DAT files
DAT files are a historical file format for raw SuperDARN data. They were produced at radar sites between 1992 and 2006.
They can be converted to the RAWACF file format using RST's dattorawacf command.
Naming Conventions
The community standard for naming DAT files is:
YYYYMMDDHH.<1-letter radar abbreviation>.dat
| 1 letter radar abbreviation | 3 letter abbreviation | radar name |
|---|---|---|
| g | gbr | Goose Bay |
| s | sch | Schefferville |
| k | kap | Kapuskasing |
| h | hal | Halley |
| t | sas | Saskatoon |
| b | pgr | Prince George |
| a | kod | Kodiak |
| w | sto | Stokkseyri |
| e | pyk | Pykkvibaer |
| f | han | Hankasalmi |
| d | san | SANAE |
| j | sys | Syowa South |
| n | sye | Syowa East |
| r | tig | TIGER |
| p | ker | Kerguelen |
| c | ksr | King Salmon |
| u | unw | Unwin |
| i | wal | Wallops Island |
DAT files usually contain 2 hours of data. If the radar restarted or changed to a different control program during a 2-hour interval, a new DAT file is created. When this occurs, a letter is appended to the filename after the 1-letter radar abbreviation.
YYYYMMDDHH.<1-letter radar abbreviation>[a-z].dat
Warning
Do not confuse the letters in DAT-format filenames with the letters representing channels in RAWACF-format filenames.
Scalar Fields
| Field name | Units | Data Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| radar.revision.major | None | char | Major version number of the radar operating system |
| radar.revision.minor | None | char | Minor version number of the radar operating system |
| npr | None | char | Total number of scalar and vector fields in a DAT record |
| stid | None | short | Station identifier |
| year | None | short | Year |
| month | None | short | Month number (not padded) |
| day | None | short | Day (not padded) |
| hour | hrs | short | Hour |
| minut | min | short | Minute |
| sec | s | short | Seconds |
| txpow | kW | short | Transmitted power |
| nave | None | short | Number of pulse sequences transmitted |
| atten | None | short | Attenuation level (0-3) |
| lagfr | us | short | Lag to first range |
| smsep | us | short | Sample separation |
| ercod | None | short | Error Code |
| stat.agc | None | short | Automatic gain control status word |
| stat.lopwr | None | short | Low power status word |
| nbaud | None | short | The number of elements in the pulse code |
| noise | None | float | Noise level measured during the clear frequency search |
| noise.mean | None | float | Average noise across the frequency band |
| channel | None | short | Channel number, used to denote different Tx/Rx channels on Stereo radars, and to denote changes in radar operating parameters between scans, e.g. alternating between 2 frequencies scan-to-scan |
| bmnum | None | short | Beam number, zero based indexing |
| bmazm | degrees | float | Beam azimuth |
| scan | None | short | Scan flag, indicating the scan mode. |
| offset | us | short | Offset between channels for a stereo radar |
| rxrise | us | short | Receiver rise time |
| intt | s | short | Integration period |
| txpl | us | short | Transmitted pulse length |
| mpinc | us | short | Multi-pulse increment (lag separation) |
| mppul | None | short | Number of pulses in the sequence |
| mplgs | None | short | Number of lags in the lag table |
| nrang | None | short | Number of range gates |
| frang | km | short | Distance to the first range gate |
| rsep | km | short | Range separation |
| xcf | None | short | XCF flag, indicating whether the power, velocity, spectral width and phi0 parameters fitted from the cross-correlation function are available (xcf=1) or not available (xcf=0) |
| tfreq | kHz | short | Transmitted frequency |
| mxpwr | None | int | Maximum power |
| lvmax | None | int | Maximum noise level allowed |
| usr_resL1 | None | int | User defined variable |
| usr_resL2 | None | int | User defined variable |
| cp | None | short | Control program number |
| usr_resS1 | None | short | User defined variable |
| usr_resS2 | None | short | User defined variable |
| usr_resS3 | None | short | User defined variable |
| combf | None | string | Comment buffer, usually contains the control program name |
Vector Fields
slist contains the range gates with lag zero power above the threshold level.
| Field name | Units | Dimensionality | Data Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ptab | None | [mppul] | short | Pulse table, showing when pulses are transmitted as integer multiples of mpinc/smsep |
| ltab | None | [mplgs+1][2] | short | Lag table, showing which pulses to use to estimate each lag |
| pwr0 | None | [nrang] | float | Lag zero power, estimated from voltage samples (not fitted) |
| acfd | None | [2][mplgs][0-nrang] | float | Calculated ACFs |
| xcfd | None | [2][mplgs][0-nrang] | float | Calculated XCFs |