Data Documentation
A day of data files is bundled or processed into a single 24-hour file that represents a data stream, which is then stored at the ACRF Data Archive.
Data collected through the routine operations and scientific field experiments of the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program and ARM Climate Research Facility (ACRF) are stored and distributed through the ACRF Data Archive. Routine data are collected from instrument measurements and stored in data files for each collection interval (typically hourly). Each data file is named using the ACRF file naming convention. The standard file format for ACRF measurements is NetCDF, a self-describing binary format. The structure of a NetCDF data file for a specific data stream is defined and managed by a data object design (DOD).
The ACRF Data Archive makes these data publicly available from the ARM web pages and from its website. To place a data order, browse instruments, measurements, and data and look for pages that have "Build an Order" in their right-side navigation.
To learn more, there are many documents (listed to the right) that help data users to understand ARM data (e.g., data stream descriptions) or that supplement the data (e.g., data quality reports, metadata).
