The ASN consist of profiler and surface-based remote-sensor data from over 100 remote sensors, and an additional 900+ global rawinsonde (weather balloon) profiles. Some observations happen as often as once every 10 seconds, while others are measured once or twice daily.
The Status page can provide a comprehensive outline on the current data flow, but in general approximately 25,000 observations are received per day, with an average of 3500 discrete observations per observation (per variable, per range gate). Though it is young, ASN is increasing by over 90 million measurements per day.
| Dataset type | Approximate station count (late 2014) | Observation frequency | Observation volume (per profile) | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Radiosonde | 900 | 12 hours | 1500 meteorological + 2000 QC | From MADIS |
| Multi-Agency Profiler (MAP) | 80 | 10-60 minutes | 2000 meteorological + 2000 QC | From MADIS |
| SoDAR | 13 | 5-15 minutes | 3-400 | |
| Laser Ceilometers | 10 | 10-30 seconds | 3000-10,000 | |
| Microwave Radiometers | 4 | 5-60 minutes | 1000 |
How to use data from ASN
ASN is built to streamline the distribution and access to data from surface-based atmospheric profilers, and any instruments which collect profiles of observations. To accomplish this we have developed both visualizations and a data API which can be used to download specific datasets.
Online visualizations
In the meantime, this web portal offers unrestricted access to visualizations developed on top of this API. These are designed for use in a web browser, with an internet connection. These can be accessed in the Visualizations page.
Please check back for updates on when the API will be distributed to beta users.
The ASN API
The API is currently under development
An API will exist to allow the exchange of data between the ASN archive and certain authorized users. While this API is under development, it will not be available for broader use. In the future a system of keys and tokens, similar to the Synoptic API will be employed to allow broader use of this API and ASN data in general.