(JAVA HITRAN ATMOSPHERIC WORKSTATION) 
JavaHAWKS 
MANUAL 
For MS Windows, UNIX, LINUX, and MAC Operating Systems 
Laurence S. Rothman 
Atomic and Molecular Physics Division 
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 
60 Garden St, Cambridge MA 02138-1516 
John Schroeder and Kuilian Tang 
Ontar Corporation 
9 Village Way, North Andover MA 01845-2000 
USA 
 
April 2003 
JavaHAWKS Manual 
 
JavaHAWKS Manual 
1.  SOFTWARE INSTALLATION........................................................................................................1 
1.1.  INSTALLATION FILES ......................................................................................................................1 
1.2.  INSTALLATION PROCEDURES ..........................................................................................................1 
1.3.  LAUNCHING THE JAVAHAWKS APPLICATION................................................................................2 
2.  HITRAN AND JAVAHAWKS..........................................................................................................3 
3.  INITIATING THE OPERATION OF JAVAHAWKS...................................................................6 
3.1.  FILE OPTION ...................................................................................................................................7 
3.1.1.  Change Format .......................................................................................................................7 
3.1.2.  Exit ..........................................................................................................................................8 
3.2.  SELECT OPTION ..............................................................................................................................8 
3.2.1.  HITRAN Filename ..................................................................................................................9 
3.2.2.  Output Filename .....................................................................................................................9 
3.2.3.  Spectral Range......................................................................................................................10 
3.2.4.  Molecule................................................................................................................................10 
3.2.5.  Isotopologue..........................................................................................................................11 
3.2.6.  Temperature..........................................................................................................................12 
3.2.7.  Band ......................................................................................................................................12 
3.2.8.  Cutoff.....................................................................................................................................14 
3.2.9.  RUN SELECT........................................................................................................................14 
3.2.10.  RUN DESELECT ................................................................................................................15 
3.3.  BAND STATS OPTION ....................................................................................................................15 
3.4.  SORT OPTION................................................................................................................................18 
3.4.1.  Sort........................................................................................................................................18 
3.4.2.  Merge ....................................................................................................................................19 
3.5.  INTERNET OPTION.........................................................................................................................20 
3.5.1  HITRAN Website....................................................................................................................20 
3.5.2  HITRAN FTP Site ..................................................................................................................20 
3.5.3  JPL Submillimeter Data.........................................................................................................20 
3.5.4  CfA UV Xsection Data ...........................................................................................................21 
3.6.  REFERENCE OPTION......................................................................................................................22 
3.6.1.  Molecule................................................................................................................................22 
3.6.2.  Wavenumber .........................................................................................................................23 
3.6.3.  Xsection.................................................................................................................................23 
3.7.  PLOT OPTION ................................................................................................................................23 
3.7.1.  Difference Plot (Dif file) .......................................................................................................26 
3.7.2.  Edit Plot and Print Plot ........................................................................................................26 
3.7.3.  Plotting Cross-Section Data .................................................................................................26 
3.8.  HELP OPTION................................................................................................................................27 
3.8.1.  About.....................................................................................................................................28 
4.  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................................28 
5.  REFERENCES..................................................................................................................................28 
APPENDIX A.  DIRECTORIES AND FILES IN HITRAN (V11.0)................................................30 
APPENDIX B.  HITRAN (V11.0) MOLECULES WITH ASSOCIATED INDICES .....................32 
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APPENDIX C.  SCHEMATIC OF FUNDAMENTAL SPECTROSCOPIC PARAMETERS OF A 
LINE TRANSITION IN HITRAN. ..................................................................................................... 33 
APPENDIX D.  FORMATS FOR LINE-BY-LINE PARAMETERS AND CROSS-SECTION 
HEADERS.............................................................................................................................................. 34 
JavaHAWKS Manual 
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JavaHAWKS Manual 
This manual is designed to assist the user in easily adapting to the manipulation of the HITRAN (High 
Resolution  Transmission)  molecular  spectroscopic  database  and  associated  molecular  databases  by 
proper utilization of the JavaHAWKS software package. 
1.  Software Installation 
The  software  has  been  written  in  the  Java  language  so  that  we  can  maintain  cross-platform 
performance,  and  at  the  same  time  maintain  a  single  source  code.    In  order  to  install  and  run  the 
software, you must have a version of the Java runtime environment running on your computer.  Java is 
common on most UNIX computers and many PC and MAC network systems.  The installation program 
will search your computer for Java and will not complete the installation unless a suitable version of 
Java  is  installed  on  your  computer.    If  this  is  the  case,  you  are  advised  to  consult  your  system 
administrator or other computer maintenance personnel about having Java installed on your computer.  
