Polar Radiation Fluxes from ISCCP Project
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Data structure:

All datasets have the flux data stored in a three-dimensional array structure with dimensions of grid cell number (0 - 515), flux number (0-10), and time (depending on dataset, 0-11 for monthly or 0-364 or 365 (leap year) for daily):

Each distribution file has the daily or monthly fluxes for an entire year, for either the arctic or the antarctic.  Thus for the monthly files, the data structure has the following numerical dimensions: and for the daily: File format:

Flux files have been saved in HDF (version 4.0) format.  Each HDF file contains data for one year, for one polar region, for either monthly or daily averages.  Within each HDF file, there are three datasets: Fluxes, Latitude, and Longitude, all of which can be accessed with standard HDF routines.  Each dataset also has label and unit attributes, and the dimensions have a name attribute.  Sample IDL code to extract the data and labels is in IDL and C programs listed below the data table in the next section.  Also, if you do not have access to IDL, there are various command line HDF utilities which can be used to extract datasets; see the NCSA HDF web site for details and code.
 
  Only daily and monthly averages are available for web download. Special requests for three-hourly data will be handled on a case-by-case basis. Click here for contact information.

Data Files:

To download a single file you'll probably need to right-click the file name then choose "Save link as" or something similar. Or you can go to the ftp site if you prefer.

Year Arctic Antarctic
Daily Monthly Daily  Monthly
1985 daily85N.hdf monthly85N.hdf daily85S.hdf monthly85S.hdf
1986
daily86N.hdf
monthly86N.hdf
daily86S.hdf
monthly86S.hdf
1987
daily87N.hdf
monthly87N.hdf
daily87S.hdf
monthly87S.hdf
1988
daily88N.hdf
monthly88N.hdf
daily88S.hdf
monthly88S.hdf
1989 daily89N.hdf monthly89N.hdf daily89S.hdf monthly89S.hdf
1990 daily90N.hdf monthly90N.hdf daily90S.hdf monthly90S.hdf
1991 daily91N.hdf monthly91N.hdf daily91S.hdf monthly91S.hdf
1992 daily92N.hdf monthly92N.hdf daily92S.hdf monthly92S.hdf
1993 daily93N.hdf monthly93N.hdf daily93S.hdf monthly93S.hdf

Sample Read Code: