PPPL supports an MDSplus service for all archived TRANSP runs. The archive contains 1000s of runs from PPPL totamaks: PLT, PDX, PBXM, TFTR, and NSTX, as well as numerous runs on non-PPPL tokamaks (DIII-D, JET, JT60, HL2A, Tore-Supra, Textor,...). The PPPL tokamak data is generally available by request to any fusion scientist collaborating with PPPL; access to some of the non-PPPL tokamak data requires additional permission from the source institution for the original experiment.

Access through the PPPL site perimeter (firewall) is granted to a few trusted hosts at collaborating institutions; access from the general internet will require issuance and use of a PPPL SecurID key fob or a FusionGrid Proxy.

The TRANSP runs are stored in standard TRANSP MDSplus trees, with trees from all but the oldest runs containing complete sets of input data (experiment diagnostic measurements) as well as output data. The MDSplus server name is "transgrid.pppl.gov". The MDSplus tree name is "TRANSP<_TOK>"; the MDSplus pulse id is the runid, converted into an integer by substituting the letter into an integer (A=01,..., Z=26).

For details and examples of IDL and Fortran code, see the PPPL TRANSP website http://w3.pppl.gov/trans.

TRANSP runs for non-PPPL tokamaks (AUGD, Cmod, JET, MAST, DIII-D), produced by the FusonGrid Service at PPPL, are stored at the respective sites and usually also accessible via MDSplus Servers (except AUGD).

Many legacy PPPL software tools and libraries for accessing TRANSP data are also available at the National Transport Code Collaboration (NTCC) Modules Library website http://w3.pppl.gov/ntcc. These tools are all fully MDSplus enabled.

Potential users are requested to take note of the following cautionary remarks:

Dozens of TRANSP runs are likely to exist for "popular" shots. It is non-trivial to determine which run for a given shot is "best" for any given purpose. Runs on some shots may not be strict data analysis runs but rather predictive simulations with significant modifications, used e.g. for experimental proposals. Although comments generally exist for every TRANSP run, their quality depends on the conscientiousness of the original run authors, which has varied over the years. Tools for quickly scanning these comments are limited; direct contact with the run author is often the best choice.

Questions about the PPPL TRANSP archive can be emailed to this address transp@pppl.gov. Comments on the archive are welcome. A day can be foreseen when this will be the only easily accessible record of shot data produced by a number of old tokamak experiments which are no longer operating.