Skip to content

Database and FTP Information

Each event directory in the FTP site is named by the date then location of the event. Files for each event are then organized in directories by agency /contact. All data files are compressed(gzip) ASCII containing a 5 line header then data. The header contains:

1. name/location, agency, id number, latitude N, longitude E, time interval in seconds and the number of data points.
2. start time of the file in decimal day of year and calendar date/time, units of data and scaling factor.
3. estimated tsunami travel time in hours from main earthquake shock and the time of the main shock, both in decimal day of year.
4. the mean removed from the data and the write format for the data and a missing value flag if used.
5. processing comments(may be blank).

For more descriptions, see the "areadme" files in the individual event directories. Postscript copies of the data table, maps and plots are found in the x_postscript directories. This information is also found in "1_readme.txt" in the database directory.

Example FTP session:

ftp ftp.pmel.noaa.gov
Name: anonymous
331 Guest login ok, send ident as password.
Password: your  name
230 Guest login ok, access restrictions apply.
ftp> cd tsunami/database
ftp> ls
t19960610andreanov
ftp> cd t19960610andreanov
ftp> ls
coe_bpr
jma_tidegauge
nos_tidegauge
pmel_bpr
ptwc_tidegauge
x_postscript
ftp> cd pmel_bpr
ftp> binary
    Type set to I.
ftp> mget *.dat.gz

...

ftp> quit 

Go to the FTP site.