NASA Global Data Sets for Land-Atmosphere Models 1987

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The authors of this CD-ROM collection would like to extend their gratitude to the many individuals who participated in its preparation. We would especially like to thank members of the ISLSCP Science Steering Committee who provided guidance throughout the preparation of this publication. In addition, the efforts of Yann Kerr in organizing the data and documentation peer review process are also gratefully acknowledged. We are also indebted to the scientists (Jim Collatz, Forrest Hall, Yann Kerr, Randy Koster, Sietse Los, Ken Mitchell, Paul Try, YongKang Xue) who participated in the workshops that were held to review the data and documentation. All of these individuals were instrumental in the development of the content and quality of this CD collection. Blanche W. Meeson, Series Editor Frank Corprew, Data Editor Jim McManus, Document Editor Piers Sellers, ISLSCP Chair ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ INTERNATIONAL SATELLITE LAND SURFACE CLIMATOLOGY PROJECT (ISLSCP) Initiative I Volumes 1-5: Global Data Sets for Land-Atmosphere Models B. W. Meeson (1,2), F. E. Corprew (1,3), J.M.P. McManus (1,3), D.M. Myers (1,3), J.W. Closs (1,3), K.-J. Sun (1,3), D.J. Sunday (5), P.J. Sellers (2,4) (1) EOS-DIS Goddard Distributed Active Archive Center (2) NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (3) Hughes-STX Corporation (4) International Satellite Land Surface Climatology Project (5) Sundancer Communications ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ INTRODUCTION The International Satellite Land Surface Climatology Project (ISLSCP) Initiative I data collection contained here was borne out of a workshop organized by the ISLSCP scientific community in 1992. This workshop brought modelers, algorithm developers, and field experiment scientists together to discuss future steps for applying and translating current research findings into useful global data sets for land-atmosphere models; see the overview paper by Sellers et al. published on Volume 1 of this CD set (OVERVIEW.DOC). The data sets contained within this CD set are a direct response to the recommendations of that workshop. The intent here was to produce, as quickly as possible, a consistent collection of high priority global data sets using existing data sources and algorithms, designed to satisfy the needs of those modelers. The workshop recommendations specified that global data sets at a consistent spatial and temporal resolution be compiled in four key areas: land cover, hydrometeorology, radiation, and soils. The data sets on this CD set cover those four areas, span the 24 month period, 1987-1988, and all but one are mapped to a common spatial resolution and grid (1 deg. x 1 deg.). Temporal resolution for most data sets is monthly; however, a few are at a finer resolution (e.g., 6-hourly). The data within the four areas are organized into five groups on this CD set. 1. Vegetation 2. Hydrology and Soils 3. Snow, Ice, and Oceans 4. Radiation and Clouds 5. Near-Surface Meteorology The data within each of these areas were acquired from a variety of sources including model output, satellites, and ground measurements. The individual data sets were provided in a variety of forms. In some cases this required the data publication team to regrid and reformat data sets and in others to produce monthly averages from finer resolution data. The specific handling for each data set is detailed in the documentation. The regridded, reformatted, integrated, and peer reviewed data sets are published on this five-volume CD collection. The vegetation; hydrology and soils; snow, ice, and oceans; and radiation and clouds data are all found on Volume 1 of the set, while the near-surface meteorology data span Volumes 2-5. For a summary description of the data sets in this collection, see the overview article (OVERVIEW.DOC) on Volume 1. In addition to the data, Volume 1 contains the data set documentation, a file describing what is on each of the CDs in this set (AAREADME.CDS), the peer review of these data (PEER_REV.DOC), fully formatted documentation files (file name .PDF), and software to decompress the compressed data files, to read the PDF files, and to run Macintosh CD drives. Volumes 2-5 also have the data set documentation and the decompression software and CD drivers. A review of ISLSCP activities and current initiatives can be found in the following publication: Sellers, P.J., B.W. Meeson, F.G. Hall, G. Asrar, R.E. Murphy, R.A. Schiffer, F.P. Bretherton, R.E. Dickinson, R.G. Ellingson, C.B. Field, K.F. Huemmrich, C.O. Justice, J.M. Melack, N.T. Roulet, D.S. Schimel, and P.D. Try. 1995. Remote sensing of the land surface for studies of global change: Models - algorithms - experiments. Remote Sens. Environ. 