TITLE: CPPA National Weather Service (NWS) High Resolution Radiosonde Datasets CPPA: Bondville High Resolution Radiosonde Data (NWS Central Illinois,IL) CPPA: Fort Peck High Resolution Radiosonde Data (NWS Site Glasgow, MT) CPPA: Oak Ridge High Resolution Radiosonde Data (NWS Site Nashville, TN) CPPA: Mount Bigelow High Resolution Radiosonde Data (NWS Site Tucson, AZ)) CONTACT: Steve F. Williams NCAR/EOL UN - Suite 175, P.O. Box 3000 Boulder, CO. 80307-3000 Telephone: (303) 497-8987 Fax : (303) 497-8158 sfw@ucar.edu
E-Mail: sfw@ucar.edu 1.0 DATA SET OVERVIEW These datasets contain high resolution radiosonde data from stations operated by the National Weather Service (NWS). These sites are located near the following Coordinated Energy and Water Cycle Observation Project (CEOP) Climate Prediction Program for the Americas (CPPA) Reference Sites: Bondville, Illinois (Central Illinois, IL); Fort Peck, Montana (Glasgow, MT); Oak Ridge, Tennesee (Nashville, TN); Mount Bigelow, Arizona (Tucson, AZ). The data are either six second or two second vertical resolution profiles of pressure, temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, and altitude. Rawinsondes were typically released twice a day at 00 and 12 UTC The dataset spans the period 01 January 2002 thru 31 December 2007 (except for Tucson, AZ which ends 31 December 2004). 1.1 Site Information ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reference Site Name|Bondville, IL |Ft. Peck MT |Oak Ridge, TN |Mt. Bigelow AZ| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Site Lat/Lon |40.01N 88.29W |48.31N 105.10W|35.96N 84.29W |32.42N 110.73W| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NWS Site Names |Central Illinois,IL|Glasgow, MT |Nashville, TN |Tucson, AZ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NWS Site Lat/Lon |40.14N 89.33W |48.22N 106.62W|36.25N 86.57W |37.12N 110.93W| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NWS Site Elevation | 178m | 696m | 180m | 787m | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NWS Site WMO# | 74560 | 72776 | 72327 | 72274 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Radiosonde Type |Vaisala RS80 | VIZ B2 | VIZ-B2 |Vaisala RS80 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Mt. Bigelow reference site was discontinued 31 December 2004. The Central Illinois radiosonde site discontinued its use of Vaisala RS80 radiosondes with the 00 UTC 20 July 2007 sounding. It resumed taking soundings at 12 UTC on 30 July 2007 with the Sippican Mark IIA GPS radiosonde. The Glasgow, MT radiosonde site discontinued its use of VIZ B2 radiosondes with the 12 UTC 7 July 2007 sounding. It resumed taking soundings at 12 UTC on 16 July 2007 with the Sippican Mark IIA GPS radiosonde. The Nashville, TN radiosonde site discontinued its use of VIZ B2 radiosondes with the 12 UTC 30 April 2007 sounding. It resumed taking soundings at 12 UTC on 21 May 2007 with the Sippican Mark IIA GPS radiosonde. 2.0 INSTRUMENTATION DESCRIPTION Prior to the dates mentioned above NWS soundings utilized either the VIZ B2 type radiosonde produced by Sippican Inc. or the RS80 radiosondes manufactured by Vaisala. After the dates mentioned above NWS soundings utilized Sippican Mark IIA GPS radiosondes. 3.0 DATA COLLECTION AND PROCESSING 3.1 NOAA/NWS Data Collection and Processing More information concerning NOAA/NWS data collection and processing of radiosonde data can be found at the Upper-Air Observations Program website. 