, to clients over theInternet. The GSAA will feature Web

access, a browse capability, and in-ventory and ordering options.

Around the cornerOther avenues of access toGOES data are sure to open as

the utility of the data from the GOESimager and sounder is demonstrated.Many Internet sites now maintain re-duced-resolution GOES image picturefiles for general purpose browsing anddownloading such as the image in Fig-ure 5. Commercially available imageanalysis packages and fourth-generationcomputer programming languages willallow rapid development of new appli-cations of the data for all Earth systemfields, especially in ocean sciences. Asnewer applications are unveiled, and as

and humidity profiles to be constructedthat resemble soundings made by theconventional radiosondes. GOES sound-ings are produced hourly over NorthAmerica, but when a two-GOES opera-tion is established, the instrument willbe used to scan ocean areas aroundstorms to provide glimpses into atmo-spheric structure where no radiosondesor other ground-base temperature obser-vations exist.

In preliminary experi-ments earlier this year, nu-

merical forecast modelpredictions of rainfall

were improvedslightly butconsistentlywith the addi-

tion of GOES-8 soundings. The NationalWeather Service is planning a morecomplete battery of tests when bothnew GOES are in operational positions.

Sounding information should proveespecially useful in determining thestate of the atmosphere around develop-ing tropical storms and hurricanes overocean areas where data for forecastmodels is sparse or infrequent. Continu-ously staring at a storm, the GOESsounder will provide the Olympian view

space from future GOES.GOES-8 and its followers will an-

swer the demand, yielding up to 8 viewsper hour across all five spectral channelsfor forecasters in modernized weatheroffices. In doing so, the GOES systemwill serve up a bounty of data for futureatmospheric research.

Yet, even more frequent views arepossible. NOAA scientists have beenthrilled by scenes of severe thun-derstorms and tropicalstorms taken every minuteduring special researchevents. When viewed in ani-mation at this time scale, theatmosphere becomes a bub-bling cauldron of thermal inter-action. Insights intoatmospheric physical pro-cesses afforded by the newspacecraft are unprecedented.

Meteorologists will use imag-ery to differentiate between ice andsuper-cooled water clouds to aidaviation forecasts. They will detect thereturn of moisture from the Gulf ofMexico following the passage of winterstorms and analyze intense, localizedsnow squalls developing in the lee ofthe Great Lakes before radar makesthem visible.

The GOES SounderThe second primary instrument on

GOES is an atmospheric sounder, whichyields profiles of atmospheric tempera-ture and moisture for input to numeri-cal weather prediction models andanalyses of atmospheric stability, pre-cipitable water content, surface skintemperature, and other parameters.

The GOES sounder is a 19-channel(1 visible, 18 infrared) radiometer thatoperates in a fashion similar to the im-ager. However, while the imager canscan an area the size of the U.S. inaround four minutes, the sounder takesnearly 45 minutes, scanning longer toacquire a higher signal from each radio-metric band.

Different vertical regions of theatmosphere absorb and emit outgoinginfrared radiation differently as a func-tion of wavelength and moisture con-tent of the observed region. Assemblingthe radiance measurements recorded bythe GOES sounder allows temperature

▲ Figure 3. Graphic of new GOES satel-lite. The spacecraft “bus” which housesthe instrument is a cube roughly 2.4meters (8 feet) long on each side.


▲ Figure 5. The first image taken by the new GOES-9 satellite, avisible-light view from 36,800 kilometers up, taken June 12, 1995.Such sample images are routinely available on many Internet sites.

the community of meteorologists whodemand most from the new GOES sys-tem grows with the continued imple-mentation of modernized weatherservice offices, a feedback loop into re-quirements-setting for the next genera-tion of GOES will grow.

ConclusionNOAA’s newly-deployed GOES

spacecraft carry the best civilian instru-ments ever built for meteorology. Earlystudies with the data have demonstratedthey yield far more detailed cloud andmoisture field analyses for operationalforecasting and atmospheric scienceresearch than ever before possible. Thepotential for the development of new,unanticipated derived products is high,and the availability of data to peoplenot historically GOES users is increas-ingly easy and inexpensive. A futureGOES active archive service will furtherimprove access to the new data in 1996.

AcknowledgementsSpecial thanks to Sharon Souther of NOAA/

NESDIS for her preparation of the graphics forthis article. ■

▲ Figure 4. While Hurricane Erin was marching on Florida, northeastern U.S. citieswere also enduring a heatwave, as observed by GOES-8 at 8:00 AM on August 2, 1995.This thermal infrared image shows the urban heat-island effect (dark hot-spots are majorcities), as well as the cooler waters of the Great Lakes and the Gulf of Maine (lightergray). Note the sprawling megalopolis between New York and Washington, D.C.

