Some useful links:
Guide to the Oracle tables
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Metlog home
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The so-called Comprehensible User Interface
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Column headings in the tables
Metlog: Frequently Asked Questions
This page started 26/03/2001 in an effort to help the world and myself...
Where can I find data prior to 1993?
We only started archiving GTS data in about 1993 (or thereabouts: I forget) so before then
data gets sparse. Try READER for temperature and pressure data,
or the individual station tables for e.g. Halley.
Q: What units are things in?
Answer: generally the correct ones.
Some answer for the database tables are here.
Temperature is in oC. Winds, perhaps surprisingly, are in knots, because thats what everyone expects.
Q: Metlog Oracle seems slow today. Whats up?
Answer:
probably our servers or networks are having one of their moods. Theres not a
lot to be done about it... try again in an hour, or a day. <dream>Donate a large amount of money
to BAS to buy new hardware and wetware...</dream>
Q: What server should I be using to access metlog this week?
BAS has a spiffy new website, www.antarctica.ac.uk. You should be using
www.antarctica.ac.uk/cgi-bin/metdb-form-1.pl
as your start point to access the Oracle service.
Be reassured, the new server and the old access the database at the same speed. Its still
possible to access via the old server, but you'll have to be clever to avoid the
redirection...
Q: How can I find data from station "Eric the weather station" or WMO number 89xxx
Answer:
the name isn't going to help you a lot, unless its a really common one
in the selected-met list.
- Trying searching in the file lands-met.html for the WMO number.
This contains anything that has been decoded at all recently.
- A rather more complete search can be made
via the Oracle table
GTS_PERL_SYNOP.
Scroll down to the bottom and look for your station in the "Where id =" box.
- If you happen to know the geographical location, try
the clickable map interface
- Less usefully, you can try the list aws.html for a list of
AWS's I know about, or manned_stations.html for
manned (personned?) stations.
These lists might tell you when the station started/ended operation, which might help in looking for it.
Just because the station was operating doesn't mean we have the data.
Once you have found that the station exists, you'll then want to find the data.
recent data will be in GTS_PERL_SYNOP, stuff more than a year or so old will be
shunted off into yearly tables: see the CUI.
Q: How can I find the height/history/colour of Station Nigel?
Answer: tricky. If you're lucky, the station history is part of the
READER metadata.
Q: when reading synop data, where do I find it? [2003/08/08]
Answer: not in one table, unless you are lucky. Recent data is in
GTS_PERL_SYNOP; years back are hived off into GTS_SYNOP_yyyy
to prevent it growing too unwieldy. So if you want one station for all years,
you'll have to wade through the various tables. If it were me, I'd use
perl and LWP::Simple.
by WMC, to whom questions should be addressed
| Past last modified: 30/1/2004 / Author: WMC |
© Copyright Natural Environment Research Council - British Antarctic Survey 2001
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