National Center for Atmospheric Research
EOL Integrated Surface Flux Facility

MLO Seeing Study 5-minute ASCII Data Access

These 5 minute data are a merge of the following:
  1. means and covariances of data from the sonic anemometers at 6, 15 and 25 meters
  2. 1 hour pressure, air temperature and dewpoint at 2 meters, and wind speed and direction at 10 meters, as provided by NOAA.
    3. These 1 hour means have been linearly interpolated to 5 minutes.
  3. Derived Cn^2

We recommend combining these to obtain more statistically-significant averages over longer time periods.

Status of Dataset

Release, December 11, 2007

The sonic anemometer data are in instrument coordinates; They have not been rotated to geographic coordinates, and they have not been corrected for anemometer tilt.

Java Applet and Plugin

Downloading ASCII data (.txt) uses a Java applet for selecting variables and time periods. Your browser must have support for (at least) Java version 1.2 to run the applet. If your browser does not have support for Java 1.2, you should be redirected to a web site where you can download a plug-in for Netscape, Mozilla or Internet Explorer. The plug-in is available for Linux, Solaris and Windows.

Version 1.2 of Mozilla will not redirect you to the plug-in download page if the plug-in is needed. You must click on the java.sun.com link, below to get the plugin.

Java Plug-in Information

Netscape/Mozilla users can enter a URL of about:plugins, or click on Help->About Plug-ins to display the plug-ins which have been installed.

The current Java run-time environment (JRE) which includes the Java plugin for Windows (IE/Netscape/Mozilla), Linux (Netscape/Mozilla) and Solaris (Netscape/Mozilla) is available at http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/download.html.

If that link is broken, try http://java.sun.com/j2se.

Download the JRE (Java Runtime Enviromment) from the latest version of the J2SE. You don't need the extra stuff, like NetBeans.

Installation instructions are available at http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/jre/install.html.

Some Notes about the Java plugin on Various Platforms

  1. Mozilla and Linux
  2. Netscape and Linux
  3. Windows Internet Explorer

Java Applet User Interface

The data selection applet provides four areas for user input.
  • A "Times" section for selecting the start and end times of your request, in GMT.
  • A "Variables" section for selecting the variables of interest. The variables are grouped under folder tabs by station name, height, and (loosely) by variable type.
  • An "Output Format" section for choosing the format of the ASCII output
  • A Download button. The browser will popup a file selection menu where you can enter the desired file name.

    • Sample of top part of applet. Click to enlarge.

    Sample of bottom part of applet. Click to enlarge.

    Download Problems

    If you experience problems downloading data click here.

    ISFF MLO_CN25min Dataset Access

    The MLO_CN2 ISFF dataset is publically available. However, we ask users to provide their name and email address when they first download data, so that they may be notified of discovered errors or new releases of the dataset.

    If you have provided this information before for this dataset, leave the fields blank.

    User Name:
    Organization:
    Email address:


    Contact Gordon Maclean if the Java applet does not work after installing the plugin, or if you have any other feedback about the download process.

    Please contact your system administrator if you have problems installing the Java plugin in your browser.

    © NCAR/Atmospheric Technology Division