===================================================================== CONTENTS AND ARRANGEMENT OF THE 1961-1990 GLOBAL CLIMATE NORMALS ===================================================================== The 1961-1990 climate normals data were computed by the Member countries and territories of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in the 1990s and submitted to the USA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Centers for Environmental Information (World Data Center for Meteorology) for collection and processing. At the time, the global standard normals were prepared worldwide once every 30 years. This is a collection of files which describe the 1961- 1990 global standard climate normals for over 4000 stations worldwide computed by more than 135 countries and territories. The files include ASCII data files (file extension .dat), documentation files (file extension .txt), ASCII table files (file extension .txt in subdirectories of the TABLES directory), graphics files (file extension .pcx*), and limited extraction software (file extension .exe). The data files (file extension .dat) are large files in a fixed length record format. They can be read by software written by the user in a high level computer language according to the format specifications outlined in the documentation files. The data files may also be opened by any ASCII-compatible application that can handle the data volume. *pcx files are the built-in format used by the MS-DOS program PC Paintbrush from ZSoft. However, other software support the format, including GIMP, ImageMagick, Adobe Photoshop, and PaintShop Pro. The files were originally provided on CD-ROM but today are provided via ftp and https access. The files are arranged using the following overall directory structure. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/normals/WMO/1961-1990/ | | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | DOCUMENT METADATA TABLES** DATA | | | | ------------------------------------------- | | | | | | | | | REG__I REG_II REGIII REG_IV REG__V REG_VI ANTARCTC | | | | | ------------------------------------------- | | | | | | | REG__I REG_II REGIII REG_IV REG__V REG_VI ANTARCTC **The Region directories are also available directly from the root directory. The DOCUMENT directory contains documentation files, including (1) text files that document how the data were analyzed, identify data record formats, and list translation tables for the various code values, and (2) graphics files of maps identifying WMO regions and identifying countries which submitted normals. The METADATA directory contains metadata files. The metadata files include station metadata (station name, location, and other information) and narrative metadata (which explain aspects of how the normals were computed). The amount of metadata provided by each WMO Member varies considerably, with some Members not providing narrative metadata. The metadata files are arranged by country within WMO Region directories**. The DATA directory contains the normals data file, plus limited software which provides for extraction of all records for a country, or all records for a station. The TABLES directory contains ASCII table files. The global normals table files are arranged by station within country directories, with the country directories arranged within WMO Region directories**. ** NOTE: Some countries have stations in more than one region. The WMO global normals were arranged by WMO Region, which means that some countries appear in more than one region. The NCDC assigned internal country codes based on country and region. Consequently, countries having stations in more than one region will have more than one country code. A total of 153 country codes were required. The following is a summary of the files that are in each subdirectory: ROOT DIRECTORY readme-6190.txt this file DOCUMENT data_fmt.txt file format describing how to read the data file (allnorms.dat) stn_meta.txt file format describing how to read the station metadata files (master file stnmeta.dat and the parsed country files CC_stn.dat) narrmeta.txt file format describing how to read the narrative metadata files (master file narrmeta.dat and the parsed country files CC_nar1.dat and CC_nar2.dat) ctryinv.txt limited inventory by country code (includes number of stations, number of records, number of different climatic parameters, and number of stations having specific climatic parameters) region.txt table listing the WMO Regions corresponding to the internal region codes used by NCDC in the project files ctrycod1.txt table listing the countries and their country codes (in ascending order by country name) ctrycod2.txt table listing the countries and their country codes (in ascending order by country code) rgctycod.txt table listing the countries and their country codes (in ascending order by region number, then country name) elemcod1.txt table listing the climatic parameter codes (in ascending order by parameter name) elemcod2.txt table listing the climatic parameter codes (in ascending order by parameter code) statist.txt table listing the statistics codes (in ascending order by code value) allcodes.txt tables listing the country, climatic parameter, and statistic codes and their corresponding descriptions ncdc9641.txt documentation file (NCDC format) for the 1961-1990 WMO Global Normals project dataset in NCDC's TD-9641 archive; contains detailed background information on the project readmaps.txt read me file that explains how to interpret the map graphics files (.pcx files) wmo_rgn.pcx map showing the WMO Regions (large, English language version) wmo_rgnf.pcx map showing the WMO Regions (smaller, French language version) wmosubm.pcx map showing which countries submitted normals to the 1961-1990 WMO Global Normals project mean_slp.pcx map showing which countries submitted sea level pressure or geopotential height normals (element-statistic codes are also indicated) meantave.pcx map showing which countries submitted mean average temperature normals (element-statistic codes are also indicated) meantmax.pcx map showing which countries submitted mean maximum temperature normals (element-statistic codes are also indicated) meantmin.pcx map showing which countries submitted mean minimum temperature normals (element-statistic codes are also indicated) abstmax.pcx map showing which countries submitted absolute maximum temperature normals (element-statistic codes are also indicated) abstmin.pcx map showing which countries submitted