Title: NWS Mandatory and Significant Level Radiosonde Data Author(s) NOAA/Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) 1.0 Data Set Description This dataset contains the mandatory and significant level radiosonde data from the National Weather Service (NWS) KDNR (Denver, CO) and KLBF (North Platte, NE) sites for the TRANS2AM phase 1 (July and August 2021) and phase 2 (August and September 2022) campaigns. The data were retrieved from the NOAA/ESRL Radiosonde Database. These are the real time data and have not undergone any quality control beyond that provided by the NWS and radiosonde software. Data Version: 1.0 Release Date: Version 2.0 (23 January 2022). Version 1.0 was released 16 November 2021 Data Status: Final Time period: July and August 2021 and August and September 2022 Location: KDNR - 39.77N 104.88W 1611m and KLBF - 41.13N 100.68W 847m Data Frequency: Soundings typically released at 00 and 12 UTC with the potential for ocassional special releases Data source: NOAA/ESRL Radiosonde Database - https://ruc.noaa.gov/raobs/ Data set restrictions: None 2.0 Instrument Description Radiosonde, type uncertain 3.0 Data Collection and Processing NOAA/ESRL received the data via GTS and converted it to their ASCII format. 4.0 Data Format These data are in the FSL Rawinsonde data format. The first 4 lines of the sounding are identification and information lines. All additional lines are data lines. An entry of 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 D LON D 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 D: direction latitude ('N' or 'S') or longitude ('E' or 'W') -note this only appears in the online archive containing international observations. ELEV: elevation from station history in meters RTIME: is the release time of radiosonde balloon 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,f7.2,a1,f6.2,a1,i6,i7) 2 (7i7) 3 (i7,10x,a4,14x,i7,5x,a2) 4,5,6,7,8,9 (7i7) Note the format descriptor for LINTYP=1 has changed to conform with the CDROM archive. **- 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 Data Remarks These are the real time data sent over the GTS and no additional quality control has been performed than that done by the source and the radiosonde software. Version 2.0 added the data from KLBF for the phase 2 campaign. KDNR did not release any radiosondes during the phase 2 period due to NWS service reductions due to a helium shortage. 6.0 References 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.