Information about GOES

The following NOAA/NESDIS contact addresses are pro-vided for individuals who would like more informationconcerning the GOES program and associated data andproducts, or technical help in downloading GOES infor-mation via the WWW:

For information on GOES products:Jamison HawkinsGOES Product ManagerPhone: 301-457-5125E-mail: [email protected]

For information on the GOES spacecraft:Gerald DittbernerGOES Program ManagerPhone: 301-457-5277E-mail: [email protected] .gov

For archived GOES data:National Climatic Data CenterPhone: 704-271-4800E-mail: [email protected]

For online WWW access to information on GOES andother NOAA programs via the NOAA Home Page:

http://www.noaa.gov/


Michael Crowe andC. Bruce BakerNational ClimaticData CenterNOAA/NESDIS

The Global ClimatePerspectives System(GCPS) is a project withinNOAA’s Climate and Glo-bal Change Programfounded on the principlethat good data manage-ment requires not onlydata, delivered by com-puterized managementsystems, but also support-ing metadata and, impor-tantly, scientific analysesof both. The data sets andproducts within GCPS areconsidered research qual-ity and are not acceptedunless they have under-gone a rigorous, peer-reviewed process ofcollection, building andquality control.

GCPS is a joint research projectbetween two laboratories of NOAA:The Global Climate Laboratory of theNational Climatic Data Center (NCDC)in Asheville, North Carolina, and theClimate Diagnostics Center (CDC) ofthe Environmental Research Laborato-ries in Boulder, Colorado. The goals ofGCPS are to:• Study the existence and magnitudeof climate changes on a global scale;• Create high quality global climatereference datasets and products and toprovide access to this information tothe research community;• Create a set of computer tools to aidclimate research.

A significant component of GCPSis the gridded climatological anomaly

The Global Climate Perspectives SystemGCPS provides access to high-quality global climate change data and information

products feature which encompassesseveral data sets selectable over varioustime scales and spatial domains. Withthe advent of Mosaic/World Wide Webon the Internet, users have the oppor-tunity to easily access these climato-logical products and browse anddownload them along with accompa-nying data and metadata.

The interactive online gridded cli-matological products are produced us-ing The Grid Analysis and DisplaySystem (GRADS) developed at the Cen-ter for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Interac-tions, University of Maryland.

Global land temperature and precipita-tion anomalies

The monthly station precipitationand temperature data for which anoma-lies were produced is from the GlobalHistorical Climatology Network (ver-sion 1) data set which was produced byNCDC and the Department of Energyin 1992 (Vose, et al., 1992). UsingGCPS, the version 1 data were updatedusing global monthly CLIMAT reports

gathered through the Global Telecom-munications System (GTS) of the WorldMeteorological Organization.

These data have been updatedthrough 1994 and run through a rigor-ous quality control scheme developedunder the auspices of GCPS. The qual-ity control techniques are described in(Baker, Eischeid, et al, 1994). The objec-tive estimation of missing data is per-formed prior to the quality control. Thedevelopment of the QC procedures thatare in the process of being imple-mented required extensive experimen-tation and analyses of numerous spatialinterpolation methods.

Along with the data, summary sta-tistics and flags are provided. The dataare then gridded at 5 degree by 5 degreesquare resolution. This updated, value-added subset of GHCN is termed theNOAA Baseline Climatological Dataset.Figure 1 shows an example of a selectedgridded display of global, annual landtemperature anomalies for the year1985. There is limited data over theoceans and a number of data-sparse

Global Climate LaboratoryClimate Perspectives BranchNOAA/NESDIS/NCDC151 Patton Ave.Asheville, NC 28801-5001E-mail: [email protected]

▲ Figure 1. A gray scale rendering of a color image depicting an example of a selected gridded displayof global, annual temperature anomalies for the year 1985.


areas, particularly in Af-rica and the Amazon re-gion of South America.

Version 2 of GHCN isset for release in 1995 andwill contain much moredata along with a homo-geneity adjusted version,in which most of theeffects of changes in in-strumentation and sta-tion locations have beenremoved (Peterson andEasterling, 1994).

Merged land/oceandataset

In June 1995, theNOAA Baseline Climato-logical Dataset was aug-mented with a griddedocean anomaly data set ofsea surface temperaturesto give a truly globalanomaly product. Theocean data set is a compi-lation of data from theUnited Kingdom Meteo-rological Office and the

▲ Figure 3. The GCPS can produce time series products of temperature and precipita-tion for stations or aggregates of stations. This plot shows annual global temperatureanomalies from 1900 through 1993, based on land stations. – continued on page 8

Comprehensive Oceanic and Atmo-spheric Data Set (COADS). Monthlyupdates are performed by ERL usingGTS ship reports. Figure 2 depicts thismerged land/ocean, gridded anomalyproduct.

User interface to gridded productsThe user interface was developed

using the fill-out forms feature of theHypertext Mark-up Language (HTML)within Mosaic. This allows the user tocreate a contour map or a time seriesplot of temperature anomalies. Thecolor scale represents anomalies in de-grees Celsius.

The user is queried as to the type ofgraph to be generated:1. Contour Plot2. Time Series Plot

The geographic coverage for theplot is then selectable as follows:1. Global2. Northern Hemisphere3. Southern Hemisphere4. North America5. Africa6. Australia7. South America8. Asia9. User defined area

▲ Figure 2. In June 1995, the NOAA Baseline Climatological Dataset was merged with a griddedocean anomaly dataset of sea surface temperatures. The image depicts this merged land/oceangridded anomaly product.