absolute minimum temperature normals (element-statistic codes are also indicated) vaporprs.pcx map showing which countries submitted vapor pressure normals (element-statistic codes are also indicated) relhum.pcx map showing which countries submitted mean maximum, minimum, and/or average relative humidity normals (element-statistic codes are also indicated) sunshine.pcx map showing which countries submitted sunshine duration normals (element-statistic codes are also indicated) windspd.pcx map showing which countries submitted mean wind speed normals (element-statistic codes are also indicated) prec_amt.pcx map showing which countries submitted mean amount of precipitation normals (element-statistic codes are also indicated) dayspge1.pcx map showing which countries submitted normals for mean number of days with precipitation greater than or equal to 1 mm (element-statistic codes are also indicated) quintile.pcx map showing which countries submitted precipitation quintile normals (element-statistic codes are also indicated) dewpoint.pcx map showing which countries submitted dew point temperature normals (element codes are also indicated) snowfall.pcx map showing which countries submitted mean snowfall amount normals (element codes are also indicated) winddir.pcx map showing which countries submitted wind direction normals (element codes are also indicated) soiltemp.pcx map showing which countries submitted soil temperature normals (element codes are also indicated) skycover.pcx map showing which countries submitted sky cover normals (element codes are also indicated) evaporat.pcx map showing which countries submitted evaporation normals (element codes are also indicated) solarrad.pcx map showing which countries submitted solar radiation normals (element codes are also indicated) dthunder.pcx map showing which countries submitted normals for number of days with thunder or lightning (element codes are also indicated) dsnowfal.pcx map showing which countries submitted normals for number of days with snowfall (element codes are also indicated) dprecip.pcx map showing which countries submitted normals for number of days with precipitation or rainfall, with or without a threshold amount indicated (element codes are also indicated) dtempera.pcx map showing which countries submitted normals for number of days with temperatures beyond a specified threshold (element codes are also indicated) dfogvsby.pcx map showing which countries submitted normals for number of days with fog or with visibility below a specified threshold (element codes are also indicated) METADATA readmeta.txt a read-me file describing aspects of the METADATA branch of the directory tree, including file name structure stn_meta.txt file format describing how to read the station metadata files (master file stnmeta.dat and the parsed country files CC_stn.dat) narrmeta.txt file format describing how to read the narrative metadata files (master file narrmeta.dat and the parsed country files CC_nar1.dat and CC_nar2.dat) stnmeta.dat the station metadata (name, location, and other information) for all of the stations in all of the countries that were submitted narrmeta.dat the narrative metadata (description of aspects of how the normals were computed) from all of the countries that submitted narrative metadata METADATA\REG__I METADATA\REG_II METADATA\REGIII METADATA\REG_IV METADATA\REG__V METADATA\REG_VI METADATA\ANTARCTC The station metadata and narrative metadata are parsed into country files, which are put into their respective WMO Region directories. All countries will have a station metadata file, however not all countries will have a narrative metadata file. A few countries submitted more than one narrative (for example, one in English and another one containing the same information in the country's native language). The file naming convention is as follows, where CC represents the country code: CC_stn.dat the station metadata for that country CC_nar1.dat the narrative metadata submitted by that country CC_nar2.dat additional narrative metadata submitted by that country DATA allnorms.dat the normals data for all stations in all countries that were submitted allnorms.txt file record format for allnorms.dat progdoc.txt documentation describing how to use the two programs, cntryext.exe and stn_ext.exe cntryext.exe a DOS-executable program that extracts all records for a country from file allnorms.dat and writes them to a file specified by the user stn_ext.exe a DOS-executable program that extracts all records for a station from file allnorms.dat and writes them to a file specified by the user stnmeta.dat the station metadata (name, location, and other information) for all of the stations in all of the countries that were submitted (needed by the two programs to identify country names and station names) TABLES readtabl.txt a read-me file describing aspects of the TABLES branch of the directory tree This directory branch contains eye-readable ASCII text files of normals data tables by station. The station table files are in directories identified by country code, and these country directories are in the seven WMO Region directories. Each of the region directories has a translation table file which lists the countries in the region with their country name and country code, and the stations within each country code directory with their station name and corresponding file name. TABLES\REG__I file_id1.txt translation table for Region I TABLES\REG_II file_id2.txt translation table for Region II TABLES\REGIII file_id3.txt translation table for Region III TABLES\REG_IV file_id4.txt translation table for Region IV TABLES\REG__V file_id5.txt translation table for Region V TABLES\REG_VI file_id6.txt translation table for Region VI TABLES\ANTARCTC file_id7.txt translation table for the Antarctic stations All data and information files (files with extension .dat) are in a DOS ASCII format in which a CR-LF indicates the end of record. The files may be converted to an appropriate UNIX format by simply transferring them from a DOS machine to a UNIX machine using the FTP (File Transfer Protocol). In addition, some versions of UNIX have a "dos2unix" command that converts the end of record indicator. Check your UNIX manuals for further information. Technical support questions or comments should be directed to: User Engagement Group NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Climatic Science and Services Division (CSSD) 151 Patton Avenue, Asheville, NC USA 28801-5001 V: 1-828-271-4800