Table 1 – Free and open GIS-Ready data sources. Add your open GIS-Ready data to this list. ♪

GIS-Ready Data

Source

On-line Location

Conventional Weather Data

National Weather Service, weather data available in GIS formats, as follows:

NOAA/NWS

http://www.weather.gov/gis/

 

 - Watch Warning Advisory (WWA)

- PRH

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/regsci/gis/

 - WSR-88D NEXRAD Radar Imagery

- RIDGE

http://radar.weather.gov/GIS.html

 - Flash Flood Guidance (FFG)

- SRH

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/rfcshare/ffg.php

 - Precipitation Analysis

- SRH

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/rfcshare/precip_analysis.php

NWS/AWIPS Map Backgrounds

NOAA/NWS

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/geodata/

NESDIS real time GeoTiff (images only)

NOAA/NESDIS

http://www.gis.ssd.nesdis.noaa.gov/

SST, Height, Winds and Currents

NASA/JPL

http://poet.jpl.nasa.gov

National Virtual Ocean Data System (NVODS)

NOAA/PMEL

http://ferret.pmel.noaa.gov/NVODS/servlets/dataset

Iowa Environmental Mesonet

Iowa State Univ

http://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/GIS/

Climate Data

NationalAtlas.gov

NOAA

http://nationalatlas.gov/maplayers.html

 - Tornadoes (1950 – 2004)

NOAA

http://nationalatlas.gov/mld/tornadx.html

 - Tropical Cyclones (1851 – 2004)

NOAA

http://nationalatlas.gov/mld/huralll.html

Tropical Cyclone Tracks (1958 – present)

NOAA/ Coastal Services Center

http://hurricane.csc.noaa.gov/hurricanes/download.html

Community Climate System Model

NCAR/GIS

http://www.gisclimatechange.org

NCAR geospatial map index

NCAR/GIS

http://www.gis.ucar.edu/maps_data_dataset.html

Climate (precip, snow depth, Tmax, Tmin)

NOAA/CPC

ftp://ftp.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/fews/gfs/37_km/00z/gis

Daily & Hourly Precip

NOAA/CPC

ftp://ftp.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/fews/CMORPH/GIS

Weather hazards (international)

NOAA/CPC

ftp://ftp.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/fews/weather_hazards

♪ This list is maintained at http://geog.gmu.edu/projects/wxproject/gisdata.htm. Send contributions to sshipley@gmu.edu.

 

 

Table 2 – Existing GIS data structures. †

GIS Data Object

Spatial Structure

Examples

Points

(shapefile, comma delimited text)

2d – f(x,y), {z,t} as attributes

3d – f(x,y,z), {t} as attribute

Observations & locations, model centroids, remote sensor retrievals at centroids, lightning strikes, Tropical Cyclone and Tornado location

Arcs

(polyline shapefile)

2d – f(x,y), {z,t} as attributes

3d – f(x,y,z), {t} as attribute

Atmospheric fronts, air parcel trajectories, isopleths (aka analysis), balloon/aircraft/ship/buoy tracks, satellite ground track , Tropical Cyclone & Tornado tracks

Polygons

(shapefile)

2d/3d – f(x,y), {z,t} as attributes

 

Radar, air mass or tracer boundaries, zone/areal forecast, satellite footprints along a surface,

Rasters

(grids and images)

 

2d/3d – f(i,j), {x,y} by projection, {z} by value or external layer, attributes not supported

Model grid analyses and forecasts, satellite images

† Shapefile structure is defined at http://www.esri.com/library/whitepapers/pdfs/shapefile.pdf.