GCPS, from page 7

If number 9 is selected the usermay input maximum and minimumlatitude and longitude to define anarea. For a contour anomaly plot theuser must select the year and monthdesired. The ending year and month areonly used if a time-series plot is se-lected. Output format (GIF or Post-script) and background color are alsoselectable.

GCPS can produce time series prod-ucts of temperature and precipitationfor stations or aggregates of stationsbased on selected geographical area.Figure 3 shows annual, global tempera-ture anomalies from 1900 through1993, based on land stations. The baseperiod for anomaly calculation is 1951-1980 and the anomalies are shown intenths of a degree C.

Station data extraction/client serverprototype

In the last few months, work hasprogressed on a prototype client-serverGCPS interface which will allow fullGCPS functionality to be available to amuch wider user community. The databrowsing and extraction subsystem,named Xtract, is a graphical tool whichuses the Xerox WWW/Mosaic mapserver to generate geographic map im-ages, and is being written in the Tcl/Tkinterpreted language. An interestingpart of this development is the onlinehypermedia help feature which aidsusers in navigating through the Xtracttool in an efficient manner.

Figure 4 depicts the main Xtractwindow. The user has the capability toselect data via a map interface as shownin the figure, and also through selectingdata sets and by station. The user mayselect data by drawing a circle or boxaround a geographical area on the mapinterface. The map rotate and zoomfeatures aid the user in data extraction.

MetadataThe backbone of GCPS is a newly

designed, developed and documenteddatabase which is also being used by awide variety of other NCDC applica-tions. The database has a rules-baseddesign and is intended to be self-de-scriptive with the structure of the data-base (its schema) and the items itdescribes being contained within thedatabase itself. The scope of the data-

base includes not only the geophysicalparameters but also all supportingmetadata including station history in-formation.

Products available from the GCPSThe suite of gridded climatological

anomaly products available from GCPSincludes:• NOAA Baseline Climatological Dataset

- Seasonal and annual temperaturedata;

- Monthly temperature data;- Seasonal and annual precipitation

data; and,- Monthly precipitation data

• Microwave Sounding Unit (MSU) LowerTropospheric Data (surface-500 mb)

- Seasonal and annual temperaturedata; and

- Monthly temperature data.

Further information on the GCPSand its associated products can beobtained from NCDC by contacting:National Climatic Data CenterNOAA/NESDIS151 Patton AvenueAsheville, NC 28801-5001Phone: 704-271-4800Fax: 704-271-4876E-mail: [email protected]

or through the NCDC Home Page onthe World Wide Web at URL:http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov.

ReferencesBaker, C.B., J.K. Eischeid, T.R. Karl, and H.F.

Diaz, 1994. The quality control of long-term climatological data using objectivedata analysis. Accepted for publication byJournal of Climate, 1995.

Peterson, Thomas C. and David R. Easterling,1994. Creation of homogeneous compos-ite climatological reference series. Interna-tional Journal of Climatology, Volume 14,1994.

Vose, R.S., R.L. Schmoyer, P.M. Steurer, T.C.Peterson, R.R. Heim, T.R. Karl, and J.K.Eischeid, 1992. The Global Historical Cli-matology Network: Long-Term MonthlyTemperature, Precipitation, Sea-level, andStation Pressure Data. Envt. Sci. Div., Pub-lication No. 3912, Carbon Dioxide Infor-mation and Analysis Center, Oak RidgeNational Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN. 189pp.

AcknowledgementsSpecial thanks are due to Tom Carroll and

Danny Brinegar of the National Climatic DataCenter’s GCPS Project Team for their help inthe preparation of this article. ■

▲ Figure 4. Prototype client-server GCPS interface. The data browsing and extractionsubsystem, named Xtract, is a graphical tool which utilizes the Xerox WWW/Mosaic mapserver to generate geographic map images. Through this main window, users may selectdata via a map interface as shown or by specifying particular data sets or stations.


Unique climatological datasets made accessible to users through FTP and the WWW

A new dataset nowavailable online is theNational Weather Ser-vice (NWS) Summary ofDay Data. The set gen-erally covers the periodof 1948-1995 for allNWS sites, includingover 1000 historicalstations and over 400currently active sta-tions. It includes allobserved elements, suchas max/min tempera-ture, mean wind speed,precipitation, snowdepth, mean dew point,and percentage of pos-sible sunshine.

The file,‘fsod.READ-ME’, de-scribes the data in de-tail. These data areavailable through theWWW or by FTP in thedirectory: /pub/data/fsod. The WWW inter-face includes graphical

displaytools for plotting thedata (Figure 2).The Global Summary ofDay Data has beennewly updated andincorporates severalnew features, includingavailability in a com-pressed form for quicker

downloads, as well as a set of completeASCII text files. Additional quality con-trol has also been incorporated into thesystem.

This dataset has good worldwidecoverage of over 8,000 global stations,both land- and ocean-based. The periodcurrently covered is from January 1994through July 1995; normally the latestmonth’s data is placed online aboutone month after the end of the datamonth. The latest month is now avail-able in both English and metric units.

The Global Summary of Day Dataincludes 18 elements, such as meantemperature, max/min temperature,mean dew point, mean wind speed,max wind speed, mean pressure, meanvisibility, precipitation, and snowdepth. A ‘readme.txt’ file with a com-plete explanation of the dataset alongwith a GIF format image of station loca-tions is provided for users (Figure 3).

