National Weather Service (NWS) High Resolution Rawinsonde (6-sec vertical levels) Data 1.0 General Description This is one of the upper air data sets developed for the Hurricane Rainband and Intensity Change Experiment (RAINEX) project. This data set includes 4444 high vertical resolution (6-second) soundings from 17 National Weather Service (NWS) rawinsonde stations in the southeast United States and Puerto Rico and 268 high vertical resolution (1.2-second) soundings from 1 NWS rawindonde station in the southeast United States for the period 01 July 2005 to 31 October 2005. There are also 72 high vertical resolution (1-second) soundings from the NWS Corpus Christi, TX site from 3 October to 31 October 2005 when it switched to the Radiosonde Replacement System (RRS) soundings. The soundings were typically released twice a day (0000 and 1200 UTC). 1.1 Data Set Contact Steve Williams NCAR/EOL sfw@ucar.edu 2.0 Detailed Data Description 2.0.1 National Weather Service High-Resolution Sounding Algorithms The detailed description of NWS sounding collection and instrumentation is located in NWS (1991). 2.1 Detailed Format Description All upper air soundings were converted to the National Center for Atmospheric Research/Earth Observing Laboratory (NCAR/EOL) Sounding Composite Format (ESC). ESC is a version of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) CLASS format and is an ASCII format consisting of 15 header records for each sounding followed by the data records with associated QC information. Header Records The header records (15 total records) contain data type, project ID, site ID, site location, release time, sonde type, meteorological and wind data processors, and the operator's name and comments. The first five header lines contain information identifying the sounding, and have a rigidly defined form. The following 7 header lines are used for auxiliary information and comments about the sounding, and may vary from dataset to dataset. The last 3 header records contain header information for the data columns. Line 13 holds the field names, line 14 the field units, and line 15 contains dashes ('-' characters) delineating the extent of the field. The five standard header lines are as follows: Line Label (padded to 35 char) Contents 1 Data Type: Description of type and resolution of data. 2 Project ID: ID of weather project. 3 Release Site Type/Site ID: Description of release site. 4 Release Location (lon,lat,alt): Position of release site, in format described below. 5 GMT Launch Time (y,m,d,h,m,s): Time of release, in format: yyyy, mm, dd, hh:mm:ss The release location is given as: lon (deg min), lat (deg min), lon (dec. deg), lat (dec. deg), alt (m) Longitude in deg min is in the format: ddd mm.mm'W where ddd is the number of degrees from True North (with leading zeros if necessary), mm.mm is the decimal number of minutes, and W represents W or E for west or east longitude, respectively. Latitude has the same format as longitude, except there are only two digits for degrees and N or S for north/south latitude. The decimal equivalent of longitude and latitude and station elevation follow. The seven non-standard header lines may contain any label and contents. The labels are padded to 35 characters to match the standard header lines. Records for this dataset include the following three non-standard header lines. Line Label (padded to 35 char) Contents 6 Ascension No: 1299 7 Radiosonde Serial Number: 152551614 8 Radiosonde Manufacturer: Vaisala Data Records The data records each contain time from release, pressure, temperature, dew point, relative humidity, U and V wind components, wind speed and direction, ascent rate, balloon position data, altitude, and quality control flags (see the QC code description). Each data line contains 21 fields, separated by spaces, with a total width of 130 characters. The data are right-justified within the fields. All fields have one decimal place of precision, with the exception of latitude and longitude, which have three decimal places of precision. The contents and sizes of the 21 fields that