International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS)
World Data Center for Meteorology, Asheville.

IBTrACS Data formats

  • IBTrACS data are available in various formats used by the tropical cyclone community.
  • Users should select the format based on the parameters which they need, since not all parameters are available in each format.
  • All data formats derive from the IBTrACS Dataset (one file per storm)

Data access summary

Type Summary
By storm 1 storm per file (>10 000 files)
All storms All storms in 1 file
Storms by basin All storms from 1 basin in 1 file
Storms by year All storms from 1 year in 1 file

Description of file types

top of page IBTrACS Dataset: IBTrACS storm files

Summary

This is the only format which provides the original best track data from the source agencies along with the IBTrACS data.
This is the archived format of the IBTrACS data. All other formats are derived from this set of files. One storm is provided in each data file.

Parameters available

This is the only version of IBTrACS in which all parameters are available.

Sample data

Format description

Data are netCDF format

Dataset access


top of page netCDF

Summary

This reformat is an attempt to facilitate reading IBTrACS files by combining storms into one file. This is done by buffering the number of observations per storm and making the storm index be the unlimited dimension.

Parameters available

All variables stored in the IBTrACS Dataset except the original reports from the source agencies (e.g., orig_lat, orig_lon, orig_pres, orig_wind).

Sample data

Format description

Data are netCDF format

Dataset access

More information on this format is available as a README file


top of page CSV - Comma Separated Variables

Summary

This format contains most variables derived during the creation of IBTrACS.
The format can easily be imported to a spreadsheet or database.

Parameters available

See format description.

Sample data

Format Description

Dataset access

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