We cannot be responsible for assisting you in this task, since most systems administrators have 
specific requirements that must be met. 
1.1.  Installation Files 
installation 
files 
the  HITRAN 
for  different  platforms  are  distributed  via 
ftp-site 
All 
(ftp://cfa-ftp.harvard.edu/pub/HITRAN/).  These files are: (1) Win_Setup.exe; (2) Linux_Setup.bin; (3) 
Unix_Setup.bin; (4) MacOS_Setup.bin; (5) MacOSX_Setup.zip and (6) Software-Readme.  The first 
five files are JavaHAWKS installers for different operating systems.  The file Win_Setup.exe is for the 
PC,  Linux_Setup  is  for  Linux,  Unix_Setup.bin  is  for  any  generic  Unix  system  (e.g.  Solaris,  Linux, 
Unix,  etc),  MacOS_Setup.bin  is  for  any  Macintosh  with  operating  system  from  8.x  to  9.x,  and 
MacOSX_Setup.zip is for Macintosh with OS X operating system.  Based on the platform one is using, 
a proper installer should be downloaded from the HITRAN ftp-site.  Compared to previous installations 
of JavaHAWKS, these new installers will greatly simplify the procedures of installing JavaHAWKS on 
the user’s computer, especially for Macintosh users.  The Software-Readme file gives the user details 
about the installation of JavaHAWKS on different platforms and how the user launches the application, 
which is described below. 
1.2.  Installation Procedures 
Please  refer  to  the  introductory  paragraph  in  section  1  about  having  the  Java  runtime  environment 
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JavaHAWKS Manual 
installed  on  your  computer  before  proceeding  with  the  installation.    It  is  the  user’s  responsibility  to 
decide which installation file he/she should download from the HITRAN ftp-site based on the platform 
he/she is using.  Please refer to section 1.1 to decide which installer to download.  Description of the 
installation procedures is given below for each of different platforms respectively. 
PC Windows 
1. Download the installation file Win_Setup.exe from the HITRAN FTP site. 
2. Double click the downloaded file to launch the JavaHAWKS installation wizard. 
3. Follow the installation procedures step-by-step until finally clicking the “Done” button. 
Generic Unix/Linux 
1. Download the installation file Unix_Setup.bin or Linux_Setup.bin from the HITRAN ftp-site to a 
temporary location. 
2. Go to the temporary location from the shell. 
3. Type in sh Unix_Setup.bin or sh Linux_Setup.bin from the command line and hit return.  The 
JavaHAWKS installation wizard will appear. 
4. Follow the installation procedures step-by-step until finally clicking the “Done” button. 
Macintosh OS 8.0-9.x 
1. Download the installation file MacOS_Setup.bin from the HITRAN ftp-site to a temporary 
location or to desktop. 
2. Double click the downloaded file and a file called installer.bin will be created. 
3. Double click the file installer.bin to launch the JavaHAWKS installation wizard. 
4. Follow the installation procedures step-by-step until finally clicking the “Done” button. 
Macintosh OS X 
1. Download the installation file MacOSX_Setup.zip from the HITRAN ftp-site to a temporary 
location or to desktop. 
2. Double click the downloaded file and a file called installer.bin will be created. 
3. Double click the file installer.bin to launch the JavaHAWKS installation wizard. 
4. Follow the installation procedures step-by-step until finally clicking the “Done” button. 
1.3.  Launching the JavaHAWKS application 
Depending on the platform the user is employing, the way to launch the JavaHAWKS application may 
be  different.    It  also  depends  on  how  the  user  chooses  to  create  the  application  icon  during  the 
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JavaHAWKS Manual 
installation.  Following is a general description about how to launch the application for each different 
platform respectively. 
PC Windows 
The alternative ways to launch the JavaHAWKS application include the following. 
1.  If you choose to create an icon on the desktop during the installation, double clicking on the 
JavaHAWKS icon on the desktop will launch the application. 
2.  If you choose to create an icon in the Start menu during the installation, click the Start menu 
on the tool bar, and then from the Program list select JavaHAWKS to launch the application. 
