DC-6 data files
NOAA's Hurricane Research Division has flight level data from
1960 to 1975 from the DC-6s and other NOAA aircraft. Most data
was recorded at one second intervals (but some is at longer or
irregular intervals ) during reconnaissance missions into hurricanes
and other tropical weather.
These files are in comma-delimited ASCII format. Each file starts
with a header line listing abbreviations for each parameter in the
order of their occurance. Each data line following contains
the mission ID, storm name, date the flight data was processed,
time for the entry, and several meteorological and navigational
parameters. Over the years the names of the parameters have varied,
as has the instrumentation. Below is a key to the shorthand
abbreviations for various parameters.
Parameter name
| Abbreviation
| Parameter
| Units
|
| FLIGHT ID or FLTID
| Flight Identifier
(See table below)
| YYYYMMDDPN
|
| STORM NAME
| Project or Storm Name
|
| PROCESSED DATE
| Date flight data processed
| YYYYMMDD
|
| RATE
| Data recording rate
| Seconds
|
| TIME
| Time of Day (UTC)
| Hours:Minutes:Seconds
|
| HDG
| Heading
| degrees
|
| THD
| True Heading
| degrees
|
| TRK
| Track
| degrees
|
| DRF
| Drift angle
| degrees
|
| LAT
| Latitude
| degrees (+ N, - S)
|
| LON
| Longitude
| degrees (+ E, - W)
|
| WD or DD or DDD
| Wind Direction
| degrees (0° due North)
|
| WS or FF or FFF
| Wind Speed
| knots
|
| TV
| Vortex Tube Temperature
| °C
|
| TR or TP
| Rosemount Temperature
| °C
|
| TD
| Dew Point Temperature
| °C
|
| ROLL or RL
| Aircraft roll
| degrees
|
| PTCH
| Pitch
| degrees
|
| TAS
| True Air Speed
| knots
|
| CAS
| Corrected Air Speed
| knots
|
| PRES
| Static Pressure
| millibars
|
| HUM or IRH
| Relative Humidity
| per cent
|
| RA
| Radar Altitude
| meters
|
| PA
| Pressure Altitude
| meters
|
| DVAL
| D-value (RA-PA)
| meters
|
| DPR or DPRES
| Dynamic Pressure
| millibars
|
| GS
| Ground Speed
| knots
|
| PAC
| Pressure Altitude Corrected
| meters
|
| DTC
| Distance Travel Count
| nautical
miles
|
LWC
LWS
| Liquid Water Content
| g/m3 or counts
|
| HYG
| Hygrometer
| counts
|
| ICE
| Ice Detector
| Binary
|
Flight Identifier
YYYYMMDDPN
| YYYY
| Year this flight starts
|
| MM
| Month this flight starts
|
| DD
| Day this flight starts
|
| P
| Aircraft Designation
- A - N6539C DC-6
- B - N6540C DC-6
- C - N1005 B-57
- D - N800W B-26
- E - N91282 C-54
- F - N6541RF C-130
- H - N42RF P-3
- I - N43RF P-3
- N - NASA CV-990
| N
| Number of sortie for this aircraft and day
| |
Return to HRD Homepage