3.2 NCAR/EOL Data Processing All upper air soundings were converted to the National Center for Atmospheric Research/Earth Observing Laboratory (NCAR/EOL) Sounding Composite Format (ESC). ESC is a version of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) CLASS format and is an ASCII format consisting of 15 header records for each sounding followed by the data records with associated QC information. Header Records The header records (15 total records) contain data type, project ID, site ID, site location, release time, sonde type, meteorological and wind data processors, and the operator's name and comments. The first five header lines contain information identifying the sounding, and have a rigidly defined form. The following 7 header lines are used for auxiliary information and comments about the sounding, and may vary from dataset to dataset. The last 3 header records contain header information for the data columns. Line 13 holds the field names, line 14 the field units, and line 15 contains dashes ('-' characters) delineating the extent of the field. The five standard header lines are as follows: Line Label (padded to 35 char) Contents 1 Data Type: Description of type and resolution of data. 2 Project ID: ID of weather project. 3 Release Site Type/Site ID: Description of release site. 4 Release Location (lon,lat,alt): Position of release site, in format described below. 5 UTC Release Time (y,m,d,h,m,s): Time of release, in format: yyyy, mm, dd, hh:mm:ss The release location is given as: lon (deg min), lat (deg min), lon (dec. deg), lat (dec. deg), alt (m) Longitude in deg min is in the format: ddd mm.mm'W where ddd is the number of degrees from True North (with leading zeros if necessary), mm.mm is the decimal number of minutes, and W represents W or E for west or east longitude, respectively. Latitude has the same format as longitude, except there are only two digits for degrees and N or S for north/south latitude. The decimal equivalent of longitude and latitude and station elevation follow. The seven non-standard header lines may contain any label and contents. The labels are padded to 35 characters to match the standard header lines. Records for this dataset include the following three non-standard header lines. Line Label (padded to 35 char) Contents 6 Ascension No: 1299 7 Radiosonde Serial Number: 152551614 8 Radiosonde Manufacturer: Vaisala For the Sippican Mark IIA radiosondes the non-standard header lines are: 6 Ascension No: 1299 7 Radiosonde Serial Number: 152551614 8 Balloon Manufacturer/Type: Kaysam / GP26 9 Balloon Lot Number/Weight: 92007 / 0.700 10 Radiosonde Type/RH Sensor Type: Sippican Mark IIA with chip thermistor, pressure / Sippican Mark IIA Carbon Hygristor 11 Surface Observations: P: 1000.6, T: 999.0, RH: 82.0, WS: 0.0, WD: 360.0 Data Records The data records each contain time from release, pressure, temperature, dew point, relative humidity, U and V wind components, wind speed and direction, ascent rate, balloon position data, altitude, and quality control flags (see the QC code description). Each data line contains 21 fields, separated by spaces, with a total width of 130 characters. The data are right-justified within the fields. All fields have one decimal place of precision, with the exception of latitude and longitude, which have three decimal places of precision. The contents and sizes of the 21 fields that appear in each data record are as follows: Field Format No. Width Parameter Units Missing Value ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1 