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A quantity that is measured, computed, or derived (e.g. - temperature, precipitation amount, etc.)
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The type of data values - e.g. grid (interpolated or computed gridpoints), platform observation (in-situ or remotely sensed measurements, etc.
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The time distance between discrete observation measurements, model product valid times, etc. A time resolution of "Hourly to < Daily" means data that occurs more often than once per day but no more often than once per hour.
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The entity that acquired or computed the data (e.g. - aircraft, land station, reanalysis model)
The horizontal distance between discrete gridpoints, stations, measurements, etc.
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Topic and subtopic are high-level groupings of parameters (e.g. - Atmosphere (topic), Clouds (subtopic of Atmosphere) ).
The scientific project or experiment that acquired the data
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Data that were acquired to support a project/experiment (e.g. - GATE) or that can be used as ingest for a project (e.g. - WRF)
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The structure of the bitstream used to encapsulate the data values in a record or file (e.g - ASCII, netCDF, etc.)
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The name of the location or region for which the data are valid
 
   FAQs > Downloading Data


  • How do I download data I purchased?

      The specialist who prepared your order should have given you the name of a directory on our server which contains your files. Go to that directory to proceed.

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  • How do I get an account on an NCAR computer?
      Click here for information on how to request computing resources at NCAR.

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  • Can I use Wget to download data files?
      You can use Wget to download data files, but you must be a registered data user and you will need to authenticate first to obtain the necessary cookies to include in your wget command. Please use Wget responsibly and do not use the "-b" (or "--background") option on the Wget command line as this can flood our system and degrade service for other users.

      See this for information on how to authenticate. Then, for each file you want to download, use the following Wget command:
        wget --load-cookies cookie_file_name URL_of_data_file

      NOTE: You do not need to authenticate for every single file you download.

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  • Can I use cURL to download data files?
      You can use cURL to download data files, but you must be a registered data user and you will need to authenticate first to obtain the necessary cookies to include in your wget command. Please use cURL responsibly and don't run multiple commands in the background as this can flood our system and degrade service for other users.

      See this for information on how to authenticate. Then, for each file you want to download, use the following cURL command:
        curl -b cookie_file_name URL_of_data_file

      NOTE: You do not need to authenticate for every single file you download.

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  • Can I use Unix lynx to download data files?

      You can use Unix lynx to download data files, but you will need a version that allows you to specify the accept_all_cookies option on the command line and that supports connections to a secure server.

      To download a data file interactively, do the following:

         prompt>lynx -accept_all_cookies -dump -post_data dss.ucar.edu/cgi-bin/login
         stdin>do=login&email=your_email&passwd=your_password&url=url_of_data_file
         stdin>---
      
        where:
          prompt>          is your computer's system prompt
          stdin>           is the input lynx will need after you execute the command
          your_email       is the email address that you registered with
          your_password    is your sign-in password
          url_of_data_file is the URL of the data file you want to download
                           this must begin with a '/' and includes all of the
                           URL after "dss.ucar.edu"
      
        EXAMPLE:
          prompt>lynx -accept_all_cookies -dump -post_data dss.ucar.edu/cgi-bin/login
           stdin>do=login&email=dattore@ucar.edu&passwd=*****&url=/datasets/ds824.1/data/n_atl.txt
           stdin>---
      

      You can also use lynx within a script. Here is an example Unix shell script (some modifications may be required for other shells) that will download a data file to a local file:

         #! /bin/sh
         #
         # create the input file
         cat << ! > input
         do=login&email=dattore@ucar.edu&passwd=*****&url=/datasets/ds824.1/data/n_atl.txt
         ---
         !
         #
         # run the command and direct the output to a file
         lynx -accept_all cookies -dump -post_data dss.ucar.edu/cgi-bin/login < input > n_atl.txt
      


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  • How do I download an HPSS file to an NCAR computer?
      Read about the msrcp command here. For further assistance with retrieving data files from within the NCAR system, please contact the CISL Consulting Services Group . Include in the subject line something like "moving files between NCAR computers".

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  • How do I use SSH to move data from an NCAR computer to my non-NCAR computer?
      For assistance moving data to a non-NCAR computer, please contact the CISL Consulting Services Group, and include in the subject line something like "moving files to a non-NCAR computer".

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  • When I click on a data file, my browser displays it. How do I download the file?
      To force your browser to download a data file:
      • PC users: hold the Shift key at the same time you click the link.
      • Mac users: hold the Alt/Option key at the same time you click the link.
      Depending on your system, you will either get a pop-up window that allows you to save the file on your computer, or the file will begin downloading immediately.

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  • I am trying to download a compressed file (.gz or .Z) and the progress monitor in the download pop-up window is behaving strangely. How do I download the file?
      Many browsers know how to handle .gz and .Z compressed files and will uncompress them as they are being downloaded to your computer. Since the browser can't know ahead of time what the uncompressed file size will be, the download progress monitor behaves strangely. For some browsers, it will show the file at 100% downloaded and then it will start over at 0%, doing this several times. Other browsers will show the file 100% downloaded but data are still being transferred. In all cases, as long as data appears to be transferring, you should leave the download process alone until it stops on its own.

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  • I downloaded a compressed file (.gz or .Z), but when I try to uncompress it on my computer, I get an error saying that it is not a compressed file. What is wrong?
      Many browsers know how to handle .gz and .Z compressed files and will uncompress them as they are being downloaded to your computer. If you get an error when you try to uncompress the file, check the file to make sure it was not uncompressed during the download.

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  • Wget complains about certificate verification. What do I do?
    • If you are using Wget 1.10 or higher, you will need to include the "--no-check-certificate" option on the Wget command line. If you downloaded a script from us with Wget commands, you can add "--no-check-certificate" to the opts variable once and it will apply to all of the Wget commands in the script.

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  • Why does Wget give me the error: "Unsupported scheme"?
    • You are using a version of Wget that was not compiled with SSL support. You will either need to recompile your Wget with SSL support turned on, or you will need to obtain an executable that was compiled with SSL.

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  • My version of Wget does not recognize the --post-data option. How do I authenticate?
    • You can use this form to authenticate and create the cookies file that Wget needs when you download data from our web server. Save the cookies file to your computer and then load it from your Wget commands that download the data files.


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  • I get the error: "curl: (1) Protocol https not supported or disabled in libcurl". How do I authenticate?
    • You can use this form to authenticate and create the cookies file that Wget needs when you download data from our web server. Save the cookies file to your computer and then load it from your Wget commands that download the data files.


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  • I tried to download an online data file from RDA Server and the action finished while only partial data file is downloaded, about 4M. What can I do to get the whole data file?
    • This happens mostly to the users outside of US. There must be a problem at some gateway for limiting data traffic since we do not add any limit on our server.

      You can use the download scripts we genereated for you. The scripts call utility program 'wget' to download the data files. To create a download script you may select the data files you are inerested on any of the online data filelists and click the buttons 'Perl Download Sctipt' or 'Csh Download Script' to generate one.

      If you prefer to download a data file by clicking it directly you better install a download manager, which should help to have a full file download, as well as to speed it up. For PC users, click HERE for a free download manger and it works fine for many users have tested it.


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The Research Data Archive is managed by the Data Support Section of the Computational and Information Systems Laboratory at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. NCAR is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.

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