Receptor File

The receptor file is a file containing the file names of the stilt footprints, one line per file name. This file is used in a number of scripts. Each file should include the entire directory path and name to the file.

Example:

/nfs/footprints/stilt/ctl-na-v1.1/flask/2012/06/stilt2012x06x01x09x16x40.0500Nx105.0040Wx00300.nc
/nfs/footprints/stilt/ctl-na-v1.1/flask/2012/06/stilt2012x06x01x10x01x37.7553Nx122.4517Wx00232.nc
/nfs/footprints/stilt/ctl-na-v1.1/flask/2012/06/stilt2012x06x01x12x02x43.9775Nx121.6861Wx00011.nc
/nfs/footprints/stilt/ctl-na-v1.1/flask/2012/06/stilt2012x06x01x17x33x39.9902Nx105.2627Wx00002.nc
/nfs/footprints/stilt/ctl-na-v1.1/flask/2012/06/stilt2012x06x01x18x26x40.1581Nx105.0551Wx00002.nc
/nfs/footprints/stilt/ctl-na-v1.1/flask/2012/06/stilt2012x06x01x18x30x39.7830Nx086.1650Wx00031.nc
/nfs/footprints/stilt/ctl-na-v1.1/flask/2012/06/stilt2012x06x01x18x30x39.7980Nx086.0180Wx00156.nc
/nfs/footprints/stilt/ctl-na-v1.1/flask/2012/06/stilt2012x06x01x18x30x39.8947Nx086.2000Wx00139.nc
/nfs/footprints/stilt/ctl-na-v1.1/flask/2012/06/stilt2012x06x01x18x46x39.6011Nx086.0379Wx00375.nc
/nfs/footprints/stilt/ctl-na-v1.1/flask/2012/06/stilt2012x06x01x18x49x39.7018Nx085.9860Wx00348.nc
/nfs/footprints/stilt/ctl-na-v1.1/flask/2012/06/stilt2012x06x01x18x54x39.6672Nx085.9959Wx00402.nc
/nfs/footprints/stilt/ctl-na-v1.1/flask/2012/06/stilt2012x06x01x19x07x40.1454Nx104.8710Wx00007.nc
/nfs/footprints/stilt/ctl-na-v1.1/flask/2012/06/stilt2012x06x01x19x12x39.7092Nx086.1428Wx00352.nc
/nfs/footprints/stilt/ctl-na-v1.1/flask/2012/06/stilt2012x06x01x19x13x40.1453Nx104.8694Wx00006.nc

Receptor File Creation

Because of the amount of footprint files available (1,264,306 for version 1.1) and the naming of the footprint files, it is rather difficult to come up with a receptor file list solely based on the footprint file names. There are a couple ways to get around this:

  1. Use the corresponding receptor info files to get more information about each footprint, and use this information to narrow down the footprint files to use.
  2. NOAA has created a MySQL database with additional information for each footprint. Then mysql queries can be used to extract a list of footprint file names to use for the inversion.

Receptor Info Files

These are text files containing information about the receptors. Each text file covers one month of receptors of a certain type, e.g. flask, in-situ continuous, GOSAT, TCCON ... Each file contains 17 columns of data, delimited by white space. The columns are:

  • File - filename of the receptor footprint

  • Type - type of measurement corresponding to the footprint. One of ‘flask’, ‘continuous’, ‘TCCON’, ‘GOSAT’ or ‘hatsflask’.

  • SubType - additional type information, describing categories of the location site. For non TCCON types, the subtypes are

    • ‘surface’
    • ‘aircraft’
    • ‘short-tower’
    • ‘building’
    • ‘tall-tower’
    • ‘hats-flask’

    For TCCON type, the subtypes are

    • ‘ tccon_pa_solarnoon ‘
    • ‘ tccon_pa_solar2pm ‘
    • ‘ tccon_pa_fixedasza ‘
    • ‘ tccon_jc_solarnoon ‘
    • ‘ tccon_jc_solar2pm ‘
    • ‘ tccon_jc_fixedasza ‘
    • ‘ tccon_oc_solarnoon ‘
    • ‘ tccon_oc_solar2pm ‘
    • ‘ tccon_oc_fixedasza ‘
    • ‘ tccon_fc_solarnoon ‘
    • ‘ tccon_fc_fixedasza ‘
    • ‘ tccon_fc_solar2pm ‘
    • ‘ tccon_jf_solarnoon ‘
    • ‘ tccon_jf_fixedasza ‘
    • ‘ tccon_jf_solar2pm ‘
    • ‘ tccon_if_solarnoon ‘
    • ‘ tccon_if_fixedasza ‘
    • ‘ tccon_if_solar2pm ‘

  • Model - model used to create footprint

  • Date - receptor date

  • Time - receptor time

  • Latitude - receptor latitude

  • Longitude - receptor longitude

  • Alt - altitude used in calculation of footprint

  • Alt_type - type of altitude, either above ground level (agl) or above sea level (asl)

  • Alt_index - Always set to 0 for receptors available via NOAA ftp.

  • Site - NOAA site code assigned to the location. See site codes description.

  • Surface_Elev - Surface elevation of the site

  • Model_agl - receptor height above model ground level

  • Data_agl - measurement height above ground level (e.g., tower intake height or aircraft height) If alt_type is ‘asl’ then data_agl is altitude minus surface elevation. If alt_type is ‘agl’, the data_agl is same as altitude.

  • Event - id number assigned by NOAA to NOAA flask measurements
  • Operator - Laboratory or agency that is responsible for the measurements at the site