TAMDAR Data

TAMDAR (Tropospheric Airborne Meteorological Data Reporting) is an observing system which provides reports from commercial aircraft during flight. The TAMDAR system was developed by AirDat LLC, which retains a proprietary interest in their data and therefore sets the rules regarding to whom and how it may be redistributed.

TAMDAR data are stored in the NCEP observational database as BUFR types/subtypes b004/xx008, b004/xx010, b004/xx012 and b004/xx013. NCEP receives TAMDAR data from NOAA/OAR/ESRL/GSD and from the NWS TOC, each of which first receives it directly from AirDat LLC.

In addition to the above database file, TAMDAR data are also present in model dump files containing the names aircar and aircft, as well as in most PREPBUFR files.

The restriction(s):

• TAMDAR data is restricted in that it cannot be made available to anyone outside of the U.S. government until 48 hours have elapsed from the observation time of the data, and after which time it can then be made freely available without restriction. Within the initial 48-hour period, the data can be used in real time by the U.S. government and can be combined with other datasets by the U.S. government to produce derived products (model output). These derived products can be publicly distributed without restrictions provided that TAMDAR data is not viewable in these derived products.

Obligations of users:

• Users of this data may redistribute it only to recipients within agencies of the U.S. government during the first 48 hours after the observation time of the data. Before doing so, the user must complete the "inform and acknowledge" procedure with the intended recipient as described on the previous page. A template is provided for this purpose which may be cut-and-pasted into an e-mail from the user to the intended recipient. Once the reply acknowledgement is received from the recipient, the user should then forward a copy of this acknowledgement to ncep.nco.ccsdata@noaa.govbefore making the redistribution.
  
  

• TAMDAR data is only disseminated to NCEP via the NWS/TOC and the NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory/Global Systems Division. It is not exchanged operationally with other global processing centers. In the unlikely event that a representative from a non-U.S. government center should inquire about receiving such data in real-time (i.e. within the initial 48-hour period) directly through a user at NCEP, the user should refer the inquiry to the NWS/TOC for assistance.