▲ Figure 2 Through NCDC’s Climate Visualization(CLIMVIS) System, users can produce and download visualdisplays of the NWS Summary of Day Data dataset.

National Climatic Data Center151 Patton AvenueAsheville, NC 28801-5001Phone: 704-271-4800Fax: 704-271-4876E-mail: [email protected]

Neal Lott and Tom RossNational Climatic Data CenterNOAA/NESDIS

The following is a short review ofnew and just recently updated onlinedatasets available from NCDC via theInternet. Some of these are accessiblevia direct File Transfer Protocol (FTP)and some via the World Wide Web(WWW) with a user interface such asMosaic (Figure 1). The following areinstructions for accessing the data:For FTP -

Address is ftp.ncdc.noaa.govLogin is ‘ftp’ or ‘anonymous’Password is your e-mail address

For WWW -URL is http://www.ncdc.noaa. govNo login or password neededUse mouse to click menu items

New and recently updatedonline datasets available from NCDC

▲ Figure 1. The NCDCHome Page on the WorldWide Web, which is ac-cessible to users with agraphical interface suchas Mosaic. Through theNCDC Home Page, userscan easily obtain a widevariety of data productsand information offeredby the NCDC, includingthe datasets reviewed inthis article. – continued on page 14


New bathymetry of the Great Lakes being compiledas part of NOAA‘s Great Lakes data rescue effort

Lake Michigan bathymetry completed in joint effort between NGDC and the Great Lakes ERL

Troy L. Holcombe 1

National Geophysical Data CenterNOAA/NESDIS

David Reid 2

Great Lakes EnvironmentalResearch LaboratoryNOAA/OAR

David L. Divins 3

CIRESUniversity of Colorado - Boulder

New bathymetry of Lake Michiganhas been compiled as a component of aNOAA project to rescue and make moreaccessible Great Lakes lakefloor geologi-cal and geophysical data. This bathym-etry was compiled at a scale of1:250000, with a contour interval of 5meters. This project is a cooperativeeffort between investigators at theNOAA National Geophysical Data Cen-ter and the NOAA Great Lakes Envi-ronmental Research Laboratory.

The bathymetry and accompany-ing explanation of the geomorphologywere presented at the recent 1995 An-nual Meeting of the International Asso-ciation for Great Lakes Research, held atMichigan State University in East Lan-sing, Michigan. Bathymetric data hasbeen collected from the Great Lakes insupport of nautical charting for at least150 years by the U.S. Army Corps ofEngineers (prior to 1970), the NOAA

National Ocean Service(since 1970), and theCanadian HydrographicService. Whereas inseveral previous exer-cises generalizedbathymetry of LakeMichigan was com-piled, the entire array of540,000 accumulatedhistoric soundings werenever, until now, usedto systematically maplakefloor topography inthe greatest detail pos-sible. Compilations ofthis type, never a smalltask, are now mademore manageable by aconfluence of technol-ogy.

A high-qualitybathymetric chart is ofgreat value as a basemap for geological andlimnological sciences aswell as for decision-making. Modeling oflake circulation andsediment transport, andpredicting the effects ofclimate change andtoxic waste remediationon the lakeshore, areonly a few of the thingsthat can be done betterand more accuratelywith the availability ofa good base map (Figure1). In addition, bathym-etry is of interest forcuriosity’s sake and certainly makes anattractive wall display. Sport fishermenand recreational sailors also find valuein having a good bathymetric map onhand.

Spacing of data control tracklines isgenerally about 2000m for the openlake and ranges from 200m to 600m fornearshore areas. In preparation forbathymetric contouring, digital sound-ings were converted to metric units andplotted in color; and separate colors

were assigned to the various depthranges. From the paper sheets, contoursin metric units were generated directlyon overlays; these contours were thenreduced to the compilation scale of1:250,000 and patched in. Compilationsheets were scanned and vectorized;and the resulting digital vector bathy-metric contour data base in geographiccoordinates constitutes the primaryproduct.

Maps and color posters at most any

1 National Geophysical Data CenterNOAA/NESDIS E/GC3325 BroadwayBoulder, CO 80303E-mail: [email protected]

2 NOAA/OAR/GLERL2205 Commonwealth Blvd.Ann Arbor, MI 48105E-mail: [email protected]

3 National Geophysical Data CenterNOAA/NESDIS E/GC3325 BroadwayBoulder, CO 80303E-mail: [email protected]

▲ Figure 1. Shaded relief image of Lake Michiganbathymetry. The box corresponds to the area shown inFigure 2.


scale and projection for all or any por-tion of the lake can be generated fromthe digital data base. The digital con-tour data can be loaded into geographicinformation systems as a base layer andin this way be used for all kinds ofgraphic presentations. Known lake floorphysiographic features are revealedmore accurately, and several featuresare revealed for the first time. For ex-ample, Figure 2 depicts a drowned fanlying at depths of 50 to 60m whichdominates the lake floor east of Wash-ington Island, at the end of the DoorPeninsula, and a large drowned riverchannel leads upstream from this fan,across the floor of Green Bay.

