Overview of SCSMEX The South China Sea Monsoon Experiment (SCSMEX) was an international experiment designed to understand the key physical processes for the onset, maintenance and variability of the Southeast Asian monsoon. The field phase of SCSMEX was held from 1 May to 30 June 1998 during which two Intensive Observing Periods (IOPs) were conducted. During these IOPs extensive meteorological and oceanographic observations were taken over the South China Sea. An integral part of observational network during the IOPs included: two research vessels (Shiyan 3 located near 20N, 117E and Kexue 1 near 6N, 110E), which took high resolution vertical soundings of the atmosphere and detailed surface measurements, and a network of two Doppler radars in the northern South China Sea. References: Johnson, R. H. and P. E. Ciesielski, 2002: Characteristics of the 1998 summer monsoon onset over the Northern South China Sea. J. Meteor. Soc. of Japan, 80, 561-578. Johnson, R. H., S. A. Aves, P. E. Ciesielski, and T. D. Keenan, 2005: Organization of oceanic convection during the onset of the 1998 East Asian Summer Monsoon. Mon. Wea. Rev., 133, 131-148. Ciesielski, P. E., and R. H. Johnson, 2006: Contrasting characteristics of convection over the northern and southern South China Sea during SCSMEX. Mon. Wea. Rev., 134, 1041-1062. Aves, S. L., and R. H. Johnson, 2008: The diurnal cycle of convection over the northern South China Sea. J. Meteor. Soc. Japan, 86, 919-934. Data: Hi-vertical resolution (hi-res) data are available for the following sites supported directly by NASA/TRMM funding: site file R/V Kexue hires_upa_kexue.tar R/V Shiyan 3 hires_upa_shiyan3.tar These hi-res soundings represent L0 data that has undergone no QC aside from that done with the sounding software. *Quality Controlled Version Level 4.0 Upper-Air Data *from the SCSMEX/GAME domain *for May and June 1998 These data files are given as: upa_wmo#.gz Our processing and QC procedure include the following stages: 1. Get the raw data into a common ASCII format. 2. Run data through a series of automated internal consistency checks (e.g., gross limit and vertical consistency checks). Criteria for assigning QC flags, based on these checks, are listed here Criteria for assigning QC flags within automated procedure: ************ Gross limit checks ***************************** parameter test flag data point applied flagged Pressure ge 1050 hPa bad curr lt 0 hPa bad curr ge 1030 hPa and abs(lat) .le. 20 bad curr Geopotential gt 40000 m ques curr Height lt 0 m bad curr Temperature gt 50 C bad curr lt -110. C bad curr 45 to 50 C ques curr -110 to -100 C ques curr gt -5 C and p < 400 mb ques curr gt -20 C and p < 300 mb ques curr gt -30 C and 300 < p < 20 mb ques curr gt -40 C and 100 < p < 25 mb ques curr Dewpoint gt 40 C bad curr Temperature 35 to 40 C ques curr if T ques ques curr if T bad bad curr lt -99.9, Td=-99.9 est curr Td > T, Td=T ques curr Total Wind gt 100 m/s bad curr Speed lt 0 m/s bad curr gt 70 m/s ques curr Wind Direction lt 0 or gt 360 bad curr U-component lt -100 or gt 100 bad curr lt -70 