This data set includes 364 high vertical resolution soundings from Medan, Indonesia (WMO 96035) collected during the DYNAMO field campaign for 2011-12. Soundings were typically released twice daily at 00 and 12 UTC from 30 September 2011 to 31 March 2012. The station utilized Meisei RS-06G radiosondes. These soundings were provided by JAMSTEC. This L3.2 version of the data set was released 20 May 2014. It includes the L3.0 corrections (application of PDF matching and correction for the relative humidity discontinuity at the 0C level), the L3.1 correction for reducing the temperature discontinuity at around 300 hPa and the additional L3.2 corrections of setting suspicious zero surface winds to missing and a correction for reducing erroneous heating/cooling data in daytime/nighttime soundings. These adjustments were applied by JAMSTEC.
Scot Loehrer
NCAR/EOL
loehrer@ucar.edu
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.
The header records (15 total records) contain data type, project ID, site ID, site location, release time, sonde type, and 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:
| 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 the release site. |
| 4 | Release Location (lon,lat,alt): | Position of release site in the format described below. |
| 5 | UTC 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.
| Line | Label (padded to 35 char) | Contents |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | Sonde Id/Sonde Type: | 7111060/Meisei RS-06G |
| 7 | ||
| 8 | ||
| 9 | ||
| 10 | ||
| 11 | ||
| 12 | Nominal Release Time (y,m,d,h,m,s): | Nominal time of release, in the format: yyyy, mm, dd, hh:mm:ss |
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. | Width | Format | 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 | Ascent 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 Wind Component | Code (see below) | 99.0 |
| 20 | 4 | F4.1 | QC for V Wind 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") |
The following is a sample record of DYNAMO Indonesia Medan High Resolution Radiosonde sounding 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: BMKG Radiosonde/Ascending Project ID: DYNAMO Release Site Type/Site ID: Medan, Indonesia/96035 Release Location (lon,lat,alt): 098 40.47'E, 03 33.87'N, 98.675, 3.565, 27.0 UTC Release Time (y,m,d,h,m,s): 2012, 01, 22, 11:37:09 Sonde Id/Sonde Type: 7111060/Meisei RS-06G / / / / / Nominal Release Time (y,m,d,h,m,s):2012, 01, 22, 11:37:09 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 1008.4 28.5 24.1 77.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 999.0 98.675 3.565 999.0 999.0 27.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 9.0 1.0 1008.4 27.7 21.9 70.6 2.0 -2.3 3.0 318.8 -0.1 98.675 3.565 999.0 999.0 26.9 3.0 2.0 2.0 1.0 1.0 99.0 2.0 1006.7 999.0 999.0 999.0 0.9 -3.1 3.2 344.0 14.7 9999.000 999.000 999.0 999.0 41.6 3.0 9.0 9.0 1.0 1.0 99.0 3.0 1005.5 27.5 21.7 70.5 0.9 -4.3 4.4 348.4 10.6 98.675 3.564 999.0 999.0 52.2 3.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 99.0 4.0 1005.2 27.5 21.6 70.2 0.9 -5.1 5.2 349.4 2.7 98.675 3.564 999.0 999.0 54.9 3.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 99.0 5.0 1004.7 27.5 21.5 69.7 0.6 -5.1 5.2 353.7 4.5 98.675 3.564 999.0 999.0 59.4 2.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 99.0 6.0 1004.6 27.4 21.3 69.3 0.8 -4.0 4.1 348.4 1.0 98.675 3.564 999.0 999.0 60.4 2.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 99.0 7.0 1004.3 27.4 21.0 68.3 1.3 -4.0 4.2 342.3 3.0 9999.000 999.000 999.0 999.0 63.4 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 99.0 8.0 1003.9 27.4 21.0 68.3 1.8 -4.5 4.8 337.8 3.0 98.675 3.564 999.0 999.0 66.4 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 99.0 9.0 1003.6 27.4 20.9 67.7 1.8 -4.9 5.2 339.4 2.4 98.675 3.564 999.0 999.0 68.8 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 99.0 10.0 1003.2 27.3 21.1 69.1 1.3 -4.9 5.1 345.7 4.2 98.675 3.564 999.0 999.0 73.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 99.0 11.0 1002.8 27.2 21.0 68.8 1.6 -4.8 5.0 342.0 3.2 98.675 3.564 999.0 999.0 76.2 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 99.0 12.0 1002.2 27.2 20.9 68.4 2.0 -4.6 5.0 336.2 5.1 9999.000 999.000 999.0 999.0 81.3 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 99.0 13.0 1001.8 27.2 20.8 68.1 2.2 -4.5 5.0 333.7 3.8 98.675 3.564 999.0 999.0 85.1 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 99.0 14.0 1001.1 27.2 20.9 68.3 1.9 -4.8 5.1 338.4 5.8 98.675 3.564 999.0 999.0 90.9 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 99.0 15.0 1000.6 27.1 20.8 68.3 1.5 -4.5 4.8 341.1 4.7 98.675 3.564 999.0 999.0 95.6 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 99.0 16.0 1000.0 27.0 20.6 68.1 1.3 -4.3 4.5 342.9 5.9 9999.000 999.000 999.0 999.0 101.5 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 99.0 17.0 999.3 27.0 20.8 69.0 1.6 -4.3 4.6 339.6 5.3 9999.000 999.000 999.0 999.0 106.8 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 99.0 18.0 998.7 27.0 20.8 68.7 2.1 -4.1 4.6 333.4 5.9 98.675 3.564 999.0 999.0 112.7 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 99.0 19.0 998.0 26.9 20.8 69.1 2.2 -4.0 4.6 331.5 5.6 98.675 3.564 999.0 999.0 118.3 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 99.0 20.0 997.4 26.8 20.7 69.3 1.9 -3.8 4.2 333.5 5.7 98.675 3.564 999.0 999.0 124.