51(1):3╨26. DATA SETS The data on these CDs have been acquired from a variety of sources throughout the world. Several of the parameters that appear here were produced for this CD set, while others were assembled from existing yet uncollated data sets, and still others were obtained from archives or individuals' private collections. Volume 1 This CD contains global images for 36 parameters derived from satellite and ground measurements, and one ground-based, point measurement data set (river flow). These data sets are all monthly resolution except where noted below. The parameters on this CD, organized by group, are as follows: Vegetation NDVI FASIR╨NDVI LAI Vegetation classification Surface roughness Background reflectance (NIR & Vis) Greenness FPAR Snow-free albedo Hydrology and Soils Precipitation River flow Soil slope, texture, and depth Lake, river, and marsh cover Snow, Ice, and Oceans Snow cover* Snow depth Sea ice concentration Sea surface temperature Land-sea boundary Radiation and Clouds Surface and TOA incoming and outgoing shortwave** Surface incoming shortwave and longwave Surface net shortwave, net longwave, and net radiation Surface incoming PAR** Clear-sky albedo Cloud amount Cloud top pressure Optical thickness Cloud water path Miscellaneous Land-sea mask Grid cell area __________ * These data have a temporal resolution of weekly. ** These data have a temporal resolution of monthly 3-hourly and are in compressed form on the CD. Volumes 2-5 Global images of near-surface meteorological parameters derived from the ECMWF and NMC assimilation-forecast models in compressed form are found on these CDs. Volume 2 The parameters on this disk are at three different temporal resolutions -- monthly 6-hourly, monthly, and fixed. They were derived using data from the ECMWF model and are accompanied by the standard deviation and range for each. This CD includes Monthly 6-Hourly Parameters Surface pressure U & V wind stress Temp. at 2 m U & V wind speed at 10 m Dew point at 2 m Surface temperature Mean sea level pressure Surface net shortwave and longwave radiation Surface Sensible and latent heat fluxes TOA net shortwave and longwave Monthly Surface soil moisture Climate deep-soil temperature Deep soil temperature Climate deep-soil wetness Deep soil wetness Snow depth Fixed Roughness length Albedo Volumes 3-5 The last three volumes contain the 6-hourly data for the 2 years, 1987 and 1988. Volume 3 contains the 6-hourly values for temperature and dew point at 2 meters using this same ECMWF model, while Volume 4 contains the 6-hourly values for surface pressure and wind magnitude at 10 meters derived using the ECMWF model. Volume 5 has the hybrid parameters for radiation and precipitation. The radiation hybrids (shortwave and longwave) were generated using the ECMWF 6-hourly modeled radiation and the LaRC satellite derived monthly radiation products, while the precipitation (total and convective) products were produced using the NMC 6-hourly modeled precipitation and GPCP monthly precipitation products. TECHNICAL INFORMATION The ISLSCP CDs are written in the ISO 9660 format. Your CD device must be able to read this format to access the data properly. These CDs may not be readable by all CD drives, since not all drives can access the full 640-680 MBytes capacity of the disc. However, there are less than 600 MBytes of data on this volume, which should avoid this problem. Compatibility will be determined by the interaction between the CD reader, the hardware interface in your computer, and the software interface (driver). The only guarantee that all will work together is to buy them from the same vendor, with a specific requirement that they will work with your host computer (e.g., PC, Mac, Sun, HP, SGI, VAX, etc.). All files on the CDs are accessible using normal operating system software and application programs on all machines with a suitable CD reader and driver software for the ISO 9660 disc format. DISC ORGANIZATION AND CONTENTS These CDs contain global data sets, data set documentation, and software for the data. The data and documents are in ASCII format and are organized into five groups of related data sets. The first CD in this set, Volume 1 (USA_NASA_GDAAC_ISLSCP_001), contains all of the data sets for four of these groups: Vegetation; Hydrology and Soils; Snow, Ice, and Oceans; Radiation and Clouds. The fifth data group, Near-Surface