This fan and channel have prob-ably resulted from catastrophic over-flow of Lake Superior into LakeMichigan across the Michigan UpperPeninsula during the Lake Chippewalow stand. Geologists have been specu-lating for over a century about the his-tory of the large valley extendingnorthward from Little Bay de Nocacross the peninsula of northern Michi-gan to Au Train Bay on Lake Superior.These earlier interpretations presenteddifficulties because only higher, notlower, late glacial and postglacial lakelevels were assumed.

Once the likelihood of a postglaciallowstand in Lake Michigan was estab-lished, University of Illinois ProfessorHough (1955) recognized that the AuTrain - Whitefish Valley, together withthe submerged channel extendingacross Green Bay, was probably the siteof the main outlet of Lake Duluth intoLake Michigan at a time when LakeMichigan level was low.

About 1968, University of North-ern Michigan Professor John Hughesobtained the Lake Survey soundingsheets from the immediate area of theWhitefish Channel and described thebottom morphology. He discovered theexistence of the large fan, here namedthe Whitefish Fan, which lies at thedownslope end of the Whitefish Chan-nel and has a top depth in the range of50 to 55m. Hughes (1989) attributedformation of the Whitefish Channeland Fan to short-term, possibly cata-strophic drainage of Lake Superior,when western Lake Superior was openwater but eastern Lake Superior wasfilled with ice of the Marquettereadvance and the St. Mary’s River out-

▲ Figure 2. New bathymetry of the Whitefish Fan and Channel, Lake Michigan.Contour interval is five meters.

let was blocked. Hughes recognizedthat the level of the top of the fan con-stitutes a record of the level of LakeChippewa at this location.

This new bathymetry gives an inte-grated view of the Channel and Fanand the topography of the surroundinglake floor, which is more detailed thanthan that published by Hughes (1989).It demonstrates that there are no othersubmerged fans or channels in north-ern Lake Michigan of anywhere nearcomparable size. The twenty-meterdifference between Lake Chippewalevel here and Lake Chippewa level at

its outlet is accounted for by the differ-ence in subsequent isostatic reboundwhich has occurred between the twolocalities.

ReferencesHough, J.L., 1955. Lake Chippewa, a low stage

of Lake Michigan indicated by bottomsediments. Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull., v.66, p.957-968.

Hughes, J. L., 1989. When Green Bay was avalley: the Au Train-Whitefish-Green Bayspillway. In Palmquist, J.C., ed., Wiscon-sin’s Door Peninsula, Perin Press, Appleton,WI, p. 49-65. ■


U.S. Joint Global Ocean Flux Study data onlineNODC participates in bringing U.S. JGOFS data to the World Wide Web

George HeimerdingerNational Oceanographic Data CenterNOAA/NESDIS

For the past 6 years, the NationalOceanographic Data Center (NODC),through the efforts of its Northeast Liai-son Office at the Woods Hole Oceano-graphic Institution (WHOI), has beenactively providing project data manage-ment services to the U.S. component ofthe Joint Global Ocean Flux Study(JGOFS) program. JGOFS is an interna-tionally coordinated program studyingthe global fluxes of carbon and associ-ated biogenic elements in the ocean.The multidisciplinary nature of theJGOFS data set prompted NODC to con-tribute support to the data management

task as it exposedNODC to data sets itseldom archived.

Initially, the U.S.JGOFS Data Manage-ment Office wasstaffed solely byNODC with the datamanagement servicesfocusing on inven-tory, accession, qual-ity control, documen-tation, and distri-bution at the filelevel. These taskswere considered in-terim steps in supportof the then beingdeveloped DistributedData ManagementSystem (DDMS)adopted by the U.S.JGOFS Program. Thesystems developmentteam coupled the

evolving DDMS to theemerging technologiesof the World WideWeb (WWW).

Today, access tothe U.S. JGOFS data isvia a Web-hostedhome page (Figure 1).The present U.S. JGOFSdata management of-fice (DMO) has beenexpanded to a threemember task team, oneof which is supportedby NODC. In additionto the initial data man-agement activities, therole of the DMO hasbeen expanded to ad-dress DDMS mainte-nance and Web Serverissues.

The U.S. JGOFS Home Page sup-ports the standard array of programdescriptive materials, and over 1000biogeochemical data files and their sup-porting metadata from two field pro-grams (North Atlantic Bloom Experi-ment and Equatorial Pacific). The HomePage also points to data being served bythe two U.S. JGOFS time-series stationsin Bermuda (the Bermuda AtlanticTime-Series Study (BATS)) and Hawaii(the Hawaii Ocean Time-Series study(HOTS)).

In addition, the Home Page pointsto JGOFS related data collected byNOAA’s Pacific Marine EnvironmentalLaboratory (PMEL) and the AtlanticOceanographic and MeteorologicalLaboratory (AOML). In the very nearfuture, data from the Arabian Sea fieldprogram will appear on the system, withthe field program for the Southern

▲ Figure 2. An image of sea surface temperature computedfrom AVHRR data in connection with the Bermuda AtlanticTime-Series Study (BATS). The image was produced by theSatellite Laboratory of the Bermuda Biological Station for Re-search, Bermuda.

