FLORIDA GEOGRAPHIC DATA LIBRARY DOCUMENTATION

TITLE: HISTORICAL NORTH ATLANTIC TROPICAL CYCLONE TRACKS, 1851-2013

Geodataset Name:       TROPC_DEC13
Geodataset Type:       SHAPEFILE
Geodataset Feature:    Polyline
Feature Count:         45329
GENERAL DESCRIPTION:
The International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS) dataset was developed by the NOAA National Climatic Data Center, which took the initial step of synthesizing and merging best track data from all official Tropical Cyclone Warning Centers (TCWCs) and the WMO Regional Specialized Meteorological Centers (RSMCs) who are responsible for developing and archiving best track data worldwide. In recognizing the deficiency in global tropical cyclone data, and the lack of a publically available dataset, the IBTrACS dataset was produced, which, for the first time, combines existing best track data from over 10 international forecast centers. The dataset contains the position, maximum sustained winds, minimum central pressure, and storm nature for every tropical cyclone globally at 6- hr intervals in UTC. Statistics from the merge are also provided (such as number of centers tracking the storm, range in pressure, median wind speed, etc.). The dataset period is from 1848 to the present with dataset updates performed annually in August. The dataset is archived as netCDF files but can be accessed via a variety of user-friendly formats to facilitate data analysis, including netCDF, Shapefile, and CSV formatted files. The update to version 3 data includes new data sources, bug fixes, shapefile-support, discontinued support of ASCII and new variables.
DATA SOURCE(S):                    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Coastal Services Center
SCALE OF ORIGINAL SOURCE MAPS:     Unknown
GEODATASET EXTENT:                 North Atlantic
PUBLICATION DATE: 20140902 TIME PERIOD OF CONTENT: Begin Date: 18510625 End Date: 20131207 DOWNLOAD LINK: http://www.fgdl.org/metadataexplorer/explorer.jsp

FEATURE ATTRIBUTE TABLES:

Datafile Name: TROPC_DEC13.dbf
ITEM NAME WIDTH TYPE
OBJECTID
4 OID
Shape
4 Geometry
year
2 SmallInteger
month
2 SmallInteger
day
2 SmallInteger
hour
2 SmallInteger
min
2 SmallInteger
Name
57 String
Serial_Num
13 String
Season
2 SmallInteger
Num
4 Integer
Basin
3 String
Sub_basin
3 String
ISO_time
19 String
Nature
4 String
Center
10 String
wmo_wind
8 Double
wmo_pres
8 Double
wmo_wind__
8 Double
wmo_pres__
8 Double
Track_type
12 String
HDA_grade
5 String
HDA_wind
8 Double
HDA_pres
8 Double
TD9_grade
5 String
TD9_wind
8 Double
TD9_pres
8 Double
REU_grade
5 String
REU_wind
8 Double
REU_pres
8 Double
ATC_grade
5 String
ATC_wind
8 Double
ATC_pres
8 Double
DSS_grade
5 String
DSS_wind
8 Double
DSS_pres
8 Double
DSI_grade
5 String
DSI_wind
8 Double
DSI_pres
8 Double
BOM_grade
5 String
BOM_wind
8 Double
BOM_pres
8 Double
DSA_grade
5 String
DSA_wind
8 Double
DSA_pres
8 Double
JTS_grade
5 String
JTS_wind
8 Double
JTS_pres
8 Double
JTW_grade
5 String
JTW_wind
8 Double
JTW_pres
8 Double
TD5_grade
5 String
TD5_wind
8 Double
TD5_pres
8 Double
DSW_grade
5 String
DSW_wind
8 Double
DSW_pres
8 Double
JTI_grade
5 String
JTI_wind
8 Double
JTI_pres
8 Double
CMA_grade
5 String
CMA_wind
8 Double
CMA_pres
8 Double
HDE_grade
5 String
HDE_wind
8 Double
HDE_pres
8 Double
JTE_grade
5 String
JTE_wind
8 Double
JTE_pres
8 Double
DSE_grade
5 String
DSE_wind
8 Double
DSE_pres
8 Double
JTC_grade
5 String
JTC_wind
8 Double
JTC_pres
8 Double
JMA_grade
5 String
JMA_wind
8 Double
JMA_pres
8 Double
NEU_grade
5 String
NEU_wind
8 Double
NEU_pres
8 Double
HKO_grade
5 String
HKO_wind
8 Double
HKO_pres
8 Double
CPH_grade
5 String
CPH_wind
8 Double
CPH_pres
8 Double
NZ_grade
5 String
NZ_wind
8 Double
NZ_pres
8 Double
IMD_grade
5 String
IMD_wind
8 Double
IMD_pres
8 Double
NAD_grade
5 String
NAD_wind
8 Double
NAD_pres
8 Double
REU_rmw
4 Integer
REU_wr1_ne
4 Integer
REU_wr1_se
4 Integer
REU_wr1_sw
4 Integer
REU_wr1_nw
4 Integer
REU_wr2_ne
4 Integer
REU_wr2_se
4 Integer
REU_wr2_sw
4 Integer
REU_wr2_nw
4 Integer
BOM_hurrad
4 Integer
BOM_galrad
4 Integer
BOM_eye
4 Integer
BOM_roci
4 Integer
ATC_rmw
4 Integer
ATC_poci
4 Integer
ATC_roci
4 Integer
ATC_eye
4 Integer
ATC_w34_r1
4 Integer
ATC_w34_r2
4 Integer
ATC_w34_r3
4 Integer
ATC_w34_r4
4 Integer
ATC_w50_r1
4 Integer
ATC_w50_r2
4 Integer
ATC_w50_r3
4 Integer
ATC_w50_r4
4 Integer
ATC_w64_r1
4 Integer
ATC_w64_r2
4 Integer
ATC_w64_r3
4 Integer
ATC_w64_r4
4 Integer
JMA_dir50
4 Integer
JMA_long50
4 Integer
JMA_shrt50
4 Integer
JMA_dir30
4 Integer
JMA_long30
4 Integer
JMA_shrt30
4 Integer
JTX_rmw
4 Integer
JTX_poci
4 Integer
JTX_roci
4 Integer
JTX_eye
4 Integer
JTX_w34_r1
4 Integer
JTX_w34_r2
4 Integer
JTX_w34_r3
4 Integer
JTX_w34_r4
4 Integer
JTX_w50_r1
4 Integer
JTX_w50_r2
4 Integer
JTX_w50_r3
4 Integer
JTX_w50_r4
4 Integer
JTX_w64_r1
4 Integer
JTX_w64_r2
4 Integer
JTX_w64_r3
4 Integer
JTX_w64_r4
4 Integer
DESCRIPT
60 String
FGDLAQDATE
36 Date
AUTOID
4 Integer
SHAPE.LEN
0 Double

FEATURE ATTRIBUTE TABLES CODES AND VALUES:

Item
Item Description
OBJECTID Internal feature number.

Shape Feature geometry.

year Year of the observation

month Month of the storm observation

day Day of month of the observation

hour Hour of the observation

min Minute of the observation

Name Name of the storm

Serial_Num Storm serial number.

Season Season the tropical cyclone began.

Num Number identifier of the storm in this basin

Basin Basin of the storm at the current time. Basins are: NI = North Indian WP = Western North Pacific EP - Eastern North Pacific NA = North Atlantic SI = South Indian SP = South Pacific SA = South Atlantic

Sub_basin Ths sub basin of the storm at the present time. This isn't usually reported except near Australia.

ISO_time The time of the current storm report in ISO units and relative to UTC (Universal Time Coordinate) which is also referred to as GMT (Greenwich Mean time).