appear in each data record are as follows: Field Format No. Width Parameter Units Missing Value ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1 6 F6.1 Time Seconds 9999.0 2 6 F6.1 Pressure Millibars 9999.0 3 5 F5.1 Dry-bulb Temperature Degrees C 999.0 4 5 F5.1 Dew Point Temperature Degrees C 999.0 5 5 F5.1 Relative Humidity Percent 999.0 6 6 F6.1 U Wind Component Meters / Second 9999.0 7 6 F6.1 V Wind Component Meters / Second 9999.0 8 5 F5.1 Wind Speed Meters / Second 999.0 9 5 F5.1 Wind Direction Degrees 999.0 10 5 F5.1 Ascension Rate Meters / Second 999.0 11 8 F8.3 Longitude Degrees 9999.0 12 7 F7.3 Latitude Degrees 999.0 13 5 F5.1 Elevation Angle Degrees 999.0 14 5 F5.1 Azimuth Angle Degrees 999.0 15 7 F7.1 Altitude Meters 99999.0 16 4 F4.1 QC for Pressure Code (see below) 99.0 17 4 F4.1 QC for Temperature Code (see below) 99.0 18 4 F4.1 QC for Humidity Code (see below) 99.0 19 4 F4.1 QC for U Component Code (see below) 99.0 20 4 F4.1 QC for V Component Code (see below) 99.0 21 4 F4.1 QC for Ascension Rate Code (see below) 99.0 Fields 16 through 21 contain the Quality Control information derived at the NCAR Earth Observing Laboratory (NCAR/EOL). Any QC information from the original sounding is replaced by the following EOL codes: Code Description 99.0 Unchecked (QC information is "missing.") ("UNCHECKED") 1.0 Checked, datum seems physically reasonable. ("GOOD") 2.0 Checked, datum seems questionable on physical basis.("MAYBE") 3.0 Checked, datum seems to be in error. ("BAD") 4.0 Checked, datum is interpolated. ("ESTIMATED") 9.0 Checked, datum was missing in original file. ("MISSING") Sample Data The following is a sample record of RAINEX Sounding Rawinsonde NWS upper air data in EOL ESC format. The data portion is much longer than 80 characters and, therefore, wraps around to a second line. See section 2.1 for an exact format specification Data Type: National Weather Service Sounding. Project ID: 0 Release Site Type/Site ID: BMX Shelby County, AL Release Location (lon,lat,alt): 86 48.00'W, 33 12.00'N, -86.8, 33.2, 178.0 UTC Release Time (y,m,d,h,m,s): 2005, 07, 31, 23:28:00 Ascension No: 1431 Radiosonde Serial Number: 440310814 Radiosonde Manufacturer: Vaisala / / / Nominal Release Time (y,m,d,h,m,s):2005, 08, 01, 00:00:00 Time Press Temp Dewpt RH Ucmp Vcmp spd dir Wcmp Lon Lat Ele Azi Alt Qp Qt Qrh Qu Qv QdZ sec mb C C % m/s m/s m/s deg m/s deg deg deg deg m code code code code code code ------ ------ ----- ----- ----- ------ ------ ----- ----- ----- -------- ------- ----- ----- ------- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- 0.0 996.3 26.0 23.1 84.0 0.0 -1.0 1.0 360.0 999.0 -86.800 33.200 50.9 357.3 178.0 99.0 99.0 99.0 99.0 99.0 9.0 6.0 993.3 26.1 20.4 71.0 -0.5 -1.1 1.2 24.4 4.5 -86.800 33.200 52.1 1.3 205.0 99.0 99.0 99.0 4.0 4.0 99.0 12.0 990.1 26.1 21.1 74.0 -1.1 -1.2 1.6 42.5 4.7 -86.800 33.199 53.0 5.5 233.0 99.0 99.0 99.0 4.0 4.0 99.0 18.0 987.0 26.0 21.0 74.0 -1.6 -1.2 2.0 53.1 4.7 -86.801 33.199 53.7 9.8 261.0 99.0 99.0 99.0 4.0 4.0 99.0 24.0 984.0 25.8 20.8 74.0 -2.1 -1.3 2.5 58.2 4.5 -86.801 33.199 54.2 14.4 288.0 99.0 4.0 4.0 4.0 4.0 99.0 30.0 980.9 25.6 20.8 75.0 -2.6 -1.4 3.0 61.7 4.7 -86.801 33.199 54.5 19.0 316.0 99.0 4.0 4.0 4.0 4.0 99.0 2.2 Data Remarks The use of the raw 6-sec resolution elevation and azimuth angle data to derive the winds sometimes led to large oscillations in wind speed, due to the presence of oscillations in the elevation angle data, particularly at low elevation angles. The general approach to correct this problem was to remove the out-lier radiosonde position data before computing the wind components (Williams et al. 1993). For both the azimuth and elevation angles from 360 sec to the end of the sounding, a ninth order polynomial was fit to the curve. The residuals were calculated and compared to the observed values. The outliers of the residuals were then removed. Then to help correct the more extensive problems at low elevation angles within 10 degrees of the limiting angles (LA) some additional smoothing was applied. If the elevation angle was between (LA + 7.5) and (LA + 10), the new elevation angle was computed with a 2 min linear fit. If the elevation angle was between (LA + 5) and (LA + 7.5), the new elevation angle was computed with a 3 min linear fit. If the elevation angle was less than (LA + 5), the new elevation angle was computed with a 4 min linear fit. If the number of observations with low elevation angles was greater than 20% of the total number of observations for the sounding no frequency smoothing occurred. Then, for the elevation angle only, a finite Fourier analysis was performed on the residuals. Periods from 90-190 sec were removed and those below 30 sec were flattened. Finally, a 2 min second order polynomial was then fit to the position to derive the u and v wind components, except for the beginning and end minute (or 1.5 minutes if over 50 mb) which used a 3 min fit. If there were less than 15% of the total number of points, not counting the beginning or end of the flight, on one side of the point for which the wind value was being computed, a linear fit was used. For further information on this methodology and its changes since Williams et al. (1993) please see Williams, et al. (1998). 2.3 Station List ID SITE STATE COUNTRY LONG LAT ELEV (m) SONDE TYPE ------------------------------------------------------------------------- BMX Shelby Country AL US -86.8 33.2 178.0 Vaisala BRO Brownsville TX US -97.4 25.9 7.0 VIZ B2 CHS Charleston SC US -80.0 32.9 21.0 VIZ Mark II CRP Corpus Christi TX US -97.5 27.8 14.0 VIZ B2 EYW Key West FL US -81.8 24.5 2.0 VIZ B2 FFC Peachtree City GA US -84.6 33.4 245.0 Vaisala FWD Fort Worth TX US -97.3 32.8 198.0 Vaisala JAN Jackson MS US -90.1 32.3 91.0 VIZ B2 JAX Jacksonville FL US -81.7 30.5 11.0 Vaisala LCH Lake Charles LA US -93.2 30.1 5.0 Vaisala LIX Slidell LA US -89.8 30.4 10.0 Vaisala LZK Little Rock AR US -92.3 34.8 172.0 Vaisala MFL Miami FL US -80.4 25.8 5.0 Vaisala MHX Newport NC US -76.9 34.8 11.0 Vaisala SHV Shreveport LA US -93.8 32.5 85.0 Vaisala SJU San Juan PR -66.0 18.0 3.0 VIZ B2 TAE Tallahassee FL US -84.3 30.5 53.0 Vaisala TBW Tampa Bay Area FL US -82.4 27.7 13.0 Vaisala Note that Corpus Christi switched to the Radiosonde Replacement System (RRS) soundings on 3 October. These soundings utilized the Global Positioning System (GPS) to derive the winds. NCAR/EOL did no additional processing to the wind data provided in these soundings. NCAR/EOL utilized the processed version of the RRS data. This means the data were smoothed and had corrections applied (e.g. solar radiation correction) applied by the NWS. NCAR/EOL conducted no additional processing on these data. 3.0 Quality Control Processing This dataset underwent an automated QC process. The dataset underwent internal consistency checks which included two types of checks, gross limit checks on all parameters and rate-of-change checks on temperature, pressure and ascension rate. Some further information on the QC processing conducted by EOL can be found in Loehrer et al. (1996) and Loehrer et al. (1998). 3.1 Gross Limit Checks These checks were conducted on each sounding and data were automatically flagged as appropriate. Only the data point under examination was flagged. EOL conducted the following gross limit checks on the RAINEX NWS sounding dataset. In the table P = pressure, T = temperature, RH = relative humidity, U = U wind component, V = V wind component, B = bad, and Q = questionable. __________________________________________________________________ Parameter(s) Flag Parameter Gross Limit Check Flagged Applied __________________________________________________________________ Pressure < 0 mb or > 1050 mb P B Altitude < 0 m or > 40000 m P, T, RH Q Temperature < -90C or > 45C T Q Dew Point < -99.9C or > 33C RH Q > Temperature T, RH Q Relative Humidity < 0% or > 100% RH B Wind Speed < 0 m/s or > 100 m/s U, V Q > 150 m/s U, V B U Wind Component < 0 m/s or > 100 m/s U Q > 150 m/s U B V Wind Component < 0 m/s or > 100 m/s V Q > 150 m/s V B Wind Direction < 0 deg or > 360 deg U, V B Ascent Rate < -10 m/s or > 10 m/s P, T, RH Q _________________________________________________________________ 