Title: NWS One Second Resolution North Platte (KLBF) Radiosonde Data

Author(s)

National Weather Service (NWS)

1.0 Data Set Description

This dataset contains the one second vertical resolution radiosonde data from the National Weather Service (NWS) 
KLBF (North Platte, NE) site for the TRANS2AM phase 1 (July-August 2021) and phase 2 (August-September 2022) periods. 
The data were retrieved in real time from the Global Telecommunication System (GTS) and are in BUFR format. These 
are the real time data and have not undergone any quality control beyond that provided by the NWS and radiosonde software.

Data Version: 2.0 
Release Date: 23 January 2023
Data Status: Final
Time period: July and August 2021 and August and September 2022
Location: 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: NWS via GTS
Data set restrictions: None

2.0 Instrument Description

Radiosonde, Lockheed Martin LMS-6 w/chip thermistor; external boom mounted polymer capacitive relative humidity sensor;
capacitive pressure sensor and GPS wind

3.0 Data Collection and Processing

The data were transmitted by the NWS to the GTS and picked up via the EOL GTS feed.

4.0 Data Format

These data are in Binary Universal Form (BUFR) format which is a binary format maintained by the World Meteorological
Organization. BUFR is described in the WMO #306 Manual on Codes Volume 1.2 which as of this writing was available here:
https://library.wmo.int/doc_num.php?explnum_id=10722

There are software packages that can read and decode BUFR data files such as the ECMWF ecCodes software 
(https://confluence.ecmwf.int/display/ECC) and the NCEP BUFR library (https://github.com/NOAA-EMC/NCEPLIBS-bufr).

There are also visualization software packages that can display datat from BUFR files such as the ECMWF Metview
(https://confluence.ecmwf.int/display/METV/Metview)

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 for the TRANS2AM phase 2 period (August and September 2022). No changes were made to the phase 1 data.

6.0 References