Nature Storm nature: TS - storm is tropical SS - Subtropical ET - Extratropical DS - Disturbance MX - Mix of conflicting reports NR - Not Reported MM - Missing

Center Agency responsible for the warning intensity for wmo_wind and wmo_pres

wmo_wind Maximum sustained wind speed as reported by the official World Meteorological Organzation (WMO) agency responsible for posting warnings on the storm.

wmo_pres Minimum central pressure as reported by the official World Meteorological Organzation (WMO) agency responsible for posting warnings on the storm.

wmo_wind__ No description available.

wmo_pres__ No description available.

Track_type Storm track type: main - Storm started as cyclogenesis and ended as cyclolysis merge - Storm started as cyclogenesis but merged with another storm split - Storm split from another storm and ended as cyclolysis other

HDA_grade Storm type from the HURDAT North Atlantic dataset

HDA_wind Maximum Sustained wind from the HURDAT North Atlantic Dataset (NOAA NHC)

HDA_pres Minimum central pressure reported by NOAA NHC (in HURDAT Northern Atlantic)

TD9_grade Storm system type

TD9_wind Maximum sustained wind

TD9_pres Minimum central pressure

REU_grade Storm system type

REU_wind Wind speed assigned by RSMC La Reunion (MeteoFrance)

REU_pres Minimum central pressure

ATC_grade Storm system type

ATC_wind Maximum wind speed recorded in the ATCF system (NOAA NHC)

ATC_pres Minimum central pressure

DSS_grade Storm system type

DSS_wind Maximum wind speed recorded in the dss824 dataset

DSS_pres Minimum central pressure (recorded in the dss824 dataset

DSI_grade Storm system type

DSI_wind Maximum sustained winds recorded by dss824 dataset

DSI_pres Minimum central pressure (recorded by dss824

BOM_grade Storm system type

BOM_wind Maximum sustained wind

BOM_pres Minimum central pressure from BoM

DSA_grade Storm system type

DSA_wind Maximum sustained wind

DSA_pres Minimum central pressure recorded by dss824 Australian basin

JTS_grade Storm system type

JTS_wind Wind speed assigned from JTWC (Southern Hemisphere)

JTS_pres Minimum central pressure

JTW_grade Storm system type

JTW_wind Maximum sustained wind assigned by JTWC (Western Pacific)

JTW_pres Minimum Central Pressure

TD5_grade Storm system type

TD5_wind Maximum sustained wind

TD5_pres Minimum central pressure

DSW_grade Storm system type

DSW_wind Maximum sustained wind

DSW_pres Minimum central pressure

JTI_grade Storm system type

JTI_wind Maximum Sustained Wind assigned by JTWC (North Indian Ocean)

JTI_pres Minimum central pressure

CMA_grade Storm System Type

CMA_wind Maximum sustained wind assigned by CMA

CMA_pres Minimum central pressure reported by CMA

HDE_grade Maximum sustained wind assigned by NOAA NHC (HURDAT Eastern Pacific)

HDE_wind Maximum sustained wind assigned by NOAA NHC (HURDAT Eastern Pacific)

HDE_pres Minimum central pressure

JTE_grade Storm system type

JTE_wind Maximum sustained wind as assigned by JTWC (Eastern Pacific)

JTE_pres Minimum central pressure

DSE_grade Storm type reported by dss824 dataset (East Pacific)

DSE_wind Maximum sustained wind

DSE_pres Minimum central pressure

JTC_grade Storm system type

JTC_wind Maximum sustained wind assigned by JTWC (Central Pacific)

JTC_pres Minimum central pressure reported by JTWC (Central Pacific basin)

JMA_grade Storm system type

JMA_wind Maximum sustained wind

JMA_pres Minimum central pressure reported by JMA

NEU_grade Storm type reported in the Neumann Southern Hemisphere dataset

NEU_wind Maximum sustained wind speed

NEU_pres Minimum central pressure

HKO_grade Storm System type

HKO_wind Maximum sustained wind assigned by HKO

HKO_pres Minimum central pressure

CPH_grade Storm system type

CPH_wind Maximum sustained wind from the CPHC

CPH_pres Minimum central pressure as reported by CPHC

NZ_grade Storm type

NZ_wind Maximum sustained wind assigned by TCWC Wellington

NZ_pres Minimum central pressure (reported by TCWC Wellington)