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 99.0 21.0 996.7 26.8 20.8 69.8 1.9 -3.9 4.4 334.5 5.8 98.675 3.564 999.0 999.0 129.8 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 99.0 22.0 996.1 26.7 20.7 69.5 2.1 -4.3 4.7 334.2 6.0 98.675 3.564 999.0 999.0 135.8 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 99.0 23.0 995.4 26.7 20.6 69.3 2.0 -4.5 4.9 335.7 5.8 98.675 3.563 999.0 999.0 141.6 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 99.0 24.0 994.8 26.7 20.5 69.0 1.9 -4.4 4.8 337.2 6.0 98.675 3.563 999.0 999.0 147.6 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 99.0 25.0 994.1 26.6 20.6 69.6 1.6 -4.6 4.9 341.0 5.9 98.675 3.563 999.0 999.0 153.5 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 99.0 26.0 993.4 26.6 20.5 69.3 1.4 -4.6 4.8 343.6 5.9 98.675 3.563 999.0 999.0 159.4 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 99.0 27.0 992.7 26.5 20.3 68.9 1.2 -4.5 4.6 345.5 5.9 98.675 3.563 999.0 999.0 165.3 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 99.0 28.0 992.1 26.4 20.5 70.2 1.3 -4.4 4.6 343.3 5.9 98.675 3.563 999.0 999.0 171.2 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 99.0 : : :
For L3.0 data, corrections of humidity have been applied with two methods. One is a CDF matching based on the intercomparison of Vaisala RS92 and Meisei onboard the Mirai, and the second is a correction for the RH discontinuity at the 0C level following a method provided by Sugidachi and Fujiwara (2013). These corrections are indicated as "CDF Matching" and "RH Discontinuity at 0C (Sugidachi & Fujiwara 2013)", respectively, in the header line 7-8. Details can be found in Ciesielski et al. (2014).
For the L3.1 data, in addition to the corrections applied to produce Level 3.0 data, temperature discontinuity at around 300hPa is corrected. Meisei radiosonde receiving system has a software which reduces the influence of solar radiation reflected from the sensor package, which is originally set to act from 300hPa level. Actually, it forces the reduction of temperature at and above 300hPa. In particular, this feature is found not only for daytime sounding but also for nighttime sounding, indicating too much reduction. This is because the software reduces the temperature regardless with actual condition and launch time, while the soundings over the Indonesian Maritime Continent are typically conducted in the local morning and evening time, when the errors caused by solar radiation are expected to be small. Therefore, by assuming that temperature lapse rate is close to the mean value between just below/above layers, the difference of lapse rate from the mean is calculated, and the temperature difference deduced from the lapse rate difference is added to the observed values (typical value is about 0.2C). When this correction is applied, "Ta discontinuity at 300hPa" is indicated in the header line 9.
For this L3.2 data, in addition to the corrections applied to produce L3.0 and L3.1 data, two additional corrections have been applied. At some Indonesian sounding sites, the operators enter the wind data of 0m/s, 0deg as the initial value regardless with actual wind condition. Thus, if the wind data of first point, which is manually recorded by the operator, is 0m/s, 0deg, and any of the first three data, which are the value measured by a Radiosonde, exceeds 0.5m/s, we judge the surface wind data is suspicious, and have replaced them with 999m/s and 999deg, indicating missing values. Another correction scheme is meant for reduction of erroneous heating/cooling data in daytime/nighttime soundings. Since the observation was carried out on land, there are possible that large heating/cooling may happen near the ground surface. However, we found wrong cases. For example, while we confirmed a good agreement between T/RH values measured using a calibrated handy sensor and that of radiosonde, only surface meteorological data measured independently shows quite different value. On the one hand, radiosonde sensor is exposed under the sun prior to launch at some sites, which might cause sensor arm heating. This may also be partly due to the launch site infrastructure condition, where the site is surrounded by buildings. Therefore, near surface (surface ~ 40m) T/RH values are replaced with the data obtained from linear extrapolation using above layer data following Yoneyama et al. (2002). These corrections are indicated in the header as "Missing Surface Wind" and "Surface Heating/Cooling (Yoneyama et al. 2002)", respectively.