▲ Figure 1. The U.S. JGOFS Home Page, which is adminis-tered by Christine Hammond at the U.S. JGOFS Data Man-agement Office, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.

National Oceanographic Data CenterNOAA/NESDIS/McLean LaboratoryWoods Hole Oceanographic InstitutionWoods Hole, MA 02543E-mail: [email protected]


Ocean to begin within a year.With the DDMS overlaying the

Web, the user community has an arrayof tools for plotting, selecting, merging,and calculating prior to down loading adata set. Through hypertext capabilities,users can view JGOFS and JGOFS-relateddata plotted by investigators in graphi-cal format (such as the plots shown infigures 2 and 3). The system is currentlybeing interrogated at the rate of ap-proximately 300 requests a day. Thesuccessful installation of this system canbe attributed to the foresight of the U.SJGOFS Steering Committee’s insistencethat a data management element beincluded in the overall design of theU.S. JGOFS program. Another measure-ment of the success of this system isevidenced by the adoption of this datamanagement model by other programs.

The address to the JGOFS Homepage on the World Wide Web is:

http://www1.whoi.edu/Comments on the U.S. JGOFS WebServer are encouraged, and a form isincluded on the home page for users’remarks. ■

The National Oceanographic DataCenter (NODC) is pleased to announcea new CD-ROM set containing the Sur-face Current (Ship Drift) Data Archiveobtained from the Naval OceanographicOffice and the World Ocean CirculationExperiment (WOCE) Subsurface Floatdata released by the WOCE SubsurfaceFloat Data Assembly Center (located atthe Woods Hole Oceanographic Institu-tion. The two-volume set also containsformat descriptions and citation files forspecific experiments.

The surface current (Ship Drift) filecontains over 4 million surface currentobservations, almost all of which wereobtained by the ship drift method. Date,data source, position, and current direc-tion and speed are recorded for eachobservation. With the exception ofabout 5,100 observations taken usingthe Geomagnetic Electrokinetograph(GEK), these are not instrument-mea-sured current data. Rather, they are indi-rect determinations of ocean surfacecurrents based on the ship drift method.

In the ship drift method, the differ-ence between a ship’s dead-reckoned

position (determined from its previousposition, speed, and heading) and actualposition determined from a naviga-tional fix is ascribed solely to the effectof surface currents. These data are con-tained in disc 1 of the set.

In addition to the data files, disc 2of this set provides surface current datasummaries in the NODC Long Summaryformat. These data are summarized byModified Canadian 10o square, 1o

square, and month for all years. A Post-script file showing the modified Cana-dian 10o square numbers is also included.

The subsurface float data set on disc1 consists primarily of SOFAR (SoundFixing and Ranging) and RAFOS (SOFARspelled backwards) float trajectories.These floats are ballasted for a targetdepth and acoustically tracked. Somerecently released ALACE (AutonomousLagrangian Circulation Explorer) floattrajectories are included in this floatdata set. ALACE is a subsurface float thatcycles vertically from a depth where it isneutrally buoyant to the surface whereit is located by, and relays to, SystemArgos satellites.

The subsurface float data has ap-proximately 475 float trajectories and432 float-years of data. Float depthsrange from a few hundred meters toseveral thousand, with most observa-tions falling in the 700 m to 2000 mdepth range. Most of the trajectories arelocated in the North Atlantic and wereobtained as part of a variety of experi-ments during 1972-1992. Some recentobservations reflect work being per-formed in the Pacific and South Atlan-tic.

For more information or purchasesof this CD-ROM set, contact:

National Oceanographic Data CenterUser Services BranchNOAA/NESDIS E/OC211825 Connecticut Ave., NWWashington, DC 20235Phone: 202-606-4549Fax: 202-606-4586E-mail: [email protected]

—Andrew Allegra and Gary KeullNational Oceanographic Data Center

NOAA/NESDIS ■

▲ Figure 3. View of the three-dimensional equatorial temperature field in August 1992,looking towards the northwest. The equator is represented by a dashed line. This dataplot was produced from JGOFS cruise data by Michael Sawyer, June Firing and PierreFlament of the Satellite Ocean Laboratory, University of Hawaii. The color version of theplot can be accessed through the WWW at: http://satftp.soest.hawaii.edu/jgofs.html.

Surface current and subsurface float data on CD-ROM


NOAA/NESDIS/NCDC151 Patton AvenueAsheville, NC 28801-5001Phone: 704-271-4800Fax: 704-271-4876Internet: orders@ncdc. noaa.gov

NCDC sometimes ‘reboots’ itsonline systems at about 4:00AM Eastern Standard Time,resulting in temporary difficul-ties in downloading. Technicalquestions concerning the dataand other problems may bedirected to Mr. Neal Lott (E-mail: [email protected]) orMr. Tom Ross (E-mail:tross@ncdc. noaa. gov) at NCDC.They may be contacted byphone at: 704-271-4995 or704-271-4994 and by Fax at704-271-4876. ■

The Global Summary of Day Data canbe accessed through the WWW or byFTP in the directory: /pub/data/globalsod.

Monthly Precipitation Data for theU.S. Cooperative and National WeatherService Sites has also been updated. Theperiod covered is from 1948-1994, withsome data acquired as far back as 1900.Over 8000 stations recorded are cur-rently active; historical data coversthousands more inactive stations.Monthly and annual precipitationamounts for all years are available.

