Archive-name: meteorology/faq-intro
Last-modified: 22 Apr 1996

Recent changes: 

  ==within last two weeks==

  ==within last four weeks==

This article is copyright (c) 1995 by Ilana Stern.  It may be freely
distributed for non-commercial purposes only, provided that this copyright 
notice and the instructions on retrieving a current copy are not removed.  

If you would like to put this article in an archive and want to receive
a new copy automatically at every update, please send me email.  I DO NOT
MAINTAIN A MAILING LIST SO PLEASE DON'T ASK FOR ME TO SEND YOU COPIES
AT EACH UPDATE UNLESS YOU ARE ARCHIVING IT FOR PUBLIC USAGE OR FURTHER
REDISTRIBUTION!

Corrections, additions, and comments should be sent to Ilana Stern at
ilana@ncar.ucar.edu.  Please include in your message where you read
this document.  Note that if I know about it, it's in this document.

If the date in the headers of the document you're reading
is more than a month old, you should retrieve a current copy.
Current copies of this FAQ series can be obtained by anonymous FTP at
<URL:ftp://ncardata.ucar.edu/other_resources/meteorology-faq/> or
in hypertext form via WWW at <URL:http://www.ucar.edu/dss/faq/> or
<URL:http://www.inrete.it/vela/ilana_1.html>.  These faqs are also
stored in the general USENET FAQ repositories, for example
<URL:ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/meteorology/>.

------------------------------

Subject: 1) Table of contents

 1) Table of contents 
 2) Overview 
 3) Where to find the FAQs
 4) How to use the file retrieval methods

Each (major) section has a "Subject:" line, so you can search on the
subject title above to find the section quickly.

------------------------------

Subject: 2) Overview

This is the introduction to a series of FAQ postings for the Usenet newsgroup
sci.geo.meteorology.  "FAQ" stands for Frequently Asked Questions:  these
postings are intended to answer the general question, "Where can I get <X>?"
for just about any value of <X> which has anything to do with meteorology.

This FAQ series grew out of a FAQ which was much smaller in scope, the
"Sources of Meteorological Data FAQ" which identified Internet and
other sources of meteorological data for both the hobbyist and the
researcher.  The bulk of this FAQ series is still about data sources,
but a lot of other information has been added.

The following postings comprise the FAQ series:

  Subject: Meteorology FAQ Part 1/7: Intro
  Summary: Introduction to the sci.geo.meteorology FAQs
  Archive-name: meteorology/faq-intro
    1. Table of contents 
    2. Overview 
    3. Where to find the FAQs
    4. How to use the file retrieval methods

  Subject: Meteorology FAQ Part 2/7: Sources of weather data
  Summary: Weather data available via the Internet
  Archive-name: meteorology/weather-data
    1. Table of contents 
    2. Overview
    3. Comprehensive weather sites
    4. North America
    5. Regional US sites
    6. US Regional Climate Centers
    7. Global weather in general
    8. Europe
    9. Australia and New Zealand
   10. Asia
   11. South/Central America, Caribbean
   12. Antarctica
   13. Africa
   14. Various satellite data and archives
   15. Specialty-oriented weather sites
   16. Severe weather
   17. Climate data
   18. Collections of weather data links
   19. Commercial services

  Subject: Meteorology FAQ Part 3/7: Sources of research data
  Summary: Research and miscellaneous data available via the Internet
  Archive-name: meteorology/research-data
    1. Table of contents
    2. Overview
    3. Multidisciplinary Data Centers 
    4. Climate and weather
    5. Satellite data
    6. Hydrology and glaciology
    7. Environmental chemistry
    8. Geophysical and mapping data
    9. Instruments and field experiments
   10. Oceanography
   11. Miscellaneous data
   12. Software and documentation

  Subject: Meteorology FAQ Part 4/7: Sources of CD-ROMs
  Summary: Weather and research data available via CD-ROM
  Archive-name: meteorology/cdroms
    1. Table of contents
    2. Overview
    3. Weather data 
    4. Research data 
    5. Miscellaneous CDs

  Subject: Meteorology FAQ Part 5/7: Internet resources
  Summary: Mailing lists, newsgroups, institutional home pages etc.
  Archive-name: meteorology/net-resources
    1. Table of contents
    2. Overview
    3. Newsgroups
    4. Mailing lists
    5. Institutional home pages -- non-US
    6. Institutional home pages -- US
    7. Employment resources
    8. Educational resources for teachers
    9. Information on meteorology topics

