GCIP/EAOP-98 Mandatory/Significnat Level Sounding Data Set 1.0 Site Information WMO # ID Site Name Latitude Longitude Elev. (m) Sonde ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 72215 FFC Peachtree City, GA 33.35 -84.56 246 Mix 72230 BMX Birmingham, AL 33.10 -86.70 178 Mix 72317 GSO Greensboro, NC 36.08 -79.95 277 Mix 72318 RNK Roanoke, VA 37.20 -80.41 648 Mix 72327 BNA Nashville, TN 36.25 -86.57 180 VIZ 72520 PIT Pittsburgh, PA 40.53 -80.23 360 VIZ 72528 BUF Buffalo, NY 42.93 -78.73 218 VIZ 72632 DTX Detroit, MI 42.70 -83.47 329 Mix 72426 ILN Wilmington, OH 39.42 -83.82 317 Mix For the Sonde column VIZ represents the VIZ B2 radiosonde. On 1 June 1997 most of the US VIZ sites began to use the newer VIZ B2 radiosonde or the Vaisala RS-80. However, occasional releases were made using the older VIZ sone. On 1 June 1998 some of the VIZ B2 sites changed over to the Vaisala RS-80 radiosonde and these are represented by Mix above. Typical Release Times (All Sites): 00 12 UTC Dates Available: 1 October 1997 - 30 September 1998 (Some sites did not take soundings at all times) Responsible Agency: National Weather Service (USA) Source Agency: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)/Forecast Systems Laboratory (FSL) Country Code: US `Native Vertical Resolution': Variable (standard and significant levels only) 2.0 Radiosonde Information Radiosonde Type: Variable depending on site (see above) Windfinding System: Variable depending on site 3.0 Parameters in Raw Dataset Parameters Units ---------------------------------------- Pressure Millibars Altitude Geopotential Meters Temperature Deg C Dew Point Depression Deg C Wind Speed Knots Wind Direction Degrees ---------------------------------------- 4.0 Sample Data and Format Description The format is the FSL Rawinsonde data format. Here is the description of this format as provided by NOAA/FSL. FSL Rawinsonde data format The official FSL data format is similar to the format used by the National Severe Storms Forecast Center (NSSFC) in Kansas City. The first 4 lines of the sounding are identification and information lines. All additional lines are data lines. An entry of 32767 (original format) or 99999 (new format) indicates that the information is either missing, not reported, or not applicable. ---COLUMN NUMBER--- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 LINTYP header lines 254 HOUR DAY MONTH YEAR (blank) (blank) 1 WBAN# WMO# LAT LON ELEV RTIME 2 HYDRO MXWD TROPL LINES TINDEX SOURCE 3 (blank) STAID (blank) (blank) SONDE WSUNITS data lines 9 PRESSURE HEIGHT TEMP DEWPT WIND DIR WIND SPD 4 5 6 7 8 LEGEND LINTYP: type of identification line 254 = indicates a new sounding in the output file 1 = station identification line 2 = sounding checks line 3 = station identifier and other indicators line 4 = mandatory level 5 = significant level 6 = wind level (PPBB) (GTS or merged data) 7 = tropopause level (GTS or merged data) 8 = maximum wind level (GTS or merged data) 9 = surface level HOUR: time of report in UTC LAT: latitude in degrees and hundredths LON: longitude in degrees and hundredths ELEV: elevation from station history in meters RTIME: is the actual release time of radiosonde from TTBB. Appears in GTS data only. HYDRO: the pressure of the level to where the sounding passes the hydrostatic check (see section 4.3).** MXWD: the pressure of the level having the maximum wind in the sounding. If within the body of the sounding there is no "8" level then MXWN is estimated (see section 3.2). TROPL: the pressure of the level containing the tropopause. If within the body of the sounding there is no "7" level, then TROPL is estimated (see section 3.3)** LINES: number of levels in the sounding, including the 4 identification lines. TINDEX: indicator for estimated tropopause. A "7" indicates that sufficient data was available to attempt the estimation; 11 indicates that data terminated and that tropopause is a "suspected" tropopause. SOURCE: 0 = National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) 1 = Atmospheric Environment Service (AES), Canada 2 = National Severe Storms Forecast Center (NSSFC) 3 = GTS or FSL GTS data only 4 = merge of NCDC and GTS data (sources 2,3 merged into sources 0,1) SONDE: type of radiosonde code from TTBB. Only reported with GTS data 10 = VIZ "A" type radiosonde 11 = VIZ "B" type radiosonde 12 = Space data corp.(SDC) radiosonde. WSUNITS:wind speed units (selected upon output) ms = tenths of meters per second kt = knots PRESSURE: in whole millibars (original format) in tenths of millibars (new format) HEIGHT: height in meters (m) TEMP: temperature in tenths of degrees Celsius DEWPT: dew point temperature in tenths of a degree Celsius WIND DIR: wind direction in degrees WIND SPD: wind speed in either knots or tenths of a meter per second (selected by user upon output) An example of fortran format statements necessary to read output rawinsonde data, according to LINTYP, is as follows: LINTYP 254 (3i7,6x,a4,i7) 1 (3i7,2f7.2,2i7) 2 (7i7) 3 (i7,10x,a4,14x,i7,5x,a2) 4,5,6,7,8,9 (7i7) **- section of noaa tech memo on the data base (in print) TECHNICAL INFORMATION: Schwartz, B.E., and M. Govett, 1992: "A hydrostatically consistent North American Radiosonde Data Base at the forecast Systems Laboratory, 1946-present." NOAA Technical Memorandum ERL FSL-4. Available from NOAA/ERL/FSL 325 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80303. 5.0 Quality Control Procedures These data have undergone NO quality control.