VORTEX2 2009-2010 Multi-Network Composite Highest Resolution Upper Air Data Set

1.0 General Description

This data set is a composite of radiosondes collected from 5 sounding platforms (see Section 2.3) during the Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment 2 (VORTEX2) with data collected from 10 May 2009 through 13 June 2009 and from 1 May 2010 through 15 June 2010. This project was conducted in the central United States and contains a total of 4697 soundings.

The 2009 data includes 2578 soundings with 241 high vertical resolution (2-sec) soundings from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Southern Great Plains (SGP) Central Facility (C1) site near Lamont, OK, 106 radiosonde soundings from two mobile GPS Advanced Upper_Air Sounding (GAUS) systems operated by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), 118 radiosonde soundings from two mobile GPS Advanced Upper_Air Sounding (GAUS) systems operated by the NOAA National Severe Storm Laboratory (NSSL), two high vertical resolution (2 sec) soundings from the West Texas Mesonet Reese Center, TX site, and 2111 soundings from 17 National Weather Service (NWS) sites (all but one have 1 sec vertical resolution, other is 6 sec).

The 2010 data includes 2121 soundings with 182 high vertical resolution (2-sec) soundings from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Southern Great Plains (SGP) Central Facility (C1) site near Lamont, OK, 174 radiosonde soundings from two mobile GPS Advanced Upper_Air Sounding (GAUS) systems operated by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), 186 radiosonde soundings from two mobile GPS Advanced Upper_Air Sounding (GAUS) systems operated by the NOAA National Severe Storm Laboratory (NSSL), three high vertical resolution (2 sec) soundings from the West Texas Mesonet Reese Center, TX site, and 1576 soundings from 17 National Weather Service (NWS) sites (all but one have 1 sec vertical resolution, other is 6 sec).

All soundings are provided at the highest possible resolution (i.e. the 'native' resolution).

1.1 Data Set Contact

Scot Loehrer
NCAR/EOL
loehrer@ucar.edu

2.0 Detailed Data Description

2.1 Detailed Format Description

All upper air soundings were converted to 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. 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:

LineLabel (padded to 35 char)Contents
1Data Type:Description of type and resolution of data.
2Project ID:Id of weather project.
3Release Site Type/Site ID:Description of the release site.
4Release Location (lon,lat,alt):Position of release site in the format described below.
5UTC Release Time (y,m,d,h,m,s):Time of release, in the 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 non-standard header lines.

LineLabel (padded to 35 char)Contents
6Sonde Id/Sonde Type:W4342264/Vaisala Loran-C
7  
8  
9  
10  
11  
12Nominal Release Time (y,m,d,h,m,s):Nominal time of release, in the format: yyyy, mm, dd, hh:mm:ss

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 No.WidthFormatParameterUnitsMissing Value
16F6.1TimeSeconds9999.0
26F6.1PressureMillibars9999.0
35F5.1Dry-bulb TemperatureDegrees C999.0
45F5.1Dew Point TemperatureDegrees C999.0
55F5.1Relative HumidityPercent999.0
66F6.1U Wind ComponentMeters / Second9999.0
76F6.1V Wind ComponentMeters / Second9999.0
85F5.1Wind SpeedMeters / Second999.0
95F5.1Wind DirectionDegrees999.0
105F5.1Ascent RateMeters / Second999.0
118F8.3LongitudeDegrees9999.0
127F7.3LatitudeDegrees999.0
135F5.1Elevation AngleDegrees999.0
145F5.1Azimuth AngleDegrees999.0
157F7.1AltitudeMeters99999.0
164F4.1QC for PressureCode (see below)99.0
174F4.1QC for TemperatureCode (see below)99.0
184F4.1QC for HumidityCode (see below)99.0
194F4.1QC for U Wind ComponentCode (see below)99.0
204F4.1QC for V Wind ComponentCode (see below)99.0
214F4.1QC for Ascension RateCode (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:

CodeDescription
99.0Unchecked (QC information is "missing.") ("UNCHECKED")
1.0Checked, datum seems physically reasonable. ("GOOD")
2.0Checked, datum seems questionable on physical basis. ("MAYBE")
3.0Checked, datum seems to be in error. ("BAD")
4.0Checked, datum is interpolated. ("ESTIMATED")
9.0Checked, datum was missing in original file. ("MISSING")

Sample Data

The following is a sample record of VORTEX2 2009 radiosonde data in ESC format. The data portion is much longer than 80 characters and, therefore, wraps around to a second line. See section 2.1 for an exact format specification