or gt 70 ques curr V-component lt -100 or gt 100 bad curr lt -70 or gt 70 ques curr ******************* Vertical consistency checks *************** parameter test flag data point applied flagged Pressure p increase/equal with hgt bad curr Geopotential z decrease/equal with hgt bad curr dT/Dz at sfc, |dtdz| > 1 C/10m and dp > 5 hPa ques curr, prev for dp .lt. 5 dtdz < -1 C/10m ques curr, prev dtdz < -2 C/10m bad curr, prev dtdz > 1 C/10m * ques curr, prev dtdz > 2 C/10m * bad curr, prev for dp .ge. 5 dtdz < -15 C/km ques curr, prev dtdz < -30 C/km bad curr, prev dtdz > 15 C/km * ques curr, prev dtdz > 30 C/km * bad curr, prev * applied at p < 150 hPa for abs(lat) < 25 p < 250 hPa for abs(lat) ge 25 3. Each sounding was visually inspected up to 100 mb using skew-T plots for the thermodynamic variables and vertical profiles for the u and v-wind components. At this stage, suspect data were compared to adjacent sounding times. Questionable (that is, suspicious looking) and bad (physically unreasonable) data values were flagged accordingly. Additional details of our qc procedure, are given here: 1. The Chinese Meteorological Office released quality controlled GTS resolution data at several SCSMEX sites. Their QC flags ranged from 1 to 9 for each parameter where 1 was good and 9 was absolutely not believable. We used this information in the following way. If their QC flag was 1, we set ours to 1 (good), if theirs was from 2-4, we set ours to 2 (questionable), if theirs was > 4, we set ours to 4 (bad). On several occasions their QC indicated that the data were bad (e.g., high rh), but the data visually looked good. In these cases, during the visual check we manually set the QC flag to 2. 2. An altitude value with a flag of 7 (or estimated) means that that value was determined from a mean p(z) relationship for that site. 3. Heights were computed by integrating the hydrostatic equation (based on virtual temperature) starting from the lowest point (typically the surface). Bad temperature and humidity values were interpolated over before using these fields in the integration procedure. If a questionable temperature data was used at a given level, then the QC flag on z was set to (2 - that is, questionable) at that level and all levels above it. *Convention adopted for the QC flags on the SCSMEX sounding data.* Flag Value Meaning 1 parameter good 2 parameter questionable 3 parameter "visually" questionable 4 parameter bad 5 parameter "visually" bad 6 parameter interpolated 7 parameter estimated 8 parameter unchecked 9 parameter missing This convection of quality control flags and automated internal consistency checks is patterned after Loehrer et al. (BAMS, 1996) and their QC effort of the TOGA COARE sounding data. The following map shows the upper-air sounding sites in SCSMEX/GAME domain for the May and June 1998 period. In all, there are 162 sounding sites with 23,042 sounding available during this period. Your browser will display site name, WMO number and number of available soundings at this site. To determine if quality controlled (QC) upper-air data