- What is EPIC?
EPIC was developed at NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental
Laboratory to manage the large numbers of hydrographic and
time series oceanographic in-situ data sets collected
as part of NOAA climate study programs, such as EPOCS and
TOGA in earlier years, WOCE and CLIVAR and others more recently.
The EPIC system provides data archival, retreival, display
and analysis procedures for oceanographic time series and
hydrographic data. Users select data by specifying data type,
latitude, longitude and time range or other identifying characteristics.
Classic EPIC data analysis and display routines in Fortan and c are supported for Unix and for
VMS. More modern developments include an OPeNDAP server for in-situ data and several desktop and web OPeNDAP clients.
At present, PMEL maintains approximately 100,000 individual
data sets in the EPIC data base. This data is available on-line
to researchers inside PMEL on the desktop and on the Web
via PMEL's internal Intranet. Portions of the data are
publically available
outside PMEL via the World Wide Web.
EPIC data is also available through OPeNDAP, and there is a growing suite of exciting new Web and Java clients and utility libraries .
- What kinds of in-situ data are supported
in EPIC?
Data types include CTD, XBT, bottle data, time series from
moored instruments, shipboard ADCP data, and drifting buoy
data. Data files are self-documenting and machine transportable.
Multiple data file formats are supported for access from C
and Fortran by the EPIC
System Library (EPSLIB), including the EPIC
implementation of the Unidata netCDF format. Loading of
new data sets into the system is straightforward. At present,
PMEL has over 90,000 data sets in EPIC.
The new dapper OPeNDAP server can serve oceanic and atmospheric in-situ and gridded datasets in a variety of netCDF formats.
- What is EPIC for the desktop?
- New OPeNDAP Web Viewer - for in-situ oceanic and atmospheric PMEL and other observing system datasets through theOPeNDAP dapper server.
- EPIC Web (available to the public) - Online data selection, graphics and download of PMEL data observations.
- EPIC Web (internal access only) - The Internal EPIC Web includes all data in the public server, as well as new, recently collected PMEL observations.
- ncBrowse - netCDF and OPeNDAP browser and viewer.
- OceanShare - Collaborative tool to provide local and network access to oceanographic data.
- Java OceanAtlas (JOA) - application for viewing and manipulating oceanographic profile data.
- NdEdit - interactive tool for graphically selecting and subsetting large in-situ data collections
In addition, Classic EPIC includes a data selection routine with which a user
specifies selection criteria such as space and time ranges.
Once data is selected, there is a complete suite of routines
in Fortran and c for graphical display and data analysis available
for Unix and
for VMS.
- Does EPIC have a point-and-click interface?
All new web and desktop applications have interactive graphical user interfaces. A small suite of Classic EPIC routines have a Motif
point-and-click interface.
- Is EPIC data on the Web?
Web access is provided through the new OPeNDAP web viewer (includes PMEL data and other realtime Observing System datasets). Access is also available with number of clients for the OPeNDAP dapper server. EPIC Web also provides access for publically
available EPIC data sets. The remainder of the PMEL's
EPIC data is available for local access only on PMEL's
Intranet.
- Can I publish my EPIC data on the
Web?
With the freely available OPeNDAP dapper server and DChart web client, anyone can publish in-situ data on the web.
There is also a small collection of EPIC Web Utilities
to facilitate distribution of information on the Web.
- How can I obtain EPIC?
New Java, OPeNDAP and AJAX client/server and utility software is available for download. Classic EPIC is also freely available
by ftp.
- Who can I contact for information about
EPIC?
Contact epic@noaa.gov.
- What is EPIC data format?
EPIC data files are self-documenting and machine transportable.
Multiple data file formats are supported for access from C
and Fortran by the EPIC
System Library (EPSLIB), including the EPIC
implementation of the Unidata netCDF format for in-situ data .
- How can I write my data into EPIC format?
See the Web Page on writing
EPIC data files.
- Can I use MATLAB with EPIC data? How about GrADS?
Very soon there will be a Matlab client specifically developed for in-situ data from the OPeNDAP dapper server. GrADS is alreay a desktop client for the dapper server.
You can use EPIC data files with MATLAB by utilizing the
Classic EPIC MexEPS interface,
which is freely available by ftp. In addition to reading EPIC
data files, and some ASCII files, MexEPS includes convenient
routines for manipulation of time words in different formats.
- Can I put EPIC data into a spreadsheet?
Publically
available EPIC data can be downloaded in spreadsheet compatible
format via the Web. You can use the Classic EPIC desktop programs SUMMARY and DATALST to convert
EPIC data files to a spreadsheet compatible format.
- Can I write my own C or Fortran
programs to analyze or manipulate EPIC data?
- Are there any example programs
for reading and writing data in EPIC format?
Examle programs
in both C and Fortran are available via ftp to serve as
templates for reading and writing EPIC data files.
- Can I use EPIC without using a database
like Ingres or mSQL?
EPIC uses either an Ingres
or mSQL database. The mSQL data base is available at no cost
to academic and non-profit institutions. The function of the
database for EPIC is to provide an index to the data files
containing oceanograhic data. Interaction with the data base
consists of (1) 'loader programs' which read EPIC formatted
data files, extract metadata, and enter that metadata into
the database along with the Unix path and data file name,
and (2) a 'select' program, which prompts the user for selection
criteria such as geographic range and time range, and then
searches the database to locate the data files meeting the
selection criteria. This is returned as an ascii file containing
a list of data file names, which is used as input by all EPIC
programs to locate the data sets on which they will operate.
EPIC can easily be used without a database. To use EPIC programs,
you simply construct an ascii file contaiing a list of Unix
path and data file names for input to the EPIC routine. Using
the data base eases the construction of this list, and allows
a user to easily locate desired data within large data collections.
- How does EPIC do graphics and animations?
The new web and desktop applications have interactive graphics, generally with the Java sgt scientific graphics toolkit.
Classic EPIC uses the Plot
Plus Graphics Package (pplus), which produces publication
quality graphics and animations, and can be licensed at no
cost. Also m2gif is used
to convert pplus meta format to GIF format for web display
and animations.
- What are some new EPIC projects? Any JAVA projects? Other new technologies?
See the latest EPIC developments, including Java applications and Applets, OPeNDAP and AJAX (Asynchronous Java and XML) are available
here.