Data Type:                         West Texas Mesonet/Ascending
Project ID:                        VORTEX2
Release Site Type/Site ID:         Reese Center, TX/72267
Release Location (lon,lat,alt):    102 03.00'W, 33 36.60'N, -102.050, 33.610, 1018.0
UTC Release Time (y,m,d,h,m,s):    2009, 05, 15, 18:16:00
Sonde Id/Sonde Type:               W4342264/Vaisala Loran-C
/
/
/
/
/
Nominal Release Time (y,m,d,h,m,s):2009, 05, 15, 18:16:00
 Time  Press  Temp  Dewpt  RH    Ucmp   Vcmp   spd   dir   Wcmp     Lon     Lat    Ele   Azi   Alt    Qp   Qt   Qrh  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  896.6  32.2  11.9  29.0    1.9    5.2   5.5 200.0 999.0 -102.050  33.610 999.0  20.0  1018.0 99.0 99.0 99.0 99.0 99.0  9.0
   2.0  895.5  31.5  11.2  29.0    1.9    4.9   5.2 201.0   5.5 -102.050  33.610 999.0  21.0  1029.0 99.0 99.0 99.0 99.0 99.0 99.0
   4.0  894.3  30.8  10.9  29.0    1.9    4.6   5.0 202.0   6.0 -102.050  33.610 999.0  21.0  1041.0 99.0 99.0 99.0 99.0 99.0 99.0
   6.0  893.0  30.1  10.8  30.0    1.9    4.3   4.7 203.0   6.5 -102.050  33.610 999.0  22.0  1054.0 99.0 99.0 99.0 99.0 99.0 99.0
   8.0  891.6  29.8  11.2  31.0    1.8    4.1   4.5 204.0   6.5 -102.050  33.610 999.0  22.0  1067.0 99.0 99.0 99.0 99.0 99.0 99.0
  10.0  890.3  29.6  11.5  32.0    1.8    3.9   4.3 205.0   6.5 -102.050  33.610 999.0  22.0  1080.0 99.0 99.0 99.0 99.0 99.0 99.0

2.2 Data Remarks

2.3 Station List

2.3.1 Atmospheric Radiation Measurement - Clouds And Radiation TestBed (ARM-CART)

For more infomation on the VORTEX2 2009/2010 ARM-CART sounding data, see the VORTEX2 dataset titled "DOE ARM-CART SGP Lamont, OK (C1) Radiosonde Data". Data set documentation file.

This station used Vaisala RS92-KL radiosondes with Loran-C windfinding during the VORTEX2 field season.
ID SITE STATE LONG LAT ELEV (m)
SGP_C1_ARMLamont (C1)OK-97.4900036.61000315.0

2.3.2 National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Mobile GPS Advanced Upper_Air Sounding(MGAUS)

For more infomation on the VORTEX2 2009/2010 NCAR MGAUS sounding data, see the VORTEX2 dataset titled "NCAR MGAUS Radiosonde Data [NCAR/EOL]". Data set documentation file. 2009 submitted data set documentation file. 2010 submitted data set documentation file.

This station used Vaisala RS92 radiosondes with GPS windfinding during the VORTEX2 field season.
ID SITE STATE LONG LAT ELEV (m)
NCAR1 Mobile Varied Varied Varied Varied
NCAR2 Mobile Varied Varied Varied Varied

2.3.3 National Weather Service (NWS) High Resolution Radiosonde Data

For more infomation on the VORTEX2 2009/2010 NWS sounding data, see the VORTEX2 dataset titled "National Weather Service High Resolution Radiosonde Data". Data set documentation file.

Except for Dodge City, KS all stations used the Sippican Mark IIA with uses GPS windfinding. Dodge City used the VIZ B2 radiosonde with radiotheodolite windfinding.
ID SITE STATE LONG LAT ELEV (m)
DDCDodgeCity KS-100.037.8788.9
KABQAlbuquerqueNM-106.635.01619.0
KABRAberdeen SD -98.445.5398.0
KAMAAmarillo TX-101.735.21095.0
KDNRDenver CO-104.939.81611.0
KFWDFortWorth TX -97.332.8195.0
KLBFNorthPlatteNE-100.741.1849.0
KLZKLittleRock AR -92.334.8173.0
KMAFMidland TX-102.231.9874.0
KMPXMinneapolisMN -93.644.8290.0
KOAXOmaha/ValleyNE-96.441.3351.0
KOUNNorman OK-97.435.2345.0
KRAPRapidCity SD-103.244.11029.0
KRIWRiverton WY-108.543.11699.0
KSGFSpringfield MO -93.437.2391.0
KSHVShreveport LA -93.832.585.0
KTOPTopeka KS -95.639.1268.0

2.3.4 NOAA National Severe Storm Laboratory (NSSL) Mobile GPS Advanced Upper_Air Sounding(MGAUS)

For more infomation on the VORTEX2 2009/2010 ARM-CART sounding data, see the VORTEX2 dataset titled "NSSL MGAUS Radiosonde Data [NCAR/EOL]". Data set documentation file. 2009 submitted data set documentation file. 2010 submitted data set documentation file.

This station used Vaisala RS92 radiosondes with GPS windfinding during the VORTEX2 field season.
ID SITE STATE LONG LAT ELEV (m)
NSSL1 Mobile Varied Varied Varied Varied
NSSL2 Mobile Varied Varied Varied Varied

2.3.5 West Texas Mesonet

For more infomation on the VORTEX2 2009/2010 West Texas Mesonet sounding data, see the VORTEX2 dataset titled "West Texas Mesonet Radiosonde Data". Data set documentation file.

The station used Vaisala radiosondes with LORAN-C windfinding.
ID SITE STATE LONG LAT ELEV (m)
72267 Reese Center TX -102.05000 33.61000 1018.0

3.0 Quality Control Processing

See the documentation files above for information on the quality control processing conducted on each network.

4.0 References