ARM/GCIP NESOB-97 NCEP Miscellaneous Daily Precipitation Dataset 1.0 General Description The National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Miscellaneous Daily Precipitation Dataset is one of several precipitation datasets provided in the GEWEX Continental-Scale International Project (GCIP) Near-Surface Observation Data Set (NESOB) 1997. This dataset contains all daily precipitation data from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) stations. Stations that reported at standard or incremental times are also included in the various NESOB 1997 precipitation composite datasets. The miscellaneous daily precipitation dataset contains data from stations in the NESOB 1997 domain (94.5 W to 100.5W longitude and 34N to 39N latitude) and time period (01 April 1997 through 31 March 1998). These data were not quality controlled by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research/Joint Office for Science Support (UCAR/JOSS). 2.0 Detailed Data Description 2.0.1 NCEP Precipitation Algorithms The algorithms used to form the NCEP Precipitation data are not currently available. 2.1 Detailed Format Description The National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Miscellaneous Daily Precipitation Dataset contains fifteen parameters and uses code tables from the Standard Hydrometeorological Exchange Format (SHEF). The fifteen parameters repeat once for each time period, where the time period is nominally daily. The Physical Element code field should always contain a PP indicating that the precipitation data is reported as incremental values. Missing values are not reported. Each precipitation value has an associated observation date and time which are UTC times. These data were not quality controlled by JOSS. Table 1 below details each parameter. Table 2 provides codes for the Physical Element parameter in the SHEF format. Complete details can be found in the SHEF documentation (version 1.2), February 1996. Table 1 Parameters Units ---------- ----- Year UTC Observation Year (yy) Month UTC Observation Month (mm) Day UTC Observation Day (dd) Hour UTC Observation Hour (hh) Minute UTC Observation Minute(mm) Station Identifier Network Dependent Physical Element code SHEF physical element code (See Table 2 below) Precip Value inches Revision Code (0=No, 1=Yes) Duration Code (2001=1 24-hour day, 5004=Time period begining at 7 am local time and ending at the time of observation) Type Code (F=Forcast, P=Processed, R=Reading) Source Code (G=GOES, M=Meteor Burst, P=Phone, Z=None) Extreme Code (N=Minimum of day, X=Maximum of Day, Z=None) Data Source (ID of NWS office sending report, if known) Quality Flag (Z=None, B=Buddy Check, C=Climatology Check, R=Bad Zero Check, M=Manual overide of B/C/R) Table 2 Physical Element Code Description PC Precipitation, accumulator (in, mm) PP Precipitation, actual increment (in, mm) PR Precipitation rate (in/day, mm/day) PT Precipitation, type PY (S) Precip, increment ending at 7am local just prior to date/time stamp (in, mm). Translated to "PPDRZZZ" 2.2 Data Remarks This dataset contains all precipitation data from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) daily precipitation stations. Stations that reported at standard and incremental times are also included in the various NESOB 1997 precipitation composite datasets. 3.0 Quality Control Processing No additional quality control was performed by UCAR/JOSS on this dataset. 4.0 References National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Standard Hydrometeorological Exchange Format (SHEF) Version 1.2, NOAA, National Weather Service, Office of Hydrology, Silver Spring, Maryland, February 1996.