Each U.S. state is available as anindividual ASCII text file; a completedataset for all states can be downloadedas a 17 MB compressed file. A ‘readme.txt’ file provides users with detailedinformation on the data. Monthly Pre-cipitation Data is available through theWWW (Figure 4) or by FTP in the direc-tory: /pub/data/coop-precip.

Other datasets and items availablefrom NCDC via the WWW include:• Various data inventories (also in FTPdirectory: /pub/data/inventories.)• World War II era Summary of DayData (also in FTP directory: /pub/data/ww-ii-data.)• A subset of the ComprehensiveOcean-Atmosphere Dataset (ocean-based data.)

• The Global Climate Perspectives Sys-tem (graphical display of long-termdata; see article on theGCPS on page 6 of theEarth System Monitor,Vol. 6/1.)• The Global HistoricalClimatology Networkdataset (long-termmonthly data.)• The U.S. HistoricalClimatology Networkdataset (long-termmonthly data.)• The Satellite ActiveArchive (browse/inven-tory system for satellitedata.)• Publications such as:NCDC Products andServices Guide, the Cli-mate Variations Bulletin,and Technical Reportson weather events (e.g.,1993 Midwest flood-ing.)

Data and publica-tions can be orderedoff-line by contactingthe National ClimaticData Center at:

Climate ServicesBranch

▲ Figure 3. A gray scale rendering of a GIF format image which depicts station locations from theGlobal Summary of Day Data. Station locations are marked in white. Global Summary of Data isone of the many datasets available by FTP or through the WWW.

NCDC online data, from page 9

▲ Figure 4. The NCDC has updated its dataset ofMonthly Precipitation Data for the U.S. Cooperative andNational Weather Service (NWS) Sites. As shown in thisscreen image of the WWW user interface, each U.S. state isavailable as an individual file or the entire dataset may bedownloaded as a 17 MB compressed file.


Data productsand services

NCDC announces InternationalStation Meteorological ClimateSummary Version 3 CD-ROM

The National Climatic Data CenterNCDC) announces the availability of theInternational Station Meteorological Cli-mate Summary (ISMCS) Version 3 CD-ROM. This CD-ROM is the third in a seriesproduced at the Federal Climate Complexin Asheville, NC, as a joint product ofNCDC, the U.S. Navy, and the U.S. AirForce. It contains detailed climatologicalsummaries for about 2200 internationallocations along with brief summaries forabout 5000 other locations.

The software is IBM-compatible andallows the user to view, print, export, andeven graph (histograms of selected tables,wind roses, etc.) the data. The user canselect the station or region in a number ofways, such as by World MeteorologicalOrganization (WMO) station number,individual country, alphabetical sort, lati-tude/longitude area, or mouse-click on auser-defined map. This upgrade fromVersion 2 includes 1100 additional non-U.S. locations with detailed summaries,several additional tables and narratives,and new graphical plots of selectedtables.

The package includes 38 differentclimatic tables/summaries, such as:• A one-page climate summary for thestation with monthly averages and ex-tremes of temperature, precipitation(amount and/or frequency), cloudiness,humidity, winds, and occurrence of vari-ous weather phenomena (e.g., fog, thun-derstorms).• Frequency distribution of daily max/min temperatures by month.• Bivariate distribution of dry vs. wetbulb temperatures.• Frequency distribution of wind direc-tion vs. wind speed by month-hour.Contact: NCDC

Ocean drilling program articleavailable online

The National Geophysical Data Cen-ter (NGDC) has posted an online versionof the text, graphics, and data of “Revisedchronology of neogene DSDP holes fromthe world ocean” (Lazarus, et al., 1995)from the Ocean Drilling Program TechnicalNote No. 24. An electronic copy of thepublication and associated data were sentto NGDC by the senior author for distri-bution as an alternative to the 301-pageprinted volume. Data available for down-

CONTACT POINTS

National Climatic Data Center (NCDC)Climate Services:704-271-4800

Fax: 704-271-4876E-mail: [email protected]

Satellite Services:704-271-4800


National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC)303-497-6958


National Oceanographic Data Center(NODC)

202-606-4549Fax: 202-606-4586


NOAA Environmental Services Data Directory

301-713-0572(Gerry Barton)


NOAA Central LibraryReference Services:

301-713-2600Fax: 301-713-4599


for NCDC customers, and would alsoresult in a significant savings cost forNCDC and ultimately the taxpayer.

Effective July 10, 1995, the NCDCbegan servicing both satellite and in situdata requests from its Asheville center.Satellite data requests can be forwardedto NCDC by mail, fax, or e-mail at thecontact address listed.Contact: NCDC

Volume 5 of the World OceanAtlas 1994 issued

The National Oceanographic DataCenter’s (NODC) Ocean Climate Labora-tory has released the fifth volume in itsWorld Ocean Atlas 1994 series, subtitledInter-annual Variabilty of Upper OceanThermal Structure. The new atlas extendsan earlier work entitled ClimatologicalAtlas of the World Ocean (Levitus, 1982).