IMD_grade Storm system type

IMD_wind Maximum sustained wind assigned by IMD

IMD_pres Minimum central pressure reported from the IMD

NAD_grade Storm system type

NAD_wind Wind speed assigned by RSMC Nadi (Fiji)

NAD_pres Minimum central pressure

REU_rmw Radius of maximum winds

REU_wr1_ne First wind radii for North East quadrant

REU_wr1_se 1st wind radii for the south east quandrant

REU_wr1_sw 1st wind radii for south west quadrant

REU_wr1_nw First wind radii for north west quadrant

REU_wr2_ne Second wind radii for the north east quadrant

REU_wr2_se Second Wind radii for Southeast quadrant

REU_wr2_sw 2nd wind radii for south western quadrant

REU_wr2_nw 2nd wind radii for north west quadrant

BOM_hurrad Radius of hurricane force winds

BOM_galrad Radius of gale force winds (reported by Australian BoM)

BOM_eye Tropical cyclone eye size

BOM_roci Radius of Outermost Closed Isobar

ATC_rmw Radius of Maximum Winds

ATC_poci Pressure of Outermost Closed Isobar

ATC_roci Radius of outermost closed isobar

ATC_eye Eye size

ATC_w34_r1 34 knot wind radii for quadrant 1

ATC_w34_r2 34 knot wind radii for quadrant 2

ATC_w34_r3 34 knot wind radii for quadrant 3 reported in ATCF

ATC_w34_r4 34 knot radii for 4th quadrant

ATC_w50_r1 50kt radius for quadrant 1

ATC_w50_r2 50 knot wind radii for quadrant 2 reported by ATCF

ATC_w50_r3 50 knot wind radii for quadrant 3

ATC_w50_r4 50 knot wind radii for quadrant 4

ATC_w64_r1 64 knot wind radii for quadrant 1

ATC_w64_r2 64 knot wind radii for quadrant 2

ATC_w64_r3 64 knot wind radii for quadrant 3

ATC_w64_r4 64 knot wind radii for quadrant 4

JMA_dir50 Direction of the longest radius of 50kt winds or greater
1 = Northeast (NE)

2 = East (E)

3 = Southeast (SE)

4 = South (S)

5 = Southwest (SW)

6 = West (W)

7 = Northwest (NW)

8 = North (N)

9 = (symmetric circle)


JMA_long50 longest radius of 50kt winds or greater

JMA_shrt50 Shortest radius of 50kt winds or greater

JMA_dir30 Direction of the longest radius of 30kt winds or greater
1 = Northeast (NE)

2 = East (E)

3 = Southeast (SE)

4 = South (S)

5 = Southwest (SW)

6 = West (W)

7 = Northwest (NW)

8 = North (N)

9 = (symmetric circle)


JMA_long30 longest radius of 30kt winds or greater

JMA_shrt30 shortest radius of 30kt winds or greater

JTX_rmw Radius of Maximum Wind

JTX_poci Pressure of outermost closed isobar (reported by JTWC)

JTX_roci Radius of outermost closed isobar (reported by JTWC)

JTX_eye Storm eye size (reported by JTWC)

JTX_w34_r1 34 knot wind radii for quadrant 1

JTX_w34_r2 34 knot wind radii for quadrant 2

JTX_w34_r3 34 knot wind radii for quadrant 3

JTX_w34_r4 34 knot wind radii for quadrant 4

JTX_w50_r1 50 knot wind radii for quadrant 1

JTX_w50_r2 50 knot wind radii for 2nd quadrant

JTX_w50_r3 50 knot wind radii for quadrant 3

JTX_w50_r4 50 knot wind radii for 4th quadrant

JTX_w64_r1 64 knot wind radii for quadrant 1

JTX_w64_r2 64 kt wind radii for quadrant 2

JTX_w64_r3 64 knot wind radii for quadrant 3

JTX_w64_r4 64 knot wind radii for quadrant 4

DESCRIPT GeoPlan added field based on NAME

FGDLAQDATE Date GeoPlan acquired data from the source.

