USAF C-130 Vortex Observation GTS Messages [NCAR/EOL]

1. General Description


This data set includes all of the Vortex messages from the two USAF C-130 aircraft 
that flew during the ITOP field program.  The C-130 aircraft were based out of Guam 
and flew around tropical systems in the western Pacific Ocean during August-October 
2010.  The data are in the GTS Vortex message format and contain information about
the center of tropical circulations flown by the USAF C-130 aircraft.  NCAR/EOL have 
conducted no quality control on these data files.

2. File Naming Convention

research.USAF_C130.yyyymmddhhnn.Vortex_message.txt

where yyyy = four digit year
      mm = two digit month
      dd = two digit day
      hh = two digit hour
      nn = two digit minute
Note that the times in the file names are when the file was received at NCAR/EOL.

3. Format Description

A complete description of the Vortex format is available in the file
VortexDataMessage.pdf that is also included as part of your data order.

4. Further Information

Further information about the ITOP research flights is available in the ITOP
Field Catalog Mission Table:

http://catalog.eol.ucar.edu/itop_2010/missions/missions.html

Additional information about the ITOP project is available at the ITOP home
page:

http://www.eol.ucar.edu/projects/itop/