Data Search Help
Finding Data
Our Data Search lets you browse our large and ever-expanding data archive, choose data products, generate them and download them.
Quick Instructions
- Log in - You need to log in to search for data. If you haven't registered, it's easy to create a new account.
- Open NEPTUNE Search
- Choose an instrument from the Instrument Selection panel. You can browse instruments by type, location, network topology or Research Project.
- Click an instrument to select it.
- Use the calendar icons to choose start and end times for the data you want to download.
- Choose data products for your instrument by selecting check-boxes in the right panel.
- Click Generate Results; your data request will be processed for you to view and download.
Tips
- Once you have clicked Generate Results you can continue with new searches.
- You can download multiple time periods for the same instrument.
- Large files that take more than 3 minutes to generate will be placed in your FTP folder.
- Data collected during commissioning phase is not guaranteed to meet rigorous quality standards, as data continuity and instrument configurations fluctuated during this time.
Detailed Instructions
Instrument Selection Panel
The upper-left panel lets you browse the full list of instruments with data in our archive. Use the dropdown selector to display instruments by type, location, network topology or research project. When you find the instrument you're looking for, select it by clicking on it.
Instrument Info
When you select an instrument, information about it appears in the upper-right portion of the window. This includes a picture of the instrument and a location map (click the pictures to enlarge them). There's also a link to instrument manuals and other documentation.
Defining a Time Period
There are several options for defining the time period for your data request. You can click the calendar icons to choose start/end dates and enter hours and minutes in the time boxes. Or you can click the Custom... selector and choose time periods covering the last week, day, 2 hours or 10 minutes. The graph to the right shows data availability. Green shading indicates time periods for which data are available from your chosen instrument.
Subsampling
Subsampling can significantly speed up your data request and shrink file sizes. You can subsample by averaging, decimation or choosing min/max values. You can subsample at time intervals ranging from an hour to a week.
Selecting Products
Various data product formats, such as MatLab 7, CSV, PNG plot, and Raw log file are available for your chosen instrument and its sensors. If you would like to see additional data products, please let us know. Click the check boxes to choose the ones you want.
When you have finished defining the time period, subsampling and product choices, click Generate Results.
Results
When you click Generate Results, the NEPTUNE Canada servers spring into action, processing your request. Each data product is listed in the search results panel. A circular spinner indicates that processing is still in progress.
As processing completes for each product, the spinner is replaced by an icon representing the product. When all processing is finished, a message appears to let you know. You can click the icons to download the files, or in the case of PNG plots, enlarge and view them. To download multiple files, first select the ones you want (by clicking the Download checkbox), then click the Download Selected Results button. If you don't want certain files, click the Remove icon (red circle with a white bar) to remove them from the results panel. You can remove all results by clicking Clear All.
FTP Folder
Large data requests can sometimes take some to process. Processing continues whether you keep the window open or close it. When ready, finished products appear in your personal FTP folder, where they are stored for one week. Access your FTP folder via the Browse... menu.
Saving a Search
Once you've gone through the effort of finding an instrument, defining a time period and subsampling options and choosing data products, you can save these settings as a predefined search. To do this, click the Save as a Search Template button and enter a search name and description. Click Fixed Time Range if you want your saved search to be tied to a specific time, perhaps when a certain event like an earthquake or tsunami occurred. Leave the Fixed Time Range box unchecked if you want your search to pertain to a relative time period, for example the past week.
Once you save your search, it appears under the Search Templates menu. Roll your mouse over it to see details on the search. Right-click it to edit the details or delete the search.
If you want to share your search with the world, click the Publish checkbox. It will then appear under the Published Search Templates list, along with searches published by other people. An example is a search that plots the bottom pressure recorder (BPR) traces for a micro-tsunami that traversed our observatory following an earthquake in Samoa, 30 September 2009. (Related news story).
Questions & Discussion
If you have comments, questions or requests related to the data search tool, please post them below by clicking Add Comment or by adding a comment in our Help Discussion forum.