Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere (TOGA) Project in International Maritime Meteorological Tape (IMMT) Format of multiple meteorological properties from 1985 to1994

Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere (TOGA) International Maritime Meteorological Tape (IMMT) Format a historical digital data set was archived at the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), now the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). This data set contains various marine meteorological parameters in the IMMT format from 1985 to 1995 from stations from around the world at various intervals.
The TOGA program is a major component of the World Climate Research Program (WCRP) aimed specifically at the prediction of climate phenomena on time scales of months to years. The philosophy upon which TOGA is based purposefully emphasizes the tropical oceans and their relationship to the global atmosphere. Underlying TOGA is the premise that the dynamic adjustment of the ocean in the tropics is far more rapid than at higher latitudes. Thus disturbances emanating from the western Pacific Ocean (such as El Nino) may propagate across the basin on time scales of weeks compared to years for corresponding basin-wide propagation at higher latitudes. The significance of shorter dynamic times scales near the equator is that they are similar to those of highly energetic atmospheric modes. This similarity allows the formation of coupled modes between the ocean and the atmosphere. Parameters included in this data set are upper level and surface variables. Computations were made for both inversion and non-inversion soundings. Inversion bases and tops were determined as follows: An inversion base was defined as the base of the lowest inversion or isothermal layer 3000 meters above ground level. An Inversion top is the height of maximum temperature below 4501 meters above ground level that is associated with an inversion. If the maximum temperature is an isothermal layer the inversion top is the top of the isothermal layer. For an inversion or isothermal layer extending upward through 4500 meters, the top is assumed at 4500 meters.