is currently available for a given site, simply place cursur over site location. Your browser will display site information (site name, WMO number and number of available soundings). To access the ASCII formatted data for this site, simply click left mouse button and save the data file to your home machine. A second alternative to access the upper-air sounding data is through the table below. This table lists the sites for which quality controlled (QC) upper-air data are currently available. To access the data for a given site, simply click on the appropriate WMO # link. WMO # Station Name Lat., Long. Elev # Approx. Sonde (m) of Vertical system Available Resolution type Soundings (mb) 20001 RV Kexue 1 6.25N, 110.00E 4 154 5 VS/GPS 20003 RV Shiyan 3 20.38N, 116.96E 4 154 5 VS/GPS 20005 RV Keife Maru 13.90N, 136.90E 4 68 25 MEISEI 41923 Dacca/Tezgaon 23.77N, 90.38E 7 83 100 VIZ B 42101 Patiala 30.33N, 76.47E 249 113 35 IM MK3 42182 Delhi Safdarjang 28.58N, 77.20E 281 120 35 IM MK3 42314 Dibrugarh /Mohanbari 27.48N, 95.02E 110 83 40 IM MK3 42361 Gwalior 26.23N, 78.25E 207 103 40 IM MK3 42369 Lucknow /Amausi 26.75N, 80.88E 125 121 40 IM MK3 42379 Gorakhpur 26.75N, 83.37E 76 113 35 IM MK3 42410 Gauhati 26.10N, 91.58E 54 105 35 IM MK3 42492 Patna Airport 25.60N, 85.10E 60 118 35 IM MK3 42667 Bhopal Ba 23.28N, 77.25E 523 115 35 IM MK3 42701 M.O. Ranc 23.43N, 85.40E 606 102 35 IM MK3 42809 Calcutta 22.65N, 88.45E 6 120 35 IM MK3 42867 Nagpur S 21.10N, 79.05E 310 119 35 IM MK3 42971 Bhubanes 20.25N, 85.83E 46 116 40 IM MK3 43041 Jagdalpur 19.08N, 82.03E 553 103 35 IM MK3 43128 Hyderabad 17.45N, 78.47E 545 117 35 IM MK3 43150 CWC Visha 17.70N, 83.30E 66 121 30 IM MK3 43185 Machilipa 16.20N, 80.15E 3 107 35 IM MK3 43279 Madras 13.00N, 80.18E 16 119 35 IM MK3 43333 Port Blair 11.67N, 92.72E 79 158 40 IM MK3 43346 Karaikal 10.92N, 79.83E 7 113 30 IM MK3 43371 Thiruvan 8.48N, 76.95E 64 123 35 IM MK3 45004 Hong Kong /Kings Park 22.32N, 114.17E 65 240 15 VSR80 46692 Taipei 25.03N, 121.52E 8 239 20 MEISEI 46699 Hualien 23.97N, 121.62E 19 237 20 MEISEI 46734 Makung 23.57N, 119.62E 17 165 65 VSR80 46741 Tainan City 23.00N, 120.22E 8 237 40 MEISEI 46747 Tungkong 22.47N, 120.43E 3 216 5 VSR80 46780 Green Island 22.60N, 121.50E 281 221 65 VSR80 46810 Dongsha Island 20.70N, 116.72E 6 191 15 VSR80 46902 Nansha Island 10.38N, 114.37E 5 78 15 MEISEI 47122 Osan 37.10N, 127.03E 54 123 25 J/YANG 47138 Pohang 36.03N, 129.38E 16 120 20 J/YANG 47158 Kwangju (Kor-AFB) 35.12N, 126.82E 13 121 20 J/YANG 47185 Cheju 33.28N, 126.17E 72 121 20 J/YANG 47807 Fukuoka 33.58N, 130.38E 3 124 20 J/YANG 47827 Kagoshima /Yoshino 31.63N, 130.58E 282 124 20 MEISEI 47909 Naze Funchatogere 28.38N, 129.55E 295 124 20 MEISEI 47918 Ishigaki Jima 24.33N, 124.17E 7 124 20 MEISEI 47936 Naha /Kagamizu 26.20N, 127.67E 29 124 20 MEISEI 47945 Minamida- itojima 25.83N, 131.23E 15 124 20 MEISEI 48042 Mandalay 21.98N, 96.10E 76 46 100 VRS80 48097 Yangon 16.77N, 96.17E 23 8 100 VRS80 48327 Chiang Mai Intl. 18.78N, 98.98E 323 226 20 VIZ A 48354 Udon Thani /Udorn 17.38N, 102.80E 178 149 110 VIZ A 48407 Ubon