3.2 Vertical Consistency Checks These checks were conducted on each sounding and data were automatically flagged as appropriate. These checks were started at the lowest level of the sounding and compared neighboring 6-sec data points (except at pressures less than 100 mb where 30-sec average values were used. In the case of checks ensuring that the values increased/decreased as expected, only the data point under examination was flagged. However, for the other checks, all of the data points used in the examination were flagged. All items within the table are as previously defined. _____________________________________________________________________ Vertical Consistency Parameter(s) Flag Parameter Check Flagged Applied _____________________________________________________________________ Time decreasing/equal None None Altitude decreasing/equal P, T, RH Q Pressure increasing/equal P, T, RH Q > 1 mb/s or < -1 mb/s P, T, RH Q > 2 mb/s or < -2 mb/s P, T, RH B Temperature < -15 C/km P, T, RH Q < -30 C/km P, T, RH B > 50 C/km (not applied at p < 250mb) P, T, RH Q > 100 C/km (not applied at p < 250mb) P, T, RH B Ascent Rate change of > 3 m/s or < -3 m/s P Q change of > 5 m/s or < -5 m/s P B _____________________________________________________________________ Note that the Corpus Christi RRS soundings utilized the quality codes provided with the data. NCAR/EOL did not change these flags other than to map them to the NCAR/EOL flags. 4.0 RRS Code Tables The Radisonde Replacement System (RRS) soundings use a set of codes to define sections of the metadata for the sounding. The codes are included in the sounding headers and can be translated with the following tables. 4.1 Code Table 9-1 Radiosonde Type ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Code | Meaning ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0-50 Defined or Reserved 51 VIZ-B2 (USA) 52 Vaisala RS80-57H 53-86 Defined or Reserved 87 Sippican Mark IIA with chip thermistor, pressure 88-254 Defined or Reserved 255 Mising value ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.2 Code Table 9-9 Balloon Manufacturer ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Code | Meaning ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0 Kaysam 1 Totex 2 KKS 3-61 Reserved 62 Other 63 Missing value ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.3 Code Table 9-10a Type of Balloon ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Code | Meaning ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0 GP26 1 GP28 2 GP30 3 HM26 4 HM28 5 HM30 6 SV16 7-29 Reserved 30 Other 31 Missing value ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.0 References Loehrer, S. M., T. A. Edmands, and J. A. Moore, 1996: TOGA COARE upper-air sounding data archive: development and quality control procedures. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 77, 2651-2671. Loehrer, S. M., S. F. Williams, and J. A. Moore, 1998: Results from UCAR/JOSS quality control of atmospheric soundings from field projects. Preprints, Tenth Symposium on Meteorological Observations and Instrumentation, Phoenix, AZ, Amer. Meteor. Soc., 1-6. NWS, 1991: Micro-ART Observation and Rework Programs Technical Document, National Weather Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Washington, D.C., March 1991. Wade, C. G., 1995: Calibration and data reduction problems affecting National Weather Service radiosonde humidity measurements. Preprints, Ninth Symposium on Meteorological Observations and Instrumentation, Charlotte, NC, Amer. Meteor. Soc., 37-42. Williams, S. F., C. G. Wade, and C. Morel, 1993: A comparison of high resolution radiosonde winds: 6-second Micro-ART winds versus 10-second CLASS LORAN winds. Preprints, Eighth Symposium on Meteorological Observations and Instrumentation, Anaheim, California, Amer. Meteor. Soc., 60-65. Williams, S. F., S. M. Loehrer, and D. R. Gallant, 1998: Computation of high-resolution National Weather Service rawinsonde winds. Preprints, Tenth Symposium on Meteorological Observations and Instrumentation, Phoenix, AZ, Amer. Meteor. Soc., 387-391.