The data directory holds
the ISCCP-D2 Monthly Mean Cloud Products for the years 1983 (beginning
July 1983), 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993,
1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999 in one directory [e.g., data/isccp_d2/].
The data reside on the disk in HDF4 format. The data is provided in HDF
by the Langley
Atmospheric Sciences Data Centre. A wider set of ISCCP data is
available from their webpage. The data in its raw format is stored on an
equal area grid of 280km resolution. The sample
read software provided converts this to an equal angle resolution of
2.5 degrees. Additionally, conversion tables are required to convert the
data to real numbers from integer counts.
There is a small change in the data format and filenames from 1994 onwards.
For the years 1983 to 1993 the file naming convention is d2_3hrlymon_yyyymm
(e.g. d1_3hrlymon_199205). For the years 1994 onwards the file naming convention
becomes ISCCP.D2.1.GLOBAL.yyyy.mm.99.9999.GPC.hdf (e.g. ISCCP.D2.1.GLOBAL.1997.12.99.9999.GPC.hdf).
These later files no longer contain the read software and the ancillary
data is included as a VDATA. The sample read files will read both file
types.
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