AUTOID Unique ID added by GeoPlan

SHAPE.LEN Length in meters


USER NOTES:
Over-water portions of storm tracks before 1944 are subject to considerable
uncertainties.  Aircraft reconnaissance of storms near critical areas was
introduced in 1944, and continuous weather satellite surveillance was
introduced in the mid-1960s.  These two developments mean that more recent
storm records have a higher degree of accuracy than those prior to 1944.
No tests for logical consistency have been performed on this data set.
This data set includes all known Atlantic Basin (Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean
Sea, and North Atlantic Ocean) tropical cyclones between 1851 and 2013.  The
term tropical cyclone as used here refers to subtropical depressions and
storms, tropical depressions and storms, and all categories of hurricanes
from Category 1 to Category 5.  This dataset also includes hybrid systems
such as tropical lows, waves, subtropical depressions and storms, as well
as extratropical storms.
GeoPlan relied on the integrity of the attribute information within
the original data.
An ASCII format version of the Historical Atlantic Tropical Cyclone Tracks
file is available at <http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pastall.shtml>.

For more information on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, please see
<http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutsshs.shtml>.

For more information on tropical cyclone advisories, please see
<http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/HAW2/english/forecast/forecast_products.shtml>.

General information on subtropical and tropical cyclones is available from
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Atlantic
Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, Hurricane Research Division
FAQ page at <http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/tcfaqHED.html>, and from
the National Hurricane Center Hurricane Basics page at
<http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/HAW2/english/basics.shtml>.

The major constraint in improving scientific understanding of the observed trends 
and variability of tropical cyclone activity has been a lack of accurate, quality 
controlled best track data for all tropical cyclone basins globally.

Over-water portions of storm tracks before 1944 are subject to
considerable uncertainties.  Aircraft reconnaissance of storms near
critical areas was introduced in 1944, and continuous weather satellite
surveillance was introduced in the mid-1960s.  These two developments
allow a high degree of probability that more recent storm center
locations were determined with a reasonable degree of accuracy.

This data is provided 'as is' and its vertical positional accuracy
has not been verified by GeoPlan

Users must cite this dataset as: Kenneth R. Knapp, Scott Applequist, Howard J. 
Diamond, James P. Kossin, Michael Kruk, and Carl Schreck (2010). NCDC 
International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS) Project, Version 
3. [indicate subset used]. NOAA National Climatic Data 
Center. DOI:10.7289/V5NK3BZP [access date].
Publications using IBTrACS should also cite the following journal article: Knapp, K. 
R., M. C. Kruk, D. H. Levinson, H. J. Diamond, and C. J. Neumann, 2010: The 
International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS): Unifying 
tropical cyclone best track data. Bulletin of the American Meteor. Society, 91, 363-
376. doi:10.1175/2009BAMS2755.1
NCDC cannot assume liability for any damages caused by any errors or omissions in 
the data, nor as a result of the failure of the data to function on a particular system. 
NCDC makes no warranty, expressed or implied, nor does the fact of distribution 
constitute such a warranty. NCDC can only certify that the data it distributes are an 
authentic copy of the records that were accepted for inclusion in the NCDC 
archives.

The Florida Geographic Data Library is a collection of Geospatial Data
compiled by the University of Florida GeoPlan Center with support from
the Florida Department of Transportation. GIS data available in FGDL is
collected from various state, federal, and other agencies (data sources)
who are data stewards, producers, or publishers. The data available in
FGDL may not be the most current version of the data offered by the
data source. University of Florida GeoPlan Center makes no guarantees
about the currentness of the data and suggests that data users check
with the data source to see if more recent versions of the data exist.