6 F6.1 Time Seconds 9999.0 2 6 F6.1 Pressure Millibars 9999.0 3 5 F5.1 Dry-bulb Temperature Degrees C 999.0 4 5 F5.1 Dew Point Temperature Degrees C 999.0 5 5 F5.1 Relative Humidity Percent 999.0 6 6 F6.1 U Wind Component Meters / Second 9999.0 7 6 F6.1 V Wind Component Meters / Second 9999.0 8 5 F5.1 Wind Speed Meters / Second 999.0 9 5 F5.1 Wind Direction Degrees 999.0 10 5 F5.1 Ascension Rate Meters / Second 999.0 11 8 F8.3 Longitude Degrees 9999.0 12 7 F7.3 Latitude Degrees 999.0 13 5 F5.1 Elevation Angle Degrees 999.0 14 5 F5.1 Azimuth Angle Degrees 999.0 15 7 F7.1 Altitude Meters 99999.0 16 4 F4.1 QC for Pressure Code (see below) 99.0 17 4 F4.1 QC for Temperature Code (see below) 99.0 18 4 F4.1 QC for Humidity Code (see below) 99.0 19 4 F4.1 QC for U Component Code (see below) 99.0 20 4 F4.1 QC for V Component Code (see below) 99.0 21 4 F4.1 QC for Ascension Rate Code (see below) 99.0 Fields 16 through 21 contain the Quality Control information derived at the NCAR Earth Observing Laboratory (NCAR/EOL). Any QC information from the original sounding is replaced by the following EOL codes: Code Description 99.0 Unchecked (QC information is "missing.") ("UNCHECKED") 1.0 Checked, datum seems physically reasonable. ("GOOD") 2.0 Checked, datum seems questionable on physical basis.("MAYBE") 3.0 Checked, datum seems to be in error. ("BAD") 4.0 Checked, datum is interpolated. ("ESTIMATED") 9.0 Checked, datum was missing in original file. ("MISSING") Sample Data The following is a sample record of CEOP NWS upper air data in EOL ESC format. The data portion is much longer than 80 characters and, therefore , wraps around to a second line. Data Type: NWS Project ID: CEOP NWS Class Format Sounding Release Site Type/Site ID: GGW Glasgow, MT Release Location (lon,lat,alt): 106 36.00'W, 48 12.00'N, -106.60, 48.20, 693.0 UTC Release Time (y,m,d,h,m,s): 2002, 12, 09, 23:04:00 Ascension No: 1695 Radiosonde Serial Number: 84868935.CSN Radiosonde Manufacturer: VIZ B2 / / / Nominal Release Time (y,m,d,h,m,s):2002, 12, 10, 00:00:00 Time Press Temp Dewpt RH Uwind Vwind Wspd Dir dZ Lon Lat Elev Azim Alt Qp Qt Qh Qu Qv Qdz sec mb C C % m/s m/s m/s deg m/s deg deg deg deg m code code code code code code ------ ------ ----- ----- ----- ------ ------ ----- ----- ----- -------- ------- ----- ----- ------- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- 0.0 933.3 2.8 -5.1 56.0 -2.4 0.9 2.6 110.0 999.0 -106.600 48.200 999.0 999.0 693.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 99.0 99.0 9.0 6.0 927.1 4.5 -6.2 45.8 9999.0 9999.0 999.0 999.0 9.0 9999.000 999.000 999.0 999.0 747.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 9.0 9.0 99.0 12.0 923.8 4.8 -5.9 45.9 9999.0 9999.0 999.0 999.0 4.8 9999.000 999.000 999.0 999.0 776.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 9.0 9.0 99.0 18.0 920.8 5.0 -5.9 45.1 9999.0 9999.0 999.0 999.0 4.5 9999.000 999.000 999.0 999.0 803.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 9.0 9.0 99.0 24.0 918.0 5.2 -6.0 44.3 9999.0 9999.0 999.0 999.0 4.0 9999.000 999.000 999.0 999.0 827.