[UW-GIS-L] confusing file

[Phil Hurvitz]

The structure of these files seems to be laid out clearly in the README
file:

http://climate.geog.udel.edu/~climate/html_pages/README.ghcn_clim2.html

They are just XY coordinates followed by a series of measurements at
these locations for different time points. You should be able to read
these into your favorite GIS as ASCII data. Of course you'd want to add
a header record and replace 1+ spaces with single commas to make the
import easier since they appear to be constant width fields.

By the way, WinZip and gzip.exe handle the .Z compression format easily
on a PC.

-P.

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  Phil Hurvitz, MFR | PhD Student, Urban Planning | Gould 317
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 phurvitz at u.washington.edu | http://gis.washington.edu/phurvitz
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Cathy Reidy Liermann wrote:

> Thanks, Harvey.  Here's the file.  I've looked high and low and can find no

> reference to .clim files anywhere, neither on UnivDel's site nor anywhere

> else on the net.  I've searched the ESRI forums, and nothing.  I've played

> around with changing the file extension, and nothing.  

> 

> Any help you can provide would be great!  I'm sure it's going to be a

> ridiculously obvious answer that will embarrass me, but oh well.  :)

> 

> Cathy Reidy Liermann

> Postdoctoral Researcher

> <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

> University of Washington

> School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences

> Campus Box 355020

> Seattle, WA  98195

> Phone:  (+01) 206-685-9582

> Fax:  (+01) 206-685-6939

> email:  cathyrl at u.washington.edu

>  

> FOR DELIVERIES AND EXPRESS MAIL:

> UW-Fishery Sciences Building

> 1122 NE Boat Ste.

> Seattle, WA  98105

>  

>  

> 

> -----Original Message-----

> From: uw-gis-l-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu

> [mailto:uw-gis-l-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Harvey

> Greenberg

> Sent: Thursday, July 03, 2008 5:26 PM

> To: UW - GIS Discussion & Support

> Subject: Re: [UW-GIS-L] confusing file

> 

> Z is an extra extension. Typically a file named "rainfall.clim" would 

> compress to "rainfall.clim.Z"

> 

> A series of files or directories ,.e.g. "rainfalldir" would be converted 

> to a single file named "rainfalldir.tar" whcih could be compressed to 

> "rainfalldir.tar.Z". But there is no evidence of tar here.

> 

> It looks like you successfully uncompressed a .clim file. The remaining 

> question is: What the hell is a .clim file? Check their web site or 

> google to find out. If it needs to be reformatted for arc/info to see 

> it, I can take a crack at it next week.

> 

> harvey

> 

> Cathy Reidy Liermann wrote:

>> Hi there,

>>

>> I've downloaded some gridded climate data from Univ. of Delaware, and 

>> can not for the life of me figure out how to read the file.

>>

>> The documentation says "Important note: all files available here for 

>> downloading have been "compressed" under Unix in order to save space. 

>> A single compressed file has ".Z" extension. You may need to respecify 

>> the ".Z" extension when you save a compressed file. Some of our 

>> archives also have multiple files (such as time series) that are 

>> "tar"ed under Unix and have a ".tar" extension. As a result, files 

>> must be "untared" and/or "uncompressed" to return them to their 

>> original ASCII format, before they may be used."

>>

>> I've extracted from the .Z and the single file's extension now is 

>> .clim. When I open it in Word Pad, it doesn't have the ascii header 

>> information. Any suggestions?

>>

>> Thanks,

>>

>> Cathy

>>

>> Cathy Reidy Liermann

>>

>> Postdoctoral Researcher

>>

>> <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

>>

>> University of Washington

>>

>> School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences

>>

>> Campus Box 355020

>>

>> Seattle, WA 98195

>>

>> Phone: (+01) 206-685-9582

>>

>> Fax: (+01) 206-685-6939

>>

>> email: cathyrl at u.washington.edu <mailto:cathyrl at u.washington.edu>

>>

>> FOR DELIVERIES AND EXPRESS MAIL:

>>

>> UW-Fishery Sciences Building

>>

>> 1122 NE Boat Ste.

>>

>> Seattle, WA 98105

>>

>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

>>

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>> Uw-gis-l at u.washington.edu

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> 

> 

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