Ratchathani 15.25N, 104.88E 123 238 20 VIZ A 48455 Bangkok 13.73N, 100.50E 4 230 20 VIZ A 48480 Chanthaburi 12.60N, 102.11E 5 121 110 VIZ 48500 Prachuap Khiri Khan 11.80N, 99.80E 3 200 110 VIZ 48551 Surat Thani 9.11N, 99.35E 10 161 110 VIZ 48565 Phuket Airport 8.10N, 98.30E 3 159 25 Air 48568 Songkhla 7.20N, 100.60E 4 232 25 VIZ 48601 Penang /Bayan Lepas 5.30N, 100.27E 3 173 20 VRS80 48615 Kota Bharu 6.17N, 102.28E 5 142 40 VRS80 48648 Petaling Jaya 3.10N, 101.65E 57 120 20 VRS80 48657 Kuantan 3.78N, 103.22E 18 135 40 VRS80 48698 Singapore /Changi 1.37N, 103.98E 10 276 20 VRS80 48820 Hanoi /Noibai Intl. 21.02N, 105.80E 9 138 20 VRS80 48855 Da Nang 16.05N, 108.20E 7 58 20 VRS80 48900 Saigon /Tan-Son-Nhut 10.82N, 106.67E 9 136 20 VRS80 51644 Kuqa 41.72N, 82.95E 1100 122 70 Shang 51777 Ruoqiang 39.03N, 88.17E 889 122 70 Shang 51828 Hotan 37.13N, 79.93E 1375 122 70 Shang 52418 Dunhuang 40.13N, 94.78E 1140 122 70 Shang 52533 Jiuquan 39.77N, 98.52E 1478 122 40 Shang 52681 Minqin 38.72N, 103.10E 1367 122 70 Shang 52818 Golmud 36.42N, 94.90E 2808 122 70 Shang 52836 Dulan 36.33N, 98.03E 3192 122 65 Shang 52889 Lanzhou 36.05N, 103.88E 1518 122 45 Shang 53614 Yinchuan 38.48N, 106.22E 1112 122 70 Shang 53772 Taiyuan/Wusu 37.78N, 112.55E 778 122 40 Shang 53845 Yan An 36.60N, 109.50E 959 122 40 Shang 53915 Pingliang 35.55N, 106.67E 1348 122 70 Shang 54511 Beijing 39.93N, 116.28E 54 122 40 Shang 54662 Dalian 38.90N, 121.63E 91 122 70 Shang 54823 Jinan 36.68N, 116.98E 52 122 55 Shang 54857 Qingdao 36.07N, 120.33E 76 122 75 Shang 55228 Shiquanhe 32.12N, 80.07E 4279 65 110 Shang 55248 Lumaringbo 32.30N, 84.05E 4420 75 110 Shang 55299 Nagqu 31.48N, 92.05E 4507 116 60 Shang 55591 Lhasa 29.67N, 91.13E 3649 114 75 Shang 55664 Tingri/Xegar 28.63N, 87.08E 4302 70 110 Shang 56004 Tuotuohe 33.95N, 92.62E 4535 43 110 Shang 56029 Yu-Shu 33.02N, 97.02E 3681 122 70 Shang 56080 Hezuo 34.97N, 102.90E 2910 122 70 Shang 56137 Qamdo 31.15N, 97.17E 3306 114 70 Shang 56146 Garze 31.62N, 100.00E 3394 108 70 Shang 56294 Chengdu 30.67N, 104.02E 506 122 45 Shang 56571 Lijing 27.90N, 102.27E 2394 122 75 Shang 56651 Xichang 26.83N, 100.47E 1591 162 45 Shang 56691 Weining 26.87N, 104.28E 2236 162 35 Shang 56739 Teng-Chong 25.03N, 98.48E 1649 196 45 Shang 56778 Kunming 25.02N, 102.68E 1892 195 45 Shang 56964 Simao 22.67N, 101.40E 1303 194 45 Shang 56985 Mengzi 23.38N, 103.38E 1302 196 45 Shang 57036 Xi'an 34.30N, 108.93E 398 122 40 Shang 57083 Zhengzhou 34.72N, 113.65E 109 122 40 Shang 57127 Hanzhong 33.07N, 107.03E 509 122 45 Shang 57178 Nanyang 33.03N, 112.58E 131 121 75 Shang 57447 Enshi 30.28N, 109.47E 457 122 80 Shang 57461 Yichang 30.70N, 111.28E 131 122 80 Shang 57494 Wuhan/Nanhu 30.62N, 114.13E 23 122 30 Shang 57516 Chongqing 29.58N, 106.47E 259 121 100 Shang 57679 Changsha /Datopu 28.20N, 113.08E 45 216 40 Shang 57749 Huaihua 27.57N, 110.00E 261 216 40 Shang 57816 Guiyang 26.58N, 106.72E 1222 196 45 Shang 57957 Gui-Lin 25.33N, 110.30E 167 196 40 Shang 57972 Chen-Zhou 25.81N, 113.01E 185 196 40 Shang 57993 Gan-Zhou 25.85N, 114.93E 125 196 40 Shang 58027 Xuzhou 34.28N, 117.15E 41 122 