Meteorology, is contained on the other four CDs (Volumes 2-5) in this set. The monthly and monthly 6-hourly products for the near-surface meteorology data are found on Volume 2 (USA_NASA_GDAAC_ISLSCP_002), while the 6-hourly data for the near-surface meteorology are found on Volumes 3-5 (USA_NASA_GDAAC_ISLSCP_003, _004, _005). The directory structure for each of the CDs is as follows: VOLUME 1 ROOT | AAREADME.CDS | ACROBAT | | AAREADME.ARB | | DOCUMENT | | | BROCHURE.PDF | | | OVERVIEW.PDF | | | PEER_REV.PDF | | | READ_1ST.PDF | | SOFTWARE | | | MAC | | | PC | | | SUN | BROCHURE.DOC | DATA | | HYDR_SOL* | | MISC* | | RADIATN* | | SN_ICSST* | | VEGETATN* | DOCUMENT | | HYDR_SOL | | NRSURMET | | RADIATN | | SN_ICSST | | VEGETATN | OVERVIEW.DOC | PEER_REV.DOC | SOFTWARE | | DECOMPRS | | | AAREADME.CMP | | | MAC | | | PC | | | UNIX_VMS | | MAC_DRVR | | | AAREADME.DRV | | | DRIVERS VOLUME 2 ROOT | AAREADME.CDS | DATA | | ECINVRNT* | | EC_MTHIN* | | ECMTH6HR* | DOCUMENT | | ECMWF.DOC | SOFTWARE | | DECOMPRS | | | AAREADME.CMP | | | MAC | | | PC | | | UNIX_VMS | | MAC_DRVR | | | AAREADME.DRV | | | DRIVERS VOLUME 3 ROOT | AAREADME.CDS | DATA | | YyyMmm | | | DWPNT_2M | | | | nymmddhh.Z | | | TEMP_2M | | | | nymmddhh.Z | DOCUMENT | | ECMWF.DOC | SOFTWARE | | DECOMPRS | | | AAREADME.CMP | | | MAC | | | PC | | | UNIX_VMS | | MAC_DRVR | | | AAREADME.DRV | | | DRIVERS VOLUME 4 ROOT | AAREADME.CDS | DATA | | YyyMmm | | | MWND_10M | | | | nymmddhh.Z | | | SUR_PRSR | | | | nymmddhh.Z | DOCUMENT | | ECMWF.DOC | SOFTWARE | | DECOMPRS | | | AAREADME.CMP | | | MAC | | | PC | | | UNIX_VMS | | MAC_DRVR | | | AAREADME.DRV | | | DRIVERS VOLUME 5 ROOT | AAREADME.CDS | DATA | | YyyMmm | | | ECM_LANG | | | | HYB_LWDN | | | | | nymmddhh.Z | | | | HYB_SWDN | | | | | nymmddhh.Z | | | NMC_GPCP | | | | CONV_PRC | | | | | nymmddhh.Z | | | | TOTL_PRC | | | | | nymmddhh.Z | DOCUMENT | | ECMWF.DOC | | NMC_GPCP.DOC | SOFTWARE | | DECOMPRS | | | AAREADME.CMP | | | MAC | | | PC | | | UNIX_VMS | | MAC_DRVR | | | AAREADME.DRV | | | DRIVERS The file types for the documentation on the CDs are Data set documentation .DOC -- Data set documentation Miscellaneous documentation OVERVIEW.DOC -- History of the ISLSCP initiative to create the data set collection; overview of the data on the CD. PEER_REV.DOC -- Report from the peer reviewers of the data sets on these CDs. AAREADME.CDS -- Brief description of CD contents, a full description of the file-naming conventions for the data files, detailed index to the files, and a description of the software that is on the CDs. AAREADME.sfx -- Descriptive information for the files located with this README file. .PDF -- Fully formatted versions of the above documents: Adobe Acrobat(TM) Reader (included on this CD set) required to read this format. NAMING CONVENTIONS The naming of files and directories is slightly different for each volume. Generally, the data on these CDs use these naming conventions: Volume 1: \DATA\datagroup\data_set\parameter\YyyMmm.sfx Volume 2: \DATA\temporal_resolution\YyyMmm\parameter\nnsymmhh.z Volume 3 and 4: \DATA\YyyMmm\parameter\nymmddhh.z Volume 5: \DATA\YyyMmm\data_set\parameter\nymmddhh.z Where yy is the last two digits of the year (e.g., 87 = 1987), mm is the month of the year (e.g., 12 = December), hh is the GMT hour, nn is a two-letter code for the parameter, n is a one-digit code for the parameter, s is a code for the statistical measure (e.g., E = mEan). Capital letters indicate fixed values that appear on the CD exactly as shown here, lower case indicates characters (values) that change for each path and file. The file name extension is either .sfx, which identifies the data set content for the file, or it is .Z, which identifies that the file is compressed and must be decompressed before it can be used. There are numerous exceptions to these rules, especially at deeper levels within the directory structure. Consult the AAREADME.CDS at the ROOT level on Volume 1 for a complete listing of all the naming conventions used for the files on all of the ISLSCP Initiative I CDs. SOFTWARE The decompression software provided on these CDs uses the UNIX compression algorithm. It is provided for a wide variety of platforms including Apple Macintosh, DEC VAX running VMS, and IBM PC compatibles running MS-DOS. An IBM 386 and compatibles, or a Mac II and later machine is recommended for improved performance when using these two platforms. No special hardware is required to use this decompression software. This software has been compiled from several public-access, FTP anonymous sites on the Internet. Updates to this software are available from