NVAP user,


        Here are the files that you requested.  Rather than send you the ASCII
text files as we may have done in the past, you'll find the packed integer*2
files on this tape.  Also included are fortran routines so that you can read
the data from your own program and the program to create a simple ASCII list
of the data points.  This format is identical to the ASCII data you may have
received in the past.  The VMS switch was tested on a VAX 4000/90 running
openVMS 6.0.  The HP switch was tested on a HP 9000/735 running HP-UX 9.05.
The SGI switch was tested on an SGI running IRIX 5.2.


        The tape we've provided is a 2GB density exabyte 8mm tape.  The TAR
file includes the gridded data sets you requested, the reading code, and the
matching data source code files.  To summarize, included on the tape:


        1) Your requested data files.  Each file can hold many global grids.
                The NVAP data is on a 1x1 degree grid (360x180) with (1,1)
                at the north pole and 0 longitude. They are named
                NVAP_YRMM.fin where YR is the YEAR and MM is the month.  Some
                file names may have a L1, L2, or L3 in them and these are the
                3 layered products where:
                        L1 : Surface - 700mb
                        L2 : 700mb - 500mb
                        L3:  500mb - 300mb

        2) The data source code files.  These are identical size grids to
                your requested data and shows how each gridpoint of data is
                derived.  Data in this file are integers from 0-8 having the
                following definitions:

                        0 = MISSING DATA
                        1 = TIME INTERPOLATED-FILLED
                        2 = SPACE INTERPOLATED-FILLED
                        3 = TOVS ONLY
                        4 = SSMI INTERPOLATED
                        5 = SSMI INTERPOLATED / TOVS COMBINATION
                        6 = SSMI ONLY
                        7 = TOVS/SSMI COMBINATION
                        8 = RADIOSONDE DATA
                The data is ordered by increasing confidence from 0-8.

        3)  Fortran read routines tested on HP-UX, VAX-VMS, AND SGI systems.
                These routines include a simple test global average routine
                which calls the read subroutine.  This only averages all valid
                points with no geographical area weighting. Also included is
                a simple printout routine which creates an ASCII listing file.

        4)  HEADER.TXT file which describes the ASCII header on the NVAP files.
                These values are filled into the common block used to pass the
                header and gridpoint data.

        5)  A VAX command file to convert the files once extracted by TAR
                to the correct format for the testread_vax.f routine to read.
                You must use this command files on all the data files if
                using VAX-VMS.

        Remember that per our pre-release agreement, you are to notify us of
problems that you encounter and also supply us with an example of your use of
the NVAP data set.

David L. Randel, Ph.D. - NVAP Project
STC-METSAT
515 S. Howes
Ft. Collins, CO, 80521  USA
(303) 221-5420
randel@terra.cira.colostate.edu