  Subject: Meteorology FAQ Part 6/7: Print and other resources
  Summary: Books for scientists and laymen, journals, societies etc.
  Archive-name: meteorology/print-resources
    1.  Table of contents
    2.  Overview
    3.  Books readable by English-reading nonprofessionals
    4.  Books readable by French-reading nonprofessionals
    5.  Magazines readable by nonprofessionals
    6.  Scientific Texts
    7.  Meteorological History
    8.  Journals
    9.  Professional Societies

  Subject: Meteorology FAQ Part 7/7: List of US State Climatologists
  Summary: List of US State Climatologists and Regional Climate Centers
  Archive-name: meteorology/state-climatologists
    1. Table of contents
    2. Overview
    3. State Climatologists 
    4. Regional Climate Centers

------------------------------

Subject: 3) Where to find the FAQs

This FAQ series is posted to sci.geo.meteorology, news.answers, and 
sci.answers every two weeks;  it also appears on the mailing lists CLIMLIST 
and met-stud.  

Current copies of this FAQ series can be obtained by anonymous FTP at
<URL:ftp://ncardata.ucar.edu/other_resources/meteorology-faq/> or in
hypertext form via WWW at <URL:http://www.ucar.edu/dss/faq/> or
<URL:http://www.inrete.it/vela/ilana_1.html>. These faqs are also
stored in the general USENET FAQ repositories, for example
<URL:ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/meteorology/>.

This information, particularly the internet resources lists, changes
rapidly.  If the date in the headers of the document you're reading
is more than a month old, you should retrieve a more current copy.

------------------------------

Subject: 4) How to use the file retrieval methods

  This section only describes FTP and telnet in any detail;  for other
methods, FTP sites are given, so you can get information on them yourself.

How to use FTP
  FTP (File Transfer Protocol) allows transfer of files between two computers
which are on the Internet.  To access the FTP areas listed here, at your
system prompt type "ftp" followed by the name of the desired system.  For 
example, to access ncardata.ucar.edu you'd type
	ftp ncardata.ucar.edu
Use "anonymous" as your login and your email address as the password (if
requested).
  [Note: quotes ("like this") are used to set off names of directories and
files, or commands you'd type, and are not part of these names.]
  Not all FTP systems accept the same commands, but here's a list of the
most useful:
	ls:     list files in the current directory.
	cd:     change directory, e.g. "cd wx" changes to the wx directory.
	binary: sets binary mode
	ascii:  sets ascii mode (the default).  Use for retrieving text.
	get:    retrieves a file, e.g. "get readme" gets a file called readme.
	bye:    exits FTP.
  If you can't seem to connect to the site, check to see if it is a telnet
site.  If it is, follow the instructions in the following section instead.
If you can't FTP from your site, use one of the following ftp-by-mail servers:
	ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com          
	ftpmail@src.doc.ic.ac.uk
	ftpmail@cs.uow.edu.au           
	ftpmail@ftp.uni-stuttgart.de

Send an e-mail message to the closest address, with the lines:
	reply your_address@some.where     <- with your email address
	connect ncardata.ucar.edu         <- for example
	cd datasets/ds111.2/software
	get access_sun.f
	quit

For complete instructions, send a one-line message reading "help" to the
server.  Please don't ask me for help!

How to use telnet

Type "telnet" followed by the name or IP number of the desired system.  These
publicly accessible systems generally allow you to log in but put you in
a restricted shell, from which only a certain menu of commands is available.
The description for the site will include the login to use.
  If you can't seem to connect to the site, re-check its description in the
document; if it's an FTP site, follow the instructions in the previous 
section instead.

Gopher information

Available by ftp at <URL:ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/gopher-faq>.

Wais information

Available by ftp at 
<URL:ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/wais-faq/getting-started>.

WWW information

Available by ftp at <URL:ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/www/faq>.
WWW is so easy to use that you might as well just hop in and try it, so 
ask your sysadmin if you have a WWW browser such as NCSA Mosaic or Netscape.
--
/\       Ilana Stern ilana@ncar.ucar.edu http://www.scd.ucar.edu/dss/ilana.html
  \_][   Data Support Section * National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)
      \__PO Box 3000, Boulder, Colorado 80307 * 303/497-1214 * 303/497-1298 fax