Soundings Rawinsonde NWS (GTS mandatory/significant levels) [JOSS] 1.0 General Information This data set contains mandatory and significant level sounding data extracted from the NOAA/FSL radiosonde database for 33 National Weather Service sites over the central US (30-48N and 80-104W). The data cover the time period from 01 June to 31 July 2003. These data have not been changed or quality controlled by UCAR/JOSS. 2.0 Data Contact Steve Williams (sfw@ucar.edu) 3.0 Data and Format Information 3.1 Station List US NWS Stations WMO # ID Site Name Latitude Longitude Radiosonde Type ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 72659 ABR Aberdeen, SD 45.45 -98.42 Vaisala 72363 AMA Amarillo, TX 35.23 -101.70 Vaisala 72230 BMX Birmingham, AL 33.10 -86.70 Vaisala 72764 BIS Bismarck, ND 46.77 -100.75 VIZ-B2 72318 RNK Blacksburg, VA 37.20 -80.41 Vaisala 72649 MPX Chanhassen, MN 44.83 -93.55 Vaisala 72208 CHS Charleston, SC 32.90 -80.03 Microsonde 72451 DDC Dodge City, KS 37.77 -99.97 VIZ-B2 72221 VPS Elgin AFB, FL 30.52 -86.58 Unknown 72249 FWD Fort Worth, TX 32.80 -97.30 Vaisala 72634 APX Gaylord, MI 44.55 -84.43 Vaisala 72645 GRB Green Bay, WI 44.48 -88.13 VIZ-B2 72235 JAN Jackson, MS 32.32 -90.07 VIZ-B2 72206 JAX Jacksonville, FL 30.43 -81.70 Vaisala 72240 LCH Lake Charles, LA 30.12 -93.22 Vaisala 74560 ILX Lincoln, IL 40.15 -89.33 Vaisala 72340 LZK Little Rock, AR 34.83 -92.27 Vaisala 72265 MAF Midland, TX 31.93 -102.20 Vaisala 72327 BNA Nashville, TN 36.25 -86.57 VIZ-B2 72357 OUN Norman, OK 35.23 -97.47 Vaisala 72562 LBF North Platte, NE 41.13 -100.68 Vaisala 72215 FFC Peachtree, GA 33.35 -84.56 Vaisala 72520 PIT Pittsburgh, PA 40.53 -80.23 VIZ-B2 74455 DVN Quad Cities, IA 41.60 -90.57 Vaisala 72662 UNR Rapid City, SD 44.07 -103.21 Vaisala 72248 SHV Shreveport, LA 32.45 -93.83 Vaisala 72233 SIL Slidell, LA 30.33 -89.82 Vaisala 72440 SGF Springfield, MO 37.23 -93.40 Vaisala 72214 TLH Tallahassee, FL 30.38 -84.37 Vaisala 72456 TOP Topeka, KS 39.07 -95.62 Vaisala 72558 OAX Valley, NE 41.32 -96.37 Vaisala 72632 DTX White Lake, MI 42.70 -83.47 Vaisala 72426 ILN Wilmington, OH 39.42 -83.82 Vaisala 3.2 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 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 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,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. 4.0 Quality Control Procedures UCAR/JOSS conducted no quality checks on these data. 5.0 File Naming Convention The file names are structured as follows: 200305.txt yyyymm 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. NOAA/FSL Radiosonde Database (http://raob.fsl.noaa.gov/).