MJ MAHONEY (Michael.J.Mahoney@jpl.nasa.gov)  Julie Haggerty (haggerty@ucar.edu)
JPL/CalTech, NCAR
NGV Microwave Temperature Profiler (MTP/NGV)
START08
Data Availability as of August 2009:
First Phase
20080003 20080418 NGV 01st Science Flight RF01 - No MTP
20080004 20080421 NGV 02nd Science Flight RF02 - No MTP
20060005 20080424 NGV 03rd Science Flight RF03 - No MTP
20080006 20080428 NGV 04th Science Flight RF04 - No MTP
20080007 20080430 NGV 05th Science Flight RF05 - No MTP
20080008 20080501 NGV 05th Science Flight RF06 - No MTP
20080009 20080504 NGV 07th Science Flight RF07 - No MTP
20080010 20080506 NGV 08th Science Flight RF08 - OK
20080011 20080509 NGV 09th Science Flight RF09 - OK 
20080012 20080512 NGV 10th Science Flight RF10 - OK
20080013 20080514 NGV 11th Science Flight RF11 - OK
20080014 20080515 NGV 12th Science Flight RF12 - TBD

Second Phase
20080015 20080616 NGV 13th Science Flight RF13 - OK
20080016 20080618 NGV 14th science flight RF14 - TBD
20080017 20080623 NGV 15th science flight RF15 - TBD
20080018 20080624 NGV 16th science flight RF16 - OK
20080019 20080626 NGV 17th science flight RF17 - OK
20080020 20080627 NGV 18th science flight RF18 - OK

Data format described by file header. Example follows:
64  2110
MJ MAHONEY (Michael.J.Mahoney@jpl.nasa.gov)  Julie Haggerty (haggerty@ucar.edu)
JPL/CalTech, NCAR
NGV Microwave Temperature Profiler (MTP/NGV)
START08
1 1
2008 06 27  2009 03 12  20080018 {FLT DATE, REDUCTION DATE & FLIGHT NUMBER}
0.0  0.0
Remote sensing altitude (meters)
Elapsed UT seconds from 0 hours on day given by DATE
4                         {NV = number of primary variables: temp, SEtemp, Zg, #density}
1.0   1.0    1.0 1E+21    {scale factors for primary variables: temp, SEtemp, Zg, #density}
99999 9999 99999 99999    {missing values for primary variables: temp, SEtemp, Zg, #density}
Retrieved air temperature (K)
Standard error of retrieved air temperture (K)
Geometric altitude (meters).
Molecular air density (number per cubic meter)
15             {number of auxiliary variables}
1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
99 99.999 99.9 99.9 999.9 99.9 99.9 999.9 999.9 99.999 999.999 999.9 9.99 999.99 99.99
NX(1) is the number of altitudes in subsequent data records
Pressure altitude of WB-57 (km)
Aircraft pitch (deg)
Aircraft roll (deg)
Horizon brightness temperature (ie, OAT, similar to SAT); avg ch1 & ch2 & ch3(K)
Tropopause #1 (km).
Tropopause #2 (km).
Potential temperature of tropopause #1 (K).
Potential temperature of tropopause #2 (K).
Latitude (deg)
Longitude (deg)
dT/dz (K/km) for 1.0 km layer centered on aircraft flight altitude.
MRI ... a retrieval quality metric ranges 0-2, <1 is excellent
Cold point temperature Tcp (K)
Cold point altitude Zcp (km)
8              {number of special comment lines}
*** Final Data   Final Data   Final Data   Final Data   Final Data    
*** 
*** 
*** 
*** Based on radiosonde comparisons, which are described at:
*** http://mtp.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/start-08/science/START08%20Radiosonde%20Comparisons.html
*** we have used the aircraft research temperature ATHR2 which is accurate +/-0.2K
*** Final Data   Final Data   Final Data   Final Data   Final Data        
19             {number of normally included comment lines}
Here's a brief free-form tutorial on how to decipher the MTP data: Data groups
   consist of the following group of lines per 15-second observing cycle.
First line is:  UTSEC, number of retrieval levels in following table, Pressure 
   Altitude, Pitch, Roll, Outside air temp (K), tropopause altitude #1 (km), 
   tropopause altitude #2 (km) [if present], potential temperatures of tropopause 
   #1 and #2, latitude, longitude, & lapse rate near flight level.  
   The 1-liners (for each cycle) can be stripped & imported into a spreadsheet 
   for convenient plotting of trop altitude, lapse rate, etc. The tropopause
   altitudes are calculated by cubic spline interpolation of the retrieved 
   altitudes using the WMO definition (that is, trop #1 is lowest altitude 
   where average lapse rate > -2 K/km from initial -2 K/km point to any point 
   within 2 km; trop #2 occurs above first trop after lapse rate is < -3K/km 
   for >1 km, and then first trop definition applies, possibly from within
   the 1 km region.)
Remaining set of lines for each cycle consist of 5 columns: col#1 is pressure 
   altitude (meters), col#2 is temperature from MTP (Kelvin), col#3 is temperature
   error estimate (K), col#4 is geometric altitude (meters), based on GPS 
   altitude (meters), and col#5 is molecular air density [1E+21/m3].