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 9.0 9.0 99.0 Data Type: NWS Project ID: CEOP NWS Class Format Sounding Release Site Type/Site ID: BNA Nashville, TN Release Location (lon,lat,alt): 086 36.00'W, 36 12.00'N, -86.60, 36.20 , 180.0 UTC Release Time (y,m,d,h,m,s): 2002, 11, 23, 11:01:00 Ascension No: 1658 Radiosonde Serial Number: 84873329.CSN Radiosonde Manufacturer: VIZ B2 / / / Nominal Release Time (y,m,d,h,m,s):2002, 11, 23, 12:00:00 Time Press Temp Dewpt RH Uwind Vwind Wspd Dir dZ Lon Lat Elev Azim Alt Qp Qt Qh Qu Qv Qdz sec mb C C % m/s m/s m/s deg m/s deg deg deg deg m code code code code code code ------ ------ ----- ----- ----- ------ ------ ----- ----- ----- -------- ------- ----- ----- ------- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- 0.0 1001.6 -1.3 -3.0 88.0 1.1 1.1 1.5 225.0 999.0 -86.600 36.200 999.0 999.0 180.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 99.0 99.0 9.0 6.0 998.8 -0.8 -3.0 85.1 9999.0 9999.0 999.0 999.0 3.7 9999.000 999.000 999.0 999.0 202.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 9.0 9.0 99.0 12.0 996.2 -0.1 -2.5 83.8 9999.0 9999.0 999.0 999.0 3.5 9999.000 999.000 999.0 999.0 223.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 9.0 9.0 99.0 18.0 991.8 0.9 -3.9 70.3 9999.0 9999.0 999.0 999.0 6.0 9999.000 999.000 999.0 999.0 259.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 9.0 9.0 99.0 Data Type: NWS Project ID: CEOP NWS Class Format Sounding Release Site Type/Site ID: ILX Central Illinois, IL Release Location (lon,lat,alt): 089 18.00'W, 40 12.00'N, -89.30, 40.20 , 178.0 UTC Release Time (y,m,d,h,m,s): 2002, 12, 13, 23:00:00 Ascension No: 1705 Radiosonde Serial Number: 207460606 Radiosonde Manufacturer: Vaisala / / / Nominal Release Time (y,m,d,h,m,s):2002, 12, 14, 00:00:00 Time Press Temp Dewpt RH Uwind Vwind Wspd Dir dZ Lon Lat Elev Azim Alt Qp Qt Qh Qu Qv Qdz sec mb C C % m/s m/s m/s deg m/s deg deg deg deg m code code code code code code ------ ------ ----- ----- ----- ------ ------ ----- ----- ----- -------- ------- ----- ----- ------- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- 0.0 988.9 4.0 0.0 75.0 0.0 -6.2 6.2 360.0 999.0 -89.300 40.200 999.0 999.0 178.0 99.0 99.0 99.0 99.0 99.0 9.0 6.0 985.7 4.0 1.0 81.0 9999.0 9999.0 999.0 999.0 4.3 9999.000 999.000 999.0 999.0 204.0 99.0 4.0 4.0 9.0 9.0 99.0 12.0 982.6 3.9 1.9 87.0 9999.0 9999.0 999.0 999.0 4.3 9999.000 999.000 999.0 999.0 230.0 99.0 4.0 4.0 9.0 9.0 99.0 18.0 979.4 3.9 2.9 93.0 9999.0 9999.0 999.0 999.0 4.3 9999.000 999.000 999.0 999.0 256.0 99.0 99.0 99.0 9.0 9.0 99.0 24.0 976.2 3.8 2.9 94.0 9999.0 9999.0 999.0 999.0 4.5 9999.000 999.000 999.0 999.0 283.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 9.0 9.0 99.0 Data Type: NWS Project ID: CEOP NWS Class Format Sounding Release Site Type/Site ID: TUS Tucson, AZ Release Location (lon,lat,alt): 110 54.00'W, 32 6.00'N, -110.90, 32.10 , 787.0 UTC Release Time (y,m,d,h,m,s): 2002, 12, 17, 23:04:00 Ascension No: 1678 Radiosonde Serial Number: 218400310 Radiosonde Manufacturer: Vaisala / / / Nominal Release Time (y,m,d,h,m,s):2002, 12, 18, 00:00:00 Time Press Temp Dewpt RH Uwind Vwind Wspd Dir dZ Lon Lat Elev Azim Alt Qp Qt Qh Qu Qv Qdz sec mb C C % m/s m/s m/s deg m/s deg deg deg deg m code code code code code code ------ ------ ----- ----- ----- ------ ------ ----- ----- ----- -------- ------- ----- ----- ------- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- 0.0 918.0 14.4 5.2 54.0 6.7 3.9 7.7 240.0 999.0 -110.900 32.100 26.5 238.8 787.0 99.0 99.0 99.0 99.0 99.0 9.0 6.0 914.6 14.1 4.1 51.0 32.5 -1.1 32.5 272.0 5.2 -110.898 32.100 27.4 241.4 818.0 99.0 4.0 4.0 99.0 99.0 99.0 12.0 911.3 13.8 3.3 49.0 28.7 -3.5 28.9 277.0 5.2 -110.896 32.100 28.0 244.1 849.0 99.0 99.0 99.0 99.0 99.0 99.0 18.0 907.9 13.5 2.7 48.0 25.8 -4.5 26.2 280.0 5.2 -110.894 32.100 28.6 246.9 880.0 99.0 4.0 4.0 99.0 99.0 99.0 24.0 904.6 13.2 2.4 48.0 23.5 -5.0 