The data for each of the MIDAS data types is stored in the Met Office MIDAS Surface data directories in yearly files. These files are large and as a result can be difficult to work with. The CEDA WPS is available for your use, so that you can extract data and metadata from specific areas.
In order to use the CEDA WPS, you must be registered with the BADC (new users should register here). In addition to this, to access selected processes (e.g. MIDAS, HadISST), registered users must also be granted access to the dataset by completing the online application (for MIDAS, the online application is available here. If you have forgotten your password, please email CEDA Support.
The extracted data will be available through the WPS.
The format and units are as outlined in the tables information.
Web Guide on How to import a text file to Excel.
If you intend to import the text file into Excel, please remember that MS Excel is limited to 65,536 rows of data. If the data file is too large, data
will be cropped to fit. Use MS Access if you need to open a large file.
The CEDA WPS has been tested with the following browsers:
If you test the CEDA WPS in other browsers and it works, please let CEDA Support know.
Update 31/03/2014: Some issues have been reported using the WPS in the latest versions of Chrome and Internet Explorer. We recommend that you use Firefox.
If you discover a problem with the CEDA WPS service please notify CEDA Support. When reporting a problem please include the following information:
Please note that the CEDA WPS service is continuously being developed. The following list gives the improvements that will be made in the future:
If you think anything should be added to the list, please contact CEDA Support.
On the home page, you can find summaries briefly highlighting what CEDA WPS is, What it can do, How to run a process, how to view jobs and outputs and how to cancel a job.
Also on this front page and available throughout all CEDA WPS website pages is the top menu bar with direct links to Home, Processes, Jobs, Login as well as News. You can also find a contact link on this menu bar on the right-hand side.
CEDA WPS can be used to extract MIDAS data for one or more weather stations at a time (ExtractUKStationData process). Choose to extract data for a whole county, area or individual named station(s), by src_id.
The WPS can also be used to generate a list of stations (GetWeatherStations process).
Note that all job processes currently available under the WPS are detailed under the "Processes" in the top menu bar (left side). As the service develops, additional processes will be described on this "Processes" page.
The procedure is straightforward and in 4 steps, as follows:
Details to successfully complete each step in this procedure are given below.
To start submiting a job to extract some data via the WPS, follow the link to "Processes" on the top menu bar.
At this stage, you can either scroll down the page until you find the job process of interest or you can filter the list by entering a keyword (e.g. station to find the 2 job processes associated to the MIDAS data: ExtractUKStationData to extract MIDAS data (as explained below in Section A) or GetWeatherStations to generate a stations list (see Section B below for details).
Please note that the Station ID field value overrides the BBOX and County fields.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Immediately after you have confirmed to run your job (after step 3), you can either log out or submit another job while the job you just submitted is running. At this point, your job has been submitted to run offline on the server. Please note that offline jobs are scheduled and may take a long time to run. You will receive an e-mail when your offline job has run so you do not need to stay on this page i.e. you may submit additional jobs. Note that you can view all previous jobs and the status of those jobs currently running on the Jobs page (link on the menu bar). This page lists all the jobs (in the lower part) you have submitted to the WPS. The upper part of the page allows you to quickly find a specific job.
The GetWeatherStations process allows you to generate a list of matching stations (station numbers refered to as SRC_ID in MIDAS) upon selecting various parameters e.g. station opening and closure times (start and end times), within a specific geographical area as defined by coordinates (BBox), or within selected counties and by DataTypes (refered to as ID types in MIDAS) , e.g. RAIN for all raingauge stations.
Please note that BBox, Counties and Data Types are optional selections.
Once the station list has been extracted, you will have the option of using the generated station list to extract associated weather data via the ExtractUKStationData process.
Optional fields are:
To cancel a job after having submitted it , you may either follow the link to "cancel this job" on the server polling page or you can follow the link to "cancel this job" from the Jobs details page (in the table "action" clolumn). Please note that you should only click once and wait to see a confirmation message on screen. You may experience a delay between the time you click on the Cancel link and the display of the confirmation message on screen. Then hit the back button and go to Jobs. The STATUS of your job should now show as "FAILED".
IMPORTANT NOTE: Under the View job info/Outputs page, under the job details section - Job Capabilities, you are given the option to use the station list to extract the associated UK weather data. Simply follow the link which will take you to the ExtractUKStationWeather job process selection page and make your selection as explained in Section A above.
The Subsetter process is a subsetting tool that allows the extraction of variable subsets from a range of datasets. The user can select a dataset, a single variable, time range and bounding box. The output format can also be selected (NetCDF or CSV) along with instructions on how to divide output files into sensible time chunks. The tool uses CDAT's CDMS (Climate Data Management System) libraries to interact with the datasets in the archives. The extraction jobs run on the batch processing servers and the user is e-mailed when the job has completed.
Datasets currently available under the Subsetter Process are:
Full documentation on the Subsetter tool is available at: http://wps-web1.ceda.ac.uk/docs/cows_wps/supported_procs/subsetter_process.html
The WPS is still work in progress. If you have queries about it or about obtaining the MIDAS surface stations data from the BADC then you should contact CEDA Support. Your query should be answered within one working day. When follow-up work is required, the CEDA Support will carry out the work as quickly and efficiently as possible, and in any case, the user will be kept informed of progress.