time to time from those sites. A full list of these sites is given in the AAREADME.CMP file in the SOFTWARE directory on CD Volume 1. For convenience, some of those sites are listed here. MS-DOS -- ftp.cso.uiuc.edu [128.174.5.61] Mac -- sumex-aim.stanford.edu [36.44.0.6] VMS -- ftp.sspc.edu [192.107.46.27] VM/CMS -- vmd.cso.uiuc.edu [128.174.5.98] ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The Goddard DAAC data publication team and the data set authors and peer reviewers from the ISLSCP science community cooperatively assembled, processed, prepared, documented, and reviewed the data presented on these CDs. The requested form of acknowledgment for the data set authors is given in the documentation for each data set, and should be honored. Two references should be used when citing this CD collection as a publication: Meeson, B.W., F.E. Corprew, J.M.P. McManus, D.M. Myers, J.W. Closs, K.-J. Sun, D.J. Sunday, P.J. Sellers. 1995. ISLSCP Initiative I -- Global Data Sets for Land-Atmosphere Models,1987-1988. Volumes 1╨5. Published on CD by NASA (USA_NASA_GDAAC_ISLSCP_001 - USA_NASA_GDAAC_ISLSCP_005). Sellers, P.J., B.W. Meeson, J. Closs, J. Collatz, F. Corprew, D. Dazlich, F.G. Hall, Y. Kerr, R. Koster, S. Los, K. Mitchell, J. McManus, D. Myers, K.-J. Sun, P. Try. 1995. An Overview of the ISLSCP Initiative I -- Global Data Sets. On: ISLSCP Initiative I Global Data Sets for Land-Atmosphere Models, 1987-1988. Volumes 1-5. Published on CD-ROM by NASA. Volume 1: USA_NASA_GDAAC_ISLSCP_001. OVERVIEW.DOC. The support of NASA Headquarters, Office of Mission to Planet Earth, the Operations, Data and Information Systems Division, and the Science Division are gratefully acknowledged. Dr. Ghassem Asrar, the EOS program scientist at NASA HQ was key in providing early support and funding for the workshop that initiated this activity. Special thanks are due Drs. Robert Murphy and Tony Janetos whose financial support was critical to the publication of this CD set. Encouragement was provided by the chair of WCRP-GEWEX, Dr. Moustafa Chahine, and the Director of WCRP, Dr. Pierre Morel. Both are sincerely thanked. Drs. Paul Chan and Steven Wharton of the EOS-DIS Goddard DAAC and the Global Change Data Center also warrant special thanks for their support and their recognition of the scientific potential encapsulated in these CDs. In addition, the data sets and the documentation were reviewed by volunteers from the ISLSCP science community. The participation of the following individuals is gratefully acknowledged. Nigel Arnell, Lahouari Bounoua, Chris Brest, Peter Briggs, Jim Collatz, Don Dazlich, Gerard Dedieu, Bob Dickinson, Han Dolman, John Gash, Barry Goodison, Forrest Hall, Fred Huemmrich, Alfredo Huete, John Janoviak, Yann Kerr, Jenny Lean, Jean-Claude Menaut, Joel Noilhan, Michael Raupach, Chet Ropelewski, Bill Rossow, Steve Running, T.R.E. Thompson, Paul Try, Anne Walker, Ivan Wright, YongKang Xue. The quality of the data and documentation that appears on these CDs is in large part the result of the efforts of these reviewers. Their participation was instrumental in improving the caliber of the data sets and the documentation on these CDs. We would especially like to thank those individuals who participated in more than one phase of the peer review and data preparation. The generous donation of their time and energies is greatly appreciated. The data set authors are heartily thanked for their participation in the sometimes grueling preparation of data sets for these CDs. The list of individuals includes: Vegetation: Land Cover and Biophysics Sietse Los, Don Dazlich, Jim Tucker, Chris Justice, Piers Sellers, Nazmi El Saleous, Ruth DeFries, Jim Collatz, John Townshend, Ed Harrison. Hydrology and Soils Wolfgang Grabs, Arnold Gruber, J.G. Cogley, Saud Amer, Soroosh Sorooshian, Leonard Zobler, Norman Bliss, Dan Braithwaite, Randy Koster, Bruno Rudolf, Udo Schneider. Snow, Ice, and Oceans Dudley Foster, David Robinson, Jay Wright, Richard Reynolds, Bob Grumbine. Radiation and Clouds Rachel Pinker, Istvan Laszlo, Wayne Darnell, Charles Whitlock, Bruce Barkstrom, Ed Harrison, Bill Rossow, Bob Schiffer, Jim Brest, W. F. Staylor. Near-Surface Meteorology Tony Hollingsworth, Horst Bottiger, Ken Mitchell, Ying Lin. Finally, several individuals provided assistance and expertise with aspects of the scientific programming and computer facilities that were required to produce these CDs. The generous donation of their time and expertise is greatly appreciated. Jeff Love, Lahouari Bounoua, John Vanderpool, Tom Kopp, Andy Griffin, Charles Lofton, Wayne Rosen, Ricky Rood, Siegfried Schubert.