3.  Locate the directory where JavaHAWKS is located from the command line.  Type in 
JavaHAWKS.exe on the command line and hit return. 
Generic Unix/Linux 
1.  First locate the directory where JavaHAWKS is located from the command line. 
2.  Type in JavaHAWKS on the command line and hit return. 
Macintosh OS 8.0-9.x / OS X 
1.  If you choose to create an icon on the desktop during the installation, double clicking on the 
JavaHAWKS icon on the desktop will launch the application. 
2.  If you choose to create an icon in the Start menu during the installation, click the Start menu 
on the tool bar, and then from the Program list select JavaHAWKS to launch the application. 
2.  HITRAN and JavaHAWKS 
The HITRAN Atmospheric Workstation is the latest version in a series of updates and enhancements to 
the international standard atmospheric molecular spectroscopic database.  The database has a plethora 
of uses, the most prevalent one being as input to high-resolution transmission and radiance modeling 
codes of the atmosphere.  Other examples of applications of HITRAN include laser propagation, hot 
gaseous  source  detection,  pollution  studies,  background  characterization,  remote  sensing  of  the 
atmosphere, climate assessment, greenhouse gas studies, ozone depletion, and laboratory spectroscopy. 
HITRAN has traditionally supplied the necessary input for the molecular absorption part of the total 
attenuation in Lambert-Beer’s law calculations.  The other aspects of the attenuation are ascribed to 
aerosol extinction, continuum absorption, and scattering.  The original public edition of the molecular 
spectroscopic database in a machine-readable form was in 1973 (the AFCRL Atmospheric Absorption 
Line  Parameters  Compilation1).    This  first  edition  was  comprised  of  the  seven  most  infrared-active 
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JavaHAWKS Manual 
absorbers in the earth’s atmosphere and only covered a spectral range of about 1 to 100 micrometers.  
In  addition,  the  information  for  each  available  transition  was  essentially  limited  to  the  principal 
parameters: the line position (in vacuum wavenumbers, i.e. reciprocal centimeters, cm-1), the intensity 
of  the  transition  (in  cm-1/(molecule·cm-2)  at  296K),  the  air-broadened  halfwidth  (cm-1/atm),  and  the 
energy of the lower state of the transition (in cm-1).  Knowledge of the parameters at that time was 
limited, especially for the halfwidth that often simply was given a hard-sphere collision default value. 
In the intervening decades, the molecular database has been substantially expanded, in terms of spectral 
coverage,  molecular  species,  added  parameters,  increased  number  of  molecular  bands,  and  greatly 
improved accuracy.  Details of the various editions and their enhancements are contained in Refs. 2-6. 
The archival documentation is also contained within the JavaHAWKS software. 
The current edition contains 38 different species in the high-resolution portions (see Appendix B), with 
the  inclusion  of  many  of  their  significant  isotopologues  as  well.    The  spectral  range  is  from  the 
millimeter through the ultraviolet (0 to about 60,000 cm-1).  From the initial inception of the database, 
the number of transitions has increased by an order of magnitude to about 1.25 million currently on the 
HITRAN line-by-line portion. 
Another aspect of the development of the spectroscopic molecular database, or HITRAN as it is known, 
has been the improvement in user access.  The initial versions were available on cards (a relic of the 
past, the cards held 80 characters of information and hence each 80-character HITRAN transition of the 
early editions was a single record) and on large magnetic tape.  Tape became the principal means of 
distribution, but suffered from many inconveniences: slow sequential access, necessity of reading on 
mainframes, loss of integrity over time, damage, data corruption, etc.  In 1992, HITRAN was made 
available  on  CD-ROM.    This  media  enabled  a  great  deal  of  data  to  be  placed  on  a  small,  archival 
optical disk.  More than 3000 copies of the 1992 and 1996 editions have been distributed on CD-ROM 
as the revolution in the use of personal computers and workstations with attached CD-ROM readers 
mushroomed in the early ‘90s.  Commencing with the 2000 edition, which is HITRAN version 11.0, 
HITRAN  has  been  distributed  via  an  ftp-site  at  the  Harvard-Smithsonian  Center  for  Astrophysics.  
Information  for  accessing  the  ftp-site  is  provided  by  completing  the  request  form  located  in  the 
HITRAN web-site, http://cfa-www.Harvard.edu/HITRAN. 
This edition continues the initiative started with the previous HITRAN 1996 by including additional 
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