IBTrACS v04r01 release is available
225 views
Skip to first unread message
Jennifer Gahtan - NOAA Federal
Jun 14, 2024, 11:22:20 AM6/14/24
to IBTrACS News
Dear IBTrACS User Community,
IBTrACS v04r01 is now available at
with documentation at https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/data/international-best-track-archive-for-climate-stewardship-ibtracs/v04r01/doc/
In addition to updates, v04r01 includes some more recent best track data from agencies as available (including 2023 HURDAT2).
Our website is still in the process of being updated so please bear with us as we make the full transition.
A summary of updates are provided below and any questions should be directed to the IBTrACS Q&A forum.
v04r01
New Features
● Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) best track data added (2015-2022)
● New Delhi data extended back to 1982 (from 1990)
● USA provisional and other center best track data available at the same time in new TRACK_TYPE called US-PROVISIONAL
● UNNAMED used for TCs without names opposed to NOT_NAMED
● Quality control in the merging algorithm resulting in ~2/3 fewer spurs
● Bug fixes including
○ Name corrections
○ Fixed bug where km is being converted to miles opposed to nautical miles for tc_vitals/vigh data (0.6214 vs 0.539957)
○ Updates to NATURE, making sure we are using all of the centers with classifications available
○ Updates to the precision
○ Fixes for some ATCF IDs in provisional data
● Updates to metadata
● Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) best track data added (2015-2022)
● New Delhi data extended back to 1982 (from 1990)
● USA provisional and other center best track data available at the same time in new TRACK_TYPE called US-PROVISIONAL
● UNNAMED used for TCs without names opposed to NOT_NAMED
● Quality control in the merging algorithm resulting in ~2/3 fewer spurs
● Bug fixes including
○ Name corrections
○ Fixed bug where km is being converted to miles opposed to nautical miles for tc_vitals/vigh data (0.6214 vs 0.539957)
○ Updates to NATURE, making sure we are using all of the centers with classifications available
○ Updates to the precision
○ Fixes for some ATCF IDs in provisional data
● Updates to metadata
So what does this mean in terms of formatting?
KMA data:
The KMA data have been added in between HKO and NewDelhi in order to keep KMA with the other West Pacific-focused sources, with the full order of variables listed at the top of the file. There are 11 new variables KMA_LAT, KMA_LON, KMA_CAT, KMA_WIND, KMA_PRES, KMA_R50_DIR, KMA_R50_LONG, KMA_R50_SHORT, KMA_R30_DIR, KMA_R30_LONG, and KMA_R30_SHORT. Additionally this means that the interpolation flag (IFLAG; column 17 in the CSV) is now 15 characters, with KMA as 5 and every source thereafter increased by 1.
Some other notes on the KMA data: wind averaging periods are 10 min; radii are really at 15 and 25 m/s which rounds to the 30 and 50 kts and they provide the longest and shortest values as well as the shortest direction (similar to Tokyo but reversed); and the reported categories are listed below.
KMA data:
The KMA data have been added in between HKO and NewDelhi in order to keep KMA with the other West Pacific-focused sources, with the full order of variables listed at the top of the file. There are 11 new variables KMA_LAT, KMA_LON, KMA_CAT, KMA_WIND, KMA_PRES, KMA_R50_DIR, KMA_R50_LONG, KMA_R50_SHORT, KMA_R30_DIR, KMA_R30_LONG, and KMA_R30_SHORT. Additionally this means that the interpolation flag (IFLAG; column 17 in the CSV) is now 15 characters, with KMA as 5 and every source thereafter increased by 1.
Some other notes on the KMA data: wind averaging periods are 10 min; radii are really at 15 and 25 m/s which rounds to the 30 and 50 kts and they provide the longest and shortest values as well as the shortest direction (similar to Tokyo but reversed); and the reported categories are listed below.
KMA_CAT options:
TD - Tropical Depression (14 m/s or higher)
TS - Tropical Storm max. wind speed (17 – 25 m/s)
STS - Severe Tropical Storm (25 - 33 m/s)
TY - Typhoon (33 m/s or higher)
L - Extratropical Cyclone
TD - Tropical Depression (14 m/s or higher)
TS - Tropical Storm max. wind speed (17 – 25 m/s)
STS - Severe Tropical Storm (25 - 33 m/s)
TY - Typhoon (33 m/s or higher)
L - Extratropical Cyclone
Track types:
There is a new TRACK_TYPE classification, US-PROVISIONAL, which means that the US data is provisional but any data from other sources is best tracked. Similarly to other track types, tracks may also be classified as US-PROVISIONAL_spur but expect this to be very uncommon
There is a new TRACK_TYPE classification, US-PROVISIONAL, which means that the US data is provisional but any data from other sources is best tracked. Similarly to other track types, tracks may also be classified as US-PROVISIONAL_spur but expect this to be very uncommon
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages