Real-time Meteorological Data Ingestion, Management and Analysis using the Internet Data Distribution

Investigator: 
Paul Gluhosky
Advisor: 
Ron Smith
Start Date: 
June, 1998
Description: 

The Internet Data Distribution is a project headed by Unidata in Boulder, CO. Universities nationwide employ Unidata’s Internet Data Distribution (IDD) to update their holdings of environmental data in near-real time. IDD is a distributed system with components–data sources, relays and sinks–at numerous locations. Most components are operated by the participating universities, and it is thus a community endeavor. This is organized and guided by the Unidata Program Center (UPC). The linchpin of IDD is Unidata’s Local Data Management (LDM) software, designed to move data in near-real time over the Internet computer network: as data arrive at various source locations, they are distributed to relay sites which, in turn, relay them to end-users or to other relays until all data recipients have been served.

Data Available:

Data streams currently conveyed to US universities via IDD include:

  • FOS: All Family of Services data from the National Weather Service, injected into IDD by the Alden Corporation. Except for DIFAX, free to Unidata universities.
  • GOES: Selected images–visible and infrared–from NOAA’s Geosynchronous Orbit Environmental Satellites, prepared for Unidata and injected into IDD by the Space Science and Engineering Center at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Free to Unidata universities.
  • NIDS: Radar data from the NEXRAD Information Dissemination Service, prepared and injected into IDD by the WSI Corporation. Discounted for Unidata universities.
  • NLDN: Data from the Geomet Corporation’s National Lightning Detection Network, prepared and injected into IDD by the State University of New York at Albany. Free to Unidata universities at present, through special arrangement with SUNYA.
  • Experimental Models: Outputs of high-resolution models and other experimental data prepared and injected into IDD by the Forecast Systems Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado, and the National Meteorological Center in Suitland, Maryland.
  • Weather Underground: Textual and graphical depictions of current weather and environmental phenomena prepared by the University of Michigan’s Weather Underground and Blue-Skies projects for compatibility with Gopher and WWW clients–such as Mosaic–as well as with a unique interactive client. Used to continuously update Gopher servers at mirror sites which reflect data from the main servers in Ann Arbor. No cost.