24.0 282.0 5.2 -110.892 32.100 29.0 249.7 911.0 99.0 4.0 4.0 99.0 99.0 99.0 4.0 QUALITY CONTROL PROCEDURES 4.1 NCAR/EOL Quality Control Procedures The data flags provided by the NWS in the data files are mapped to the NCAR/EOL flags and included in the data files. These datasets underwent an automated QC process. Each dataset underwent internal consistency checks which included two types of checks, gross limit checks on all parameters and rate-of-change checks on temperature, pressure and ascension rate. Some further information on the QC processing conducted by EOL can be found in Loehrer et al. (1996) and Loehrer et al. (1998). 4.1.1 Gross Limit Checks These checks were conducted on each sounding and data were automatically flagged as appropriate. Only the data point under examination was flagged. EOL conducted the following gross limit checks on the CEOP GAPP sounding datasets. In the table P = pressure, T = temperature, RH = relative humidity, U = U wind component, V = V wind component, B = bad, and Q = questionable. __________________________________________________________________ Parameter(s) Flag Parameter Gross Limit Check Flagged Applied __________________________________________________________________ Pressure < 0 mb or > 1050 mb P B Altitude < 0 m or > 40000 m P, T, RH Q Temperature < -80C or > 45C T Q Dew Point < -99.9C or > 30C RH Q > Temperature T, RH Q Relative Humidity < 0% or > 100% RH B Wind Speed < 0 m/s or > 100 m/s U, V Q > 150 m/s U, V B U Wind Component < 0 m/s or > 100 m/s U Q > 150 m/s U B V Wind Component < 0 m/s or > 100 m/s V Q > 150 m/s V B Wind Direction < 0 deg or > 360 deg U, V B Ascent Rate < -10 m/s or > 10 m/s P, T, RH Q _________________________________________________________________ 4.1.2 Vertical Consistency Checks These checks were conducted on each sounding and data were automatically flagged as appropriate. These checks were started at the lowest level of the sounding and compared neighboring 6-sec data points (except at pressures less than 100 mb where 30-sec average values were used. In the case of checks ensuring that the values increased/decreased as expected, only the data point under examination was flagged. However, for the other checks, all of the data points used in the examination were flagged. All items within the table are as previously defined. _____________________________________________________________________ Vertical Consistency Parameter(s) Flag Parameter Check Flagged Applied _____________________________________________________________________ Time decreasing/equal None None Altitude decreasing/equal P, T, RH Q Pressure increasing/equal P, T, RH Q > 1 mb/s or < -1 mb/s P, T, RH Q > 2 mb/s or < -2 mb/s P, T, RH B Temperature < -15 C/km P, T, RH Q < -30 C/km P, T, RH B < 50 C/km (not applied at p < 250mb) P, T, RH Q < 200 C/km (not applied at p < 250mb) P, T, RH B Ascent Rate change of > 3 m/s or < -3 m/s P Q change of > 5 m/s or < -5 m/s P B _____________________________________________________________________ 5.0 REFERENCES Loehrer, S. M., T. A. Edmands, and J. A. Moore, 1996: TOGA COARE upper-air sounding data archive: development and quality control procedures. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 77, 2651-2671. Loehrer, S. M., S. F. Williams, and J. A. Moore, 1998: Results from UCAR/JOSS quality control of atmospheric soundings from field projects. Preprints, Tenth Symposium on Meteorological Observations and Instrumentation, Phoenix, AZ, Amer. Meteor. Soc., 1-6.