951118: help with testing of our netCDF format?

>From: address@hidden
>Organization: University of Oklahoma
>Keywords: 199511180236.AA06451 netCDF group

Tim,

>Hi, it's Tim Hughes here from the U. of Oklahoma, with a request concerning
>the netCDF user group.  I'd like to send an invitation to that group to
>try out our netCDF format in exchange for getting 1-2 days worth of data
>for free.  

Sounds good.

>I thought there might be someone who would like to get some
>data for a storm event last season, and it would help us to get some feed-
>back on how our netCDF files are set up.   Unfortunately, I'm no longer
>a member of that group (too many questions were raised about my character when
>it was found I was a member, in my OU/SOM days, so I had to quit).

You can always resubscribe.  We manager our email lists with majordomo.
To subscribe to a list, all you have to do is to send an email note to
address@hidden; the body of the text whould be ONLY:

subscribe netcdfgroup address@hidden (Tim Hughes)

If you want to unsubscribe from a list, all you have to send is:

unsubscribe netcdfgroup ...

>Anyway, the request follows.  If you consider it appropriate to share with
>them, would you forward it for me?   If you think it looks like junk email,
>well, you're probably right.....

Instead of us forwarding your message, please resubscribe and then send
it.  This way, the return address is yours, not ours.

>Thanks for your consideration, either way.

No problem.

>From address@hidden Sat Nov 18 02:42:20 1995

Hi netCDF users group:

I'm with the Oklahoma Mesonetwork.  If you haven't heard of us, our network
consists of 111 weather stations across the state, each of which produces
5 minute resolution data for:

                       Air Temperature 
                       Relative Humidity 
                       Barometric Pressure
                       Wind Speed and Direction 
                       Rainfall 
                       Solar Radiation 

and 15 minute resolution data for soil temperatures.  Needless to say, this 
adds up.  We have chosen netCDF for our archive format, and are close to being 
able to share some of our data in 'beta-test' mode.  If you expect to receive 
Mesonet data from us in the future, this is a chance to preview the format
you will be using.

If you would like to lend us a hand, regardless of whether you expect
to be a regular customer, we would appreciate your feedback on these files.
For example:

 1. Are they truly self-describing or did we leave anything out?

 2. Are they constructed in such a way that accessing the data is easy,
    using your netCDF software?

 3. Do they work OK under your Operating System?

 4. Anything in general we can do to make them easier to use?

If you would like to help us out, please respond to my email address
(address@hidden), and I will arrange to have some test files
sent to you by early December.  By the way, each file will contain an entire 
day's data from our network, and will be just under 2 MBytes in size.  We will 
be happy to have you use the data for your own purposes, but with the 
following understanding:

  1. If you need the data for serious research purposes, Quality Assurance 
     results for the data will be provided in separate files, as time allows.
     There will be no QA results internal to these netCDF files.

  2. We will provide you with 2 days data maxmimum, and the data must be for
     a day or days between Jan. 1, 1995 and July 31, 1995.

  3. We ask that this data not be shared with anyone outside your office,
     as revenues from archived data help sustain our network.

If you are interested, please include your fax number in your email response,
and I will fax you a brief statement of understanding regarding the points
above, which I will need you to sign and return.

Your help will greatly improve our ability to serve you and others down the
road, and will be much appreciated.

Thank you,

Tim Hughes
Project Manager, Oklahoma Mesonet
The Oklahoma Climatological Survey
100 E. Boyd, Rm. 1210
Norman, OK  73019
(405) 325-2541

Tom Yoksas

>From address@hidden Mon Nov 20 20:10:33 1995
>OK, I'll actually have our archive programmer subscribe, as he will get more
>out of the interactions with other netCDF users.  His name is Sridhar
>Kulasekharan.  Thanks Tim