75 Shang 58150 Sheyang 33.77N, 120.25E 7 121 70 Shang 58203 Fuyang 32.90N, 115.80E 32 122 70 Shang 58238 Nanjing 32.00N, 118.80E 9 122 35 Shang 58424 Anqing 30.52N, 117.03E 20 122 75 Shang 58457 Hangchou 30.23N, 120.17E 42 122 75 Shang 58606 Nanchang 28.60N, 115.92E 47 216 40 Shang 58633 Quxian 28.97N, 118.87E 67 217 35 Shang 58665 Hongjai 28.45N, 121.88E 22 215 35 Shang 58725 Shao-Wu 27.33N, 117.46E 194 196 40 Shang 58847 Fu-Zhou 26.08N, 119.28E 89 197 40 Shang 59023 Hechi 24.70N, 108.05E 214 196 40 Shang 59096 Lianping 24.37N, 114.48E 214 216 40 Shang 59134 Xiamen 24.48N, 118.07E 63 204 40 Shang 59211 23.92N, 106.62E 173 196 40 Shang 59265 Wuzhou 23.48N, 111.30E 120 196 40 Shang 59280 Qing Yuan 23.66N, 113.05E 19 234 40 Shang 59316 Shantou 23.40N, 116.68E 1 234 40 Shang 59431 Nanning 22.82N, 108.35E 72 122 40 Shang 59644 Beihai 21.48N, 109.10E 16 215 40 Shang 59663 Yangjiang 21.87N, 111.97E 22 233 40 Shang 59758 Haikou 20.03N, 110.35E 14 216 40 Shang 59948 Yaxian 18.28N, 109.47E 10 216 40 Shang 59981 Xisha Island 16.83N, 112.33E 5 215 40 Shang 61967 Diego Garcia 7.35S, 72.48E 2 25 25 VRS80 91408 Koror 7.33N, 134.48E 30 118 30 VRS80 91413 Yap Island 9.48N, 138.08E 14 105 25 VRS80 96015 Meulaboh 4.20N, 96.20E 90 143 90 VIZ B 96035 Medan/Polonia 3.57N, 98.68E 25 148 30 VIZ B 96147 Ranai 3.95N, 108.38E 2 128 100 Unknown 96163 Padang /Tabing 0.88S, 100.35E 3 110 70 VIZ B 96237 Pangkal- pinang/Pang. 2.17S, 106.13E 33 89 30 VIZ B 96315 Brunei Airport 4.93N, 114.93E 15 228 20 VRS80 96413 Kuching 1.48N, 110.33E 27 196 20 VRS80 96441 Bintulu 3.20N, 113.03E 5 108 40 VRS80 96471 Kota Kinabalu 5.93N, 116.05E 3 103 35 VRS80 96481 Tawau 4.27N, 117.83E 20 98 20 VRS80 96633 Balikpapan 1.20S, 116.90E 3 86 110 Unknown 96645 Pangka- lanbuun 2.70S, 111.66E 15 36 110 Unknown 96749 Soekarno- Hatta Intl. 6.11S, 106.65E 8 112 25 MEISEI 96805 Cilacap 7.73S, 109.01E 6 66 110 Unknown 96935 Surabaya /Juanda 7.37S, 112.77E 3 89 30 VIZ B 96996 Cocos Island 12.18S, 96.82E 3 109 25 VRS80 97014 Menado/Sam Ratulang 1.53N, 124.92E 80 115 40 VIZ B 97072 Palu/Mutiara 0.68S, 119.73E 6 130 45 VIZ B 97180 Ujungpandang /Hasan 5.06S, 119.55E 14 107 50 VIZ B 97372 Kupang 10.17S, 123.67E 108 79 80 VIZ B 97430 Ternate /Babullah 0.70N, 127.40E 23 125 110 Unknown 97560 Biak/Mokmer 1.18S, 136.11E 14 163 50 VIZ B 97724 Ambon/ Pattimura 3.70S, 128.08E 12 123 65 MESURAL 98223 Laoag 18.18N, 120.53E 4 126 5 VS/GPS 98328 Baguio 16.42N, 120.60E 1500 14 110 Unknown 98444 Legaspi 13.13N, 123.73E 17 50 40 VRS80 98618 Puerto Princesa 9.75N, 118.73E 16 18 110 Unknown Notes related to above table: * vertical resolution computed as ((p_sfc - 100 mb) / average number of levels below 100 mb) * latitude and longitude of ships represent nominal location during the IOPs General notes: * all sites have been quality controlled, as described above, and Version 3a was released on 03/27/01 * additional corrections were made to WMO sites 76747 and 20003 (lat/lon correction at a few times) and released on 12/10/01 as Version 3b A FORTRAN program for reading the upper-air sounding data files is provided in read_upa.f