This volume contains maps of yearlyin situ upper ocean temperature anomalyfields at selected standard levels of theworld ocean, computed on a one-degreelatitude-longitude grid, for the 1960-1990 period. The fields used to generatethe maps were computed by an objectiveanalyses of all historical temperature dataavailable from the NODC, plus data gath-ered as a result of two data managementprojects: the NODC Oceanographic DataArcheology and Rescue (NODAR) projectand the Intergovernmental Oceano-graphic Commission (IOC) GlobalOceanographic Data Archeology andRescue (GODAR) project.

Figures showing the results of multi-variate analyses of the fields, linear tem-perature trends occurring in the upperocean, and difference fields between se-lected years are also presented in this newatlas.Contact: NODC

NGDC issues prototype CD-ROMset in support of GLOBE project

In support of the international GlobalLand One-km Base Elevation (GLOBE)project, the NGDC has released a new,two-volume prototype CD-ROM set.Highlighted on these CDs are 30-minutedigital elevation models developed fromthe U.S. Department of Defense’s DigitalTerrain Elevation Data 3-second data.Coverage includes most of the northernhemisphere, and contains average, maxi-mum, and minimum elevation grids.Contact: NGDC

loading include stratigraphic data filesand age depth plots for Deep Sea DrillingProgram holes, as well as the programthat generates the age depth plots. Thisposting is part of the NGDC/World DataA for Marine Geology and Geophysics‘cooperation with the Ocean Drilling Pro-gram (ODP) to offer digital ODP data.Contact: NGDC

NCDC merges satellite data ser-vices operations in Asheville, NC

Approximately one year ago theNCDC initiated a study to determine howsatellite data services could be improvedto better meet the needs of its customers.One of the recommendations resultingfrom this study was to merge the satellitecustomer service operation in CampSprings, MD with the customer serviceoperation at NCDC‘s Asheville, NC loca-tion. The study showed that merging thetwo operations in Asheville would providea higher quality and more timely service


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NODC and NGDC directors retireNOAA’s National Environmental

Satellite, Data, and Information Service(NESDIS) regretfully announces the re-tirement of directors of two of theNOAA/NESDIS national data centers,Dr. Michael A. Chinnery of the NationalGeophysical Data Center (NGDC) andBruce C. Douglas of the NationalOceanographic Data Center (NODC).Both men were instrumental in spear-heading long overdue technologicaladvances which have since propelledNESDIS data centers into the 21st cen-tury. Using their technical knowledgeand insightful management, each con-tributed greatly to the advancement ofscience and through their long years ofservice, greatly benefited the world geo-physical and marine science communi-ties.

Formerly on the faculty of BrownUniversity and later the MassachusettsInstitute of Technology (MIT), Dr.Chinnery holds both a Ph.D. and a Doc-torate of Science in seismology. Dr.Chinnery became Director of NGDC in1982. One highlight of his 13-year ten-ure as director was the production byNGDC in 1987 of the first CD-ROMissued by the Department of Commerce,a collection of solar–terrestrial data.With other scientists he formed thePaleoclimatology Branch in NGDC andcontributed to the Defense Meteorologi-cal Satellite Program (DMSP).

Under the management of Dr.Chinnery, the NGDC became a leader inusing Internet resources to improve dataaccess and developed an NGDC inter-face on the World Wide Web. Recently,the NGDC Home Page was acknowl-edged as both the best of the NOAAhome pages and best of the NESDIShome pages.

After completing his duties at theNGDC, Dr. Chinnery plans to researchnew projects which will benefit from hisexpertise and management skills. Dr.Chinnery stated that his greatest regretat leaving his current position would beending his long association with thestaff of NGDC.

Bruce Douglas came to the NODCin 1992 from the NOAA National OceanService, where he served as Chief of theGeosciences Laboratory. As NODC Di-rector, he was the driving force behind

the recent NODC modernization thatsaw outmoded computer technologyreplaced by a client/server network ofadvanced workstations.

In his 12 years of government ser-vice, Douglas received many accoladesfor his work. He was awarded six SeniorExecutive Service awards within the lastdecade. In 1987, he received a Presiden-tial-level Meritorious Executive Awardfor his leadership to the Geosat effort,and a Department of Commerce SilverMedal. He was elected to Fellowship inthe International Association of Geod-esy in 1991, and two years later he wasmade a fellow of the American Geo-physical Union for his contibutions tothe use of artificial satellites in geodesyand geophysics. After leaving NODC,Douglas will continue his researchesinto global sea level change. He willhold the position of Research Scientistat the University of Maryland in theDepartment of Geography.

Douglas says he is proudest of hispart in the NODC modernization andcredits newly available technology in-cluding the World Wide Web, CD–ROMand client/server computing with en-abling the NODC to increase the vol-ume of data distributed in recent yearsby over 10–fold, while greatly reducingthe cost of data. Before modernizationthe average cost of a megabyte of NODCdata was $10; today it is about 10 cents.

— Nancy O’DonnellNational Oceanographic Data Center

User Services BranchNOAA/NESDIS

E-mail: [email protected] ■

Documents

EARTH SYSTEM MONITOR · The GOES imager is essen-tially a telescope that focuses light and infrared ... The infrared resolution is 4 kilometers, except for the 8-kilometer water vapor