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Tyler Sutterley edited this page Aug 30, 2021 · 3 revisions

Description of ATM QFIT Output Data

Acquire IceBridge ATM icessn data:
https://github.com/tsutterley/nsidc-earthdata

IceBridge Flight Summaries:
https://nsidc.org/data/icebridge/campaign_data_summary.html

Pre-IceBridge ATM L1B Elevation and Return Strength

https://nsidc.org/data/BLATM1B

IceBridge ATM L1B Elevation and Return Strength

https://nsidc.org/data/ILATM1B/1
https://nsidc.org/data/ILNSA1B/1

10-word format (used prior to 2006)

Variables Description
time Relative Time (seconds from start of data file)
latitude Laser Spot Latitude (degrees)
longitude Laser Spot Longitude (degrees)
elevation Elevation above WGS84 ellipsoid (meters)
xmt_sigstr Start Pulse Signal Strength (relative)
rcv_sigstr Reflected Laser Signal Strength (relative)
azimuth Scan Azimuth (degrees)
pitch Pitch (degrees)
roll Roll (degrees)
time_hhmmss GPS Time packed (153320.1000 = 15h 33m 20.1s)

12-word format (in use since 2006)

Variables Description
time Relative Time (seconds from start of data file)
latitude Laser Spot Latitude (degrees)
longitude Laser Spot Longitude (degrees)
elevation Elevation above WGS84 ellipsoid (meters)
xmt_sigstr Start Pulse Signal Strength (relative)
rcv_sigstr Reflected Laser Signal Strength (relative)
azimuth Scan Azimuth (degrees)
pitch Pitch (degrees)
roll Roll (degrees)
gps_pdop GPS PDOP (dilution of precision)
pulse_width Laser received pulse width (digitizer samples)
time_hhmmss GPS Time packed (153320.1000 = 15h 33m 20.1s)

14-word format (used in some surveys between 1997 and 2004)

Variables Description
time Relative Time (seconds from start of data file)
latitude Laser Spot Latitude (degrees)
longitude Laser Spot Longitude (degrees)
elevation Elevation above WGS84 ellipsoid (meters)
xmt_sigstr Start Pulse Signal Strength (relative)
rcv_sigstr Reflected Laser Signal Strength (relative)
azimuth Scan Azimuth (degrees)
pitch Pitch (degrees)
roll Roll (degrees)
passive_sig Passive Signal (relative)
pass_foot_lat Passive Footprint Latitude (degrees)
pass_foot_long Passive Footprint Longitude (degrees)
pass_foot_synth_elev Passive Footprint Synthesized Elevation (meters)
time_hhmmss GPS Time packed (example

nsidc_convert_ILATM1b.py

  • Alternative program to convert ATM Level-1B data from NSIDC directly into HDF5 files.
  • Will not download the QFIT files locally.
python nsidc_convert_ILATM1b.py --user=<username> --mode=0775  

-Y X, --year=X: years to sync separated by commas
-S X, --subdirectory=X: subdirectories to sync separated by commas
-U X, --user=X: username for NASA Earthdata Login
--directory: local working directory
-M X, --mode=X: Local permissions mode of the directories and files synced
-V, --verbose: Verbose output of files synced
-C, --clobber: Overwrite existing data in transfer