SOLAR TERRESTRIAL ENERGY PROGRAM STEP Project 6.4

GLOBAL 1-MINUTE GEOMAGNETIC DATA BASE ON CD-ROM

The two STEP Project 6.4 CD-ROMs contain 700 + Mb of geomagnetic data (1-minute resolution from worldwide network of magnetic observatories and variational stations (Click here for station list). The observatory data have been collected by the U.S. STEP Coordination Office (USSCO, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD) and the National Geophysical Data Center (NOAA/NGDC, Solar-Terrestrial Division, Boulder, CO) through the World Data Center System and personal contacts with magnetic observatories.

Geomagnetic data have been provided by magnetic observatories sometime in various formats. These data have been converted in the WDC format for digital 1-minute geomagnetic data. Some of magnetic observatories could provide the analog recordings (magnetograms) only, e.g. most of the observatories from the former Soviet Union. Such data have been digitized with an 1-min resolution and converted into the WDC standard format. The digitization has been sponsored by the USSCO and carried out at IZMIRAN (Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere and Radio Wave Propagation, Moscow, Russia) and AARI (Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia). The dedicated software has been developed for the digitization, data conversion, and data quality control and visualization.

The retrieval and visualization software used with the CD, have been developed to be 'user-friendly' and 'menu-driven', and to run in MS-DOS environment. The software is an adjunct to the primary objective of the CD-ROM creation, namely, to place a large quantity of important data into the user's hands. As such, the software first invites the user to specify a subset of the data (by hourly or 1-min data base, time interval, and by presentation). Then software creates a file of that subset, and invites the user to perform various actions (e.g. display) with that subset.

In short the program ACCESS.EXE will allow the user to select a subset of the data included in each of the monthly files (i.e. specific days or intervals), then write this data to a custom file and/or display this data to the screen.

A sample plot is included here:

The STEP Project 6.4 CD-ROM can be ordered from the National Geophysical Data Center at a cost of $ 11 inside the USA and $ 21 outside the USA to cover only shipping and handling costs. For more information contact the data center.

STATION LIST

Below is a list of the data included on CD-ROMs (PC-polar cap, AZ- auroral zone, ML-middle latitudes, LL-low latitudes, EQ-equatorial):

(*p) Fort Simpson has been added to STEP Project 6.4 list of stations after the publication in STEP International, Vol. 3, No. 1, January 1993, as a contribution from CANOPUS (G. Rostoker).