Dapper is a newly emerging, community-standard
OPeNDAP server for in situ data.
DapperM is a Matlab interface to data served by the Dapper OPeNDAP server. Matlab functions include an interactive lat/lon/depth/time data selection tool and functions for obtaining and using selected profile and time series datasets. The functions are described below, and an example is given. Documentation is built into Matlab for convenience of the user.
Regularly-updated Observing System datasets available through the PMEL dapper server include global Argo profiling floats, World Ocean Database 2005 profile data, TAO El Nino buoy data, Global Summary of the Day meteorological data, coastal buoy data from the National Data Buoy Center (NDBC), the Global Temperature-Salinity Profile Program (GTSPP) data, and PMEL time series and profile data.
Example
Argo data from near the Aleutian Islands is selected with the Dapper Wizard NdEdit function (Figure 1, below). NdEdit simplifies the process of limiting the data of interest to a time range of 2003-08-27 through 2003-12-14 (right hand window) and displaying the space time distribution of the selected datasets (left two windows).
![Dapper Wizard NdEditfunction for lat/lon/depth/time selection of stations from a large data collection](images/limitTime-579.jpg)
Figure 1. Dapper Wizard NdEditfunction for lat/lon/depth/time selection of stations from a large data collection.
Click to enlarge.
Figure 2. Variable list |
Once the data is selected it is returned to the DapperM interface. All variables that are available in the dataset are listed (Figure 2, right).
Pressing the “Save to Matlab” button will create the selection_1 CellArray in the users work area.
The data is now available to the user, as shown in the screen snapshot of the internal structure of the CellArray in Figure 3 (below).
Figure 3. Matlab Selection Cell Array containing data. |
Metadata can be displayed for any station (Figure 4, below left), and and a single variable can be selected and a waterfall plot can be created to give a quick look at the selected profiles (Figure 5, below. right).
![Viewing metadata for a selected station](images/selmetadata-250.jpg)
Figure 4. Viewing metadata for a selected station.
Click to enlarge.
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Figure 5. Waterfall plot made with DapperM (click to enlarge) |