| ID | SITE | COUNTRY | LONG | LAT | ELEV (m) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medan | 96035 | Indonesia | 98.674 | 3.565 | 27.0 |
This dataset underwent an automated QC process. The 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 NCAR/EOL can be found in Loehrer et al. (1996) and Loehrer et al. (1998).
These checks were conducted on each sounding and data were automatically flagged as appropriate. Only the data point under examination was flagged. NCAR/EOL conducted the following gross limit checks on the DYNAMO 2011-12 Indonesia Medan sounding dataset. In the table P = pressure, T = temperature, RH = relative humidity, U = U wind component, V = V wind component, B = bad, and Q = questionable.
| Parameter | Gross Limit Check | Parameter(s) Flagged | Flag Applied |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pressure | < 0 mb or > 1050 mb | P | B |
| Altitude | < 0 m or > 40000 m | P, T, RH | Q |
| Temperature | < -90 °C or > 45 °C | T | T |
| Dew Point | < -99.9 °C or > 33 °C > Temperature |
RH T, RH | Q Q |
| Relative Humidity | < 0% or > 100% | RH | B |
| Wind Speed | < 0 m/s or > 100 m/s > 150 m/s |
U, V U, V | Q B |
| U Wind Component | < 0 m/s or > 100 m/s > 150 m/s |
U U | Q B |
| V Wind Component | < 0 m/s or > 100 m/s > 150 m/s |
V V | Q B |
| Wind Direction | < 0° or > 360° | U, V | B |
| Ascent Rate | < -10 m/s or > 10 m/s | P, T, RH | Q |
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 2-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.
| Parameter | Vertical Consitency Check | Parameter(s) Flagged | Flag Applied |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time | decreasing / equal | None | None |
| Altitude | decreasing / equal | P, T, RH | Q |
| Pressure | increasing / equal > 1 mb/s or < -1 mb/s > 2 mb/s or < -2 mb/s |
P, T, RH P, T, RH P, T, RH | Q Q B |
| Temperature | < -15 °C/km < -30 °C/km > 50 °C/km (not applied at p < 250 mb) >100 °C/km (not applied at p < 2 50 mb) |
P, T, RH P, T, RH P, T, RH P, T, RH |
Q B Q B |
| Ascent Rate | change of > 3 m/s or & lt; -3 m/s change of > 5 m/s or < -5 m/s |
P P | Q B |
Each sounding was visually examined for data quality issues. Any issues found were flagged in the data file and/or noted in Section 3.4.
201110091127
201110152312
201203291137
201110091127 (7mb)
201110152312 (6mb)
201110272301 (6mb)
201111131209 (6mb)
201111162353 (8mb)
201111261115 (8mb)
201112010001 (7mb)
201112071149 (8mb)
201112072347 (6mb)
201202011128 (8mb)
201202171128 (12mb)
201203201212 (10mb)
201203291137 (9mb)
201201302330
201202110005
201111012317 - has issues with balloon icing leading to periods of descent from around 0C level.
201112121146 - temp/RH data all bad. Winds appear reasonable.
201201172359 - temperature/dp data above 555mb mostly bad (might be ok from ~102-76mb).
201201291133 - gap filled data for first 19 seconds.
Ciesielski, P. E., H. Yu, R. H. Johnson, K. Yoneyama, M. Katsumata, C. N. Long, J. Wang, S. M. Loehrer, K. Young, S. F. Williams, W. Brown, J. Braun, T. Van Hove, 2014: Quality-controlled upper-air sounding dataset for DYNAMO/CINDY/AMIE: Development and corrections. J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol., 31, 741-764.
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.
Sugidachi, T., and M. Fujiwara, 2013: Corection of the stepwise change observed at 0C in Meisei RS2-91, RS-01G, and RS-06G radiosonde relative humidity profiles. J. Meteor. Soc. Japan, 91, 323-336.
Yoneyama, K., M. Hanyu, S. Sueyoshi, F. Yoshiura, and M. Katsumata 2002: Radiosonde observation from the ship in the tropical region. JAMSTECR, 45, 31-39. Available from "http://www.godac.jamstec.go.jp/catalog/data/doc_catalog/media/shiken45_04.pdf"