European Facility for Airborne Research in Environmental and Geo-sciences (EUFAR)

The EUFAR data archive is HERE.

Introduction

European Facility for Airborne Research in Environmental and Geo-sciences (EUFAR) is an Integrating Activity of the 7th Framework Program of the European Commission. EUFAR brings together 33 European institutions and companies involved in airborne research, operating 22 instrumented aircraft and providing access to 7 hyperspectral instruments.

To facilitate wide access and to maximise the potential of the valuable scientific data collected during the project a central gateway will be provided. The data itself will be stored either in an accessible archive operated by the aircraft operator or lodged in the BADC archive.

Description of available data

The data available will vary from aircraft to aircraft depending on the instruments on board and the aims and flight patterns for each project. No data is available yet for EUFAR FP7 TA flights.

Access to data, documentation and software

It is anticipated that data collected during EUFAR projects will be made widely available however specific access conditions/restrictions may apply.

Data format and Filenames

EUFAR processed data stored in the BADC archive should be in NetCDF format however HDF format may also be used. Data stored in an operator's own archive will be in the format specified by that operator.

Some software to read, manipulate and convert these formats into each other are provided by the BADC or other agencies (see "Links" section below).

Data, software and metadata submission

Preliminaries including permission to submit data to BADC

To upload EUFAR data files on the BADC server, you will need to have registered as a BADC user and got a password — if you are not a BADC registered user, please register here; if you are a BADC registered user but have forgotten your user ID and/or password, please ask help from the BADC support desk at badc@rl.ac.uk;

Then as EUFAR Data provider, you are required to agree to the EUFAR data deposit conditions before the data and metadata are added to the archive. Please follow this link to be given the necessary permissions to upload your data.

File structure

The BADC is encouraging all EUFAR projects to deliver data in NetCDF format and/or HDF format.

Metadata describing EUFAR data will be provided in the form of NetCDF file headers. Software and images will be archived in their original formats. Text documents should be archived in PDF.

In addition to EUFAR metadata, data creators are encouraged to archive to BADC all relevant information including experiment descriptions, references, papers, reports, etc. This Grey Litterature can be submitted and added to the CEDA document repository.

Advice on standardising filenames is provided on the file-naming convention page along with a list of common names used for instruments, locations etc. in filenames.

Uploading data

Data providers can upload their data files directly from their computer into the BADC incoming directory, via the BADC Web based file uploader.

In three steps (selection of a folder, selection of a format, selection of a file on the home computer), this online tool enables participants to upload any data file or supporting documentation. Please have your BADC user ID and password handy.

From the BADC file uploader page, follow the link to "EUFAR" then the appropriate Work-Package (WP) subdirectory followed by the appropriate sub-directory based on the instrument/model name (please refer to the common names list for details).

Data should preferably be uploaded through the EUFAR web uploader which is set up for that purpose. Alternatively, if the number of files to be submitted is very large, data and metadata can be uploaded via FTP by connecting to the BADC FTP server at ftp.badc.rl.ac.uk (please contact BADC Support before proceeding)

Documentation and Tools

Documentation about the EUFAR data may be found via the document directory

Links to further or related information

The EUFAR website
The Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM) Web site – BAe-146-301 aircraft
FAAM data archive at BADC
The joint NERC-DLR Airborne Remote Sensing Facility (ARSF) – Dornier 228-101 aircraft (Do-228)
Software for Manipulating or Displaying NetCDF Data. A fairly complete list of existing freely available and commercial or licensed software packages to write, read and handle NetCDF files, provided by Unidata.
Igor software to read NetCDF files. See also routines provided by Jonathan Crosier (University of Manchester) in the BADC FAAM software archive.
Downloadable AEROS software to read NetCDF files (includes a version for Linux and a version for Windows).

Who to contact

Any query regarding the data should be sent to the BADC help desk.

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