IMAGE data download from command line

IMAGE magnetometer data download from unix command line

You may donwload IMAGE magnetometer data from IMAGE server with unix wget command. The url is:

https://space.fmi.fi/image/www/data_download.php

You must specify three obligatory parameters:

starttime	Start time of the data set. Format: YYYYMMDD[HH].
length	Event length in minutes. Min = 60, max = 14400 (= 10 days).
format	Data file format. Possible values are : iaga : IAGA format, resolution <= 1 min. text : Simple columnar text file with two header lines. text2 : Simple columnar text file with one header line containing latitudes and longitudes of the stations ('new style') wdc : WDC format 1-minute data file. jpg : Magnetometer stack plot as a jpg image file. ie-index : Compute IMAGE electrojet indicators and return data in simple text file (Electrojet indicators).

In addition there are some optional parameters:

stations	List of stations included in data files or plots. Default = All stations. The list is a string of three-letter station ID codes separated by an underscrore '_'. E.g. "TRO_SOD_NUR". Some predefined sets may be used: PPN-SOR : Line of stations from PPN to SOR. PPN-NAL : Line of stations from PPN to NAL. SVALBARD : Stations on or near Svalbard (NAL LYR HOP HOR BJN) FENNOSCANDIA : Stations on continental Norway, Sweden and Finland 66-71 : Stations between geographic latitudes 66° and 71°.
sample_rate	Time resolution in seconds used in data files and plots. Default = 10. Note: With IAGA files the time resolution is always at least 1 minute. With WDC files the time resolution is always 1 minute.
compress	If inluded in parameter list then the data file is compressed (gzip). Image files (jpg) are not compressed.

With magnetometer stack plot files (format = 'jpg') one may specify also:

component	Magnetic component, either X,Y or Z. Default = 'X'.
scale	Scale (in nT) used in stackplots. Default = 'auto'.

Example 1: Download 1-minute IMAGE data in IAGA format for 3 days starting on March 5th, 2018. Include all stations. Store the data into file 'image_20180305.iaga'.

wget -q "https://space.fmi.fi/image/www/data_download.php?starttime=20180305&length=4320&format=iaga&sample_rate=60" -O image_20180305.iaga

Example 2: Download stack plot of Y component for stations along PPN-NAL line for 10 days with 10-minute resolution starting on October 10th, 2019. Store the image into file 'image_20191010.Y.jpg'.

wget -q "https://space.fmi.fi/image/www/data_download.php?starttime=20191010&length=14400&format=jpg&sample_rate=600&component=Y&scale=600&stations=PPN-NAL" -O image_20191010.Y.jpg

Note: The event must not cross the midnight between 31 Oct 1992 and 01 Nov 1992, when the time resolution of the data changes from 20 s to 10 s. An error message is returned in such a case.