MAP Data Centre Status

Since the last Newsletter, there were many changes behind the scene at the MDC. First of all we moved our ORACLE database and ORACLE Webserver to a new UNIX-Server. The MDC is now running on a SUN SS670MP Server with 128 MB Memory and 16 GB disk space. We also updated our ORACLE database to Version 7.3 and the ORACLE Webserver to Version 2.0. With this configuration it is possible to handle large data tables over the Internet. We are now sure to have an optimal hardware and software configuration for the MDC.

Contents of MAP Database

Here we give a short overview over the G-data (or general data) on the MAP Data Centre. This data covers the MAP episodes (several case studies of a few days duration) and the MAP seasons (June to November for the years 1992 to 1997). Much of this data is non-GTS data that is usually not easily available since not communicated over WMO channels. Note also that a substantial fraction of the G-data is far from real time (e.g. digitized on a yearly basis or similar), and thus there are delays with recent data. The following data status reflects the state of the MAP Data Centre on January 25, 1997. On the page

http://www.map.meteoswiss.ch/map-doc/map_info/map_info.htm

you will find the up-to-date status. A wide range of additional data is currently on its way to Zürich, or has already arrived and will become available shortly.

G1 Data (Episodes)

Region / Country	Description	#Station	Provider
Emilia Romagna, Italy	RR	171	Servizio Meteorologico Regionale, Bologna, Italy
S. Michele (TN), Italy	ps,RH,ff,dd,RR	6	Istituto Agrario di S.Michele all'Adige, 38010 S. Michele (TN), Italy
Friuli-Venezia, Italy	ps,RH,ff,dd,RR	18	Centro Meteorologico Regionale, Friuli-Venezia, Italy
Veneto, Italy	TT,RH,ff,dd	18	Dipartimento per l'Agrometeorologia
Veneto, Italy	TT,RH,ff,dd	13	Centro Sperimentale Idrologia e Meteorologia
Slovakia	RR	845
Payerne, Switzerland	Radiosonde data	1	MeteoSwiss, Switzerland
dí Abbeville, France	Radar images	1	Météo France
Trappes, France	Radar images	1	Météo France
Germany	Radar quick looks	1	DLR, Germany
Switzerland	Composite radar images	1	MeteoSwiss, Switzerland
Europe	IR, VIS and WV satellite images		METSAT
Europe	Meteorological analysis charts
Europe	Surface analysis data for mesoscale model initalization		ECMWF, Reading, UK
Europe	Surface re-analysis data for mesoscale model initalization		ECMWF, Reading, UK
Switzerland	Swiss Model (SM) forecasts		MeteoSwiss, Switzerland

G2 Data (Season)

Region / Country	Description	# Station	92	93	94	95	96	Provider
Europe	RR	1372	y	y	y	y	y	GTS
Switzerland	RR	475		y	y	y		MeteoSwiss, Switzerland
Switzerland	ps,RH,ff,dd,RR	72						MeteoSwiss, Switzerland

New FTP-Service at the MDC

We have configured an FTP-Server at the MDC for interchanging documents, files, etc. The FTP-Server is accessible by anonymous user identification. Everybody is invited to use it for MAP-related information exchange. There are some rules to follow for using the FTP-Server:

• First of all, the MAP FTP-Server can be reached using the following addresses:
  

when using an FTP-Tool:

ftp ftp.sma.ch
cd outgoing/map
username: anonymous
password: your email address
host type: UNIX (standard)

when using an Web Browser:

ftp://ftp.sma.ch/outgoing/map.

With the Web Browser you can only download files.

• The public directory for universal use is:
  /pub. You have full read and write privileges on the public directory. To prevent a chaos, please put your files in a subdirectory.
  
• If you do not want everybody to access your files on the MAP FTP-Server, you can use the special directory /pub/map. You are able to store and restore files in this directory, but nobody is able to get the directory information. That means, that you must know the name of the file exactly, if you want to get a file. After you put a file in this directory, you must inform your recipients by email of the exact filename. As a recipient, you can get the file using the following Web Browser command:
  ftp://www.map.meteoswiss.ch/pub/map/”filename”
  If you choose a complicate filename, it is like a good password!
• Every entry will automatically be deleted after a period of ten days. If you need the files for a longer period on the MAP FTP-Server, contact the MDC in advance.
  
• There is no quota for the disk space (But please, do not store giga bytes of data on the FTP-Server!).
  

• We hope this service will be useful for the whole MAP community. Please send suggestions and notices to the MDC.

MAP Working Groups information at the MDC

Under the address http://www.map.meteoswiss.ch/map-doc/orginfo.htm you can obtain information about all the MAP Working Groups. At the moment you find the addresses of the Chairperson and the Working Group members. We invite the Working Groups to arrange their own WWW-page. The Working Group WWW page is a place where you can advertise your publications, WWW-links to your own WWW-Server, links to other places of interest, etc.

To change your Working Groupís WWW page, you must first copy the respective WWW page to your location (in html format). Then make your changes on the page, including the links to other WWW-locations. Now send the updated page by email to the MDC. We will then copy the new page to the MAP WWW-Server as soon as possible. It is also possible to define subpages and, off course, images. The image format must be a WWW standard format (for example GIF- or JPG-Format). In this case, be sure to send the complete package to the MAP FTP-Server, directory /pub/mapinput and notify us by email.