 

Table 3 – Sources of GIS-Friendly Data

GIS-Friendly Data

Source

On-line Location

National Digital Forecast Database (NDFD)

NOAA/NWS

http://www.weather.gov/ndfd/

Current radar data (Level III)

NOAA/NWS

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/tg/rpccds.html

Radar data archive (Levels II and III)

NOAA/NCDC

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/radar/radardata.html

GRIB model products – NDFD & NCEP

NWS/MDL

NOAA/NCEP

http://www.weather.gov/mdl/degrib/links.php

http://www.weather.gov/tg/modfiles.html

NetCDF model products

NCAR et al.

http://dss.ucar.edu/catalogs/

Meteorological charts

NOAA/NWS

http://weather.noaa.gov/fax/graph.shtml

HYSPLIT Trajectories (PC version supports direct shapefile production)

NOAA/ARL

http://www.arl.noaa.gov/ready/hysp_info.html

Web Viewers (images for download)

Forecast model products

NOAA/NCEP

http://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/nwprod/analysis/

NOAA’s CoastWatch

NOAA/NESDIS

http://coastwatch.noaa.gov/

 - SST (Sea Surface Temperature)

- ORAD

http://coastwatch.noaa.gov/cw_dataprod_sst.html

 - Ocean Color

- ORAD

http://coastwatch.noaa.gov/cw_dataprod_color.html

 - Ocean Surface Winds

- ORAD

http://coastwatch.noaa.gov/cw_dataprod_winds.html

NESDIS real time GeoTiff

NOAA/NESDIS

http://www.gis.ssd.nesdis.noaa.gov/

 - Fire Products

- OSDPD/SSD

http://www.firedetect.noaa.gov/viewer.htm

 - Snow & Ice Analysis

- OSDPD/SSD

http://www.gis.ssd.nesdis.noaa.gov/website/SSDSnow/viewer.htm

 - GOES Aerosol and Smoke Product (GASP)

- OSDPD/SSD

http://www.gis.ssd.nesdis.noaa.gov/website/GASP/viewer.htm

 

Table 4 – GIS Data Conversion Tools

GIS-Friendly Tools

Source

On-line Location

NCDC Java NEXRAD

NCDC

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/radar/jnx/index.html

Nexrad to shapefile

GMU

http://geog.gmu.edu/projects/wxproject/nex2shp/nexrad.htm

NetCDF converters

(direct read in ArcGIS 9.2)

UNIDATA

ESRI

http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/netcdf/

http://arcscripts.esri.com/details.asp?dbid=13894

GRIB converters

CPC

MDL

http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/wesley/grb2grid.html

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/ndfd/gis/ndfd_GIS_tutorial.html

HDF-EOS to GeoTiff

EOS

http://newsroom.gsfc.nasa.gov/sdptoolkit/HEG/HEGHome.html

 

Table 5 – Potential GIS atmospheric data structures.

GIS-Alien Data Object

Spatial Structure

Examples

4d points (most common spatial object)

P(x,y,z,t), attributes {p,q,u,v,…}

Observations, model grid products, time series, moving observation platforms

Points in arbitrary dimensions

P(i,j,k,…), attributes {a,b,c,…}

Thermodynamic diagrams, z = f(T), p = f(θ); time series f(t); hyperspectral information, I = f(x,y,p,λ)

Moving arcs

(4d polylines)

Pl(x,y,z,t), attributes

Time series of atmospheric fronts, isopleths (aka “analysis”), streamlines, intersections of volumes

Arcs in arbitrary dimensions

Pl(i,j,k,…), attributes

Change of state or constituent transformation during transport of a point along a Lagrangian path, intersections of surfaces

Moving polygons

 

Py(x,y,z,t), attributes

 

Radar feature morphology, air mass or tracer boundary deformation and motion,

Polygons in arbitrary dimensions

Py(i,j,k,…), attributes

Identification of “spatial” patterns in data of arbitrary dimensions, event detection and identification

Surfaces

Defined by a set of points in multiple dimensions, adjacency information must be provided

Pollutant layer or tracer (water vapor, potential vorticity) transport and transformation

Volumes

Defined by a closed surface

Radar feature morphology, air mass or tracer boundary deformation and motion,