Furthermore, the GIS data available in the FGDL are provided 'as is'.
The University of Florida GeoPlan Center makes no warranties, guaranties
or representations as to the truth, accuracy or completeness of the data
provided by the data sources. The University of Florida GeoPlan Center
makes no representations or warranties about the quality or suitability
of the materials, either expressly or implied, including but not limited
to any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular
purpose, or non-infringement. The University of Florida GeoPlan Center
shall not be liable for any damages suffered as a result of using,
modifying, contributing or distributing the materials.

A note about data scale: 

Scale is an important factor in data usage.  Certain scale datasets
are not suitable for some project, analysis, or modeling purposes.
Please be sure you are using the best available data. 

1:24000 scale datasets are recommended for projects that are at the
county level.
1:24000 data should NOT be used for high accuracy base mapping such
as property parcel boundaries.
1:100000 scale datasets are recommended for projects that are at the
multi-county or regional level.
1:125000 scale datasets are recommended for projects that are at the
regional or state level or larger.

Vector datasets with no defined scale or accuracy should be
considered suspect. Make sure you are familiar with your data
before using it for projects or analysis. Every effort has been
made to supply the user with data documentation. For additional
information, see the References section and the Data Source Contact
section of this documentation. For more information regarding
scale and accuracy, see our webpage at:
http://geoplan.ufl.edu/education.html

REFERENCES:


DATA LINEAGE SUMMARY:
Data were obtained from numerous sources. Upon receipt of the electronic files, 
data were converted to common format (netCDF). Thereafter, numerous merging 
procedures were implemented, including an assessment of storm position, the 
identification of unique storms, and an accounting for a variety of storm tracks, 
storm splits, and storm mergers. An automated algorithm was developed to identify 
storms tracked by multiple centers by sorting storms in time and space. Any 
observations at identical times and within 111 kilometers, were identified as identical 
storms. Once a TC was identified as unique, a storm serial number was created 
which distinctively numbers the storm. IBTrACS algorithms read all the individual 
storm tracks from the merged files and create one combined storm track with a 
single position, wind and pressure every 6 hours (at 00, 06, 12 and 18UTC). 
Objective automated quality control algorithms were developed and incorporated for 
the maximum sustained wind and minimum central pressure for each tropical 
cyclone and time step. These data are in netCDF, with one file per cyclone. 
Statistics from the merge are also provided (such as number of centers tracking the 
storm, range in pressure, median wind speed, etc.).

Any observations at identical times and within 111 kilometers (approx. 1 degree 
latitude) were identified as identical storms. In order to create a dataset that was 
globally homogeneous, the maximum winds are standardize to a single 10-minute 
averaging period as it is the global standard set by the World Meteorological 
Organization.
Process Date: 20131104

GeoPlan downloaded this data on June 4, 2015 from NOAA at the following link: https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/ibtracs/index.php?name=ibtracs-data -File name changed from Basin.NA.ibtracs_all_lines.v03r06.shp to tropc_dec13.shp -All fields uppercased -Added DESCRIPT field based on NAME -Added FGDLAQDATE based on date data was acquired from source. Process Date: 20150612
MAP PROJECTION PARAMETERS:

Projection                          Geographic
Datum                               WGS_1984
Units                               Degree
Spheroid                            WGS_1984
Semimajor Axis:                     6378137
Semiminor Axis:                     6356752.3142451793
Inverse Flattening:                 298.257223563

DATA SOURCE CONTACT (S):

Name:
Abbr. Name:
Address:


Phone:

Web site:
E-mail:
Contact Person:
         Phone:
        E-mail:
National Climatic Data Center
NOAA
151 Patton Avenue
Asheville, NC
28801-5001
+1 (828) 271-4800

https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/ibtracs/index.php?name=ibtracs-data ncdc.metadata@noaa.gov

FGDL CONTACT:
Name:                   FLORIDA GEOGRAPHIC DATA LIBRARY
Abbr. Name:             FGDL
Address:                Florida Geographic Data Library
                        431 Architecture Building
                        PO Box 115706
                        Gainesville, FL  32611-5706
Web site:               http://www.fgdl.org

Contact FGDL: 

      Technical Support:	        http://www.fgdl.org/fgdlfeed.html
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