Skip to main content

NCN GPS/GNSS Data and Products

NGS provides access to all NCN data collected since February 9, 1994 (1994:040). The data include observation, meteorological, navigation/ephemeris, station logs and NGS coordinate files associated with the stations.

General Access Methods:

Example using cURL for downloading RINEX data

  • From NCN on AWS:
     curl -O https://noaa-cors-pds.s3.amazonaws.com/rinex/YYYY/DDD/ssss/ssssDDD0.YYd.gz

    e.g.: curl -O https://noaa-cors-pds.s3.amazonaws.com/rinex/2021/027/ab02/ab020270.21o.gz

  • From NGS servers:
     curl -O https://geodesy.noaa.gov/corsdata/rinex/YYYY/DDD/ssss/ssssDDD0.YYd.gz

    e.g.: curl -O https://geodesy.noaa.gov/corsdata/rinex/2021/027/ab02/ab020270.21o.gz

  • where:
    • -O : save file to local system using remote filename(s)

More details about NCN data and products are below.

The GNSS data collected at NCN stations are made available to the public by NGS in Receiver INdependent EXchange (RINEX) format. Most data are available within 1 hour (60 minutes) from when they were recorded at the remote site, and a few sites have a delay of 24 hours (1440 minutes).

  • Hourly files are only kept for 2 days.
  • Daily files are kept permanently, available in 2 formats:
    • GNU gzip-compressed of data in the Hatanaka-compression RINEX format (*.yyd.gz)
    • GNU gzip-compressed of data in RINEX format (*.yyo.gz)
    However,
    • After 30 days, daily files are decimated to 30s sampling rate.
    • After 6 months, only gzip-compressed files of daily data in the Hatanaka-compression RINEX format (*.yyd.gz) are provided.
  • For RINEX v2 data, NGS utilizes UNAVCO's TEQC software on incoming data for quality checking purposes. Daily data quality information generated by TEQC -qc are stored with daily data files.
  • Navigation data files are available only for sites that NGS submits to the IGS network.
  • Meteorological data files are available only for sites with independent meteorological sensors.

Access Methods:

File Name Description Frequency
ssssDDD0.YYd.gz GNU gzip-compressed daily Hatanaka-compression RINEX v2 Daily
ssssDDD0.YYo.gz GNU gzip-compressed daily RINEX v2 Daily
ssssDDDh.YYd.gz GNU gzip-compressed hourly Hatanaka-compression RINEX v2 Hourly
ssssDDDh.YYo.gz GNU gzip-compressed hourly RINEX v2 Hourly
ssssDDD0.YYS Daily TEQC Summary file for RINEX v2 Daily

In which:

Code Description
YYYY 4-digit year
YY The last 2-digit of year
DDD 3-digit day of year [001,002,..366]
ssss 4-char station ID
h 1-char hour of day (a=00, b=01, c=02,..,x=23)
HH 2-digit hour of day (00,01,02,..,23)
D (.sp3 short filename format) day of week [Sun=0, Mon=1,..,Fri=6]
WWWW (.sp3 short filename format) 4-digit GPS week number
AAA (.sp3 short filename format) 3-char analysis center name/type of solution, such as:
  • igs: IGS final combination solution
  • igl: IGS (GLONASS-only) final combination solution
  • igr: IGS rapid solution
  • igu: IGS ultra-rapid solution
PPP 3-char Campaign/Project specification, either:
  • OPS: Operational IGS product
  • MGX: Multi-GNSS Project product
TTT 3-char Solution type, either:
  • FIN: IGS final combination solution
  • RAP: IGS rapid solution
  • ULT: IGS ultra-rapid solution, every 06 hours

The NCN Data&Products Term of Use

While every effort has been made to ensure that these data are accurate and reliable within the limits of the current state of the art, NOAA cannot accept liability for any damages caused by any errors or omissions in the data, nor for any failure in data functionalities on specific system. NOAA makes no warranty, expressed or implied, and the distribution of this data does not constitute such a warranty. Use this data at your own risk.