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Sounding Data from KWAJEX

Introduction

Data: Availability; Description

File Characteristics: Naming Convention; Formats; Quality Flags; Missing Data Flags

Quality Control

Data Access and Contacts: FTP Site; Points of Contact

ALERT: Version 'E' files are now available for the Lae and Woja sites.

A retro-processing of the soundings data files from Lae and Woja was made in January, 2003 to correct start times in the file headers. If you acquired soundings data for these sites prior to February 27, 2003, please replace it via links below.

Lae Version E Woja Version E

Sounding Data Browse Plots Soundings QC Site

Introduction

Upper atmospheric sounding data during KWAJEX were collected from six locations. The sounding sites, their latitude/longitude, height above MSL and manufacturer type are shown in the table below:

Site	Lat/long	Elev	Type
Kwajalein	8.72N/167.73E	6 m	MSS
Roi Namur	9.40N/167.47E	4 m	MSS
Meck	8.59N/167.43E	2 m	MSS
R/V Ron Brown	variable	4 m	Vaisala
Lae	8.92N/166.27E	4 m	VIZ
Woja	7.45N/168.56E	6 m	VIZ

Sponsor The distribution of these data sets is funded by NASA's Earth Science Enterprise. The data are not copyrighted; however, we request that when you publish data or results using these data, please acknowledge as follows:

The authors wish to thank Dr. Jeff Halverson of the Mesoscale Atmospheric Processes Branch Code 912), Laboratory for Atmospheres, NASA/Goddard, for the production of these data and the Distributed Active Archive Center(Code 610.2) at the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, 20771, which archives and distributes them under sponsorship of NASA's Earth Science Enterprise.

Data

Description

The DISC currently archives preliminary, browse and version d sounding data. Preliminary data are ASCII text files of each sounding. They are designated Version A, which are raw and have not been subject to quality control. Version 'd' data are ASCII text files of each sounding with quality flags assigned at each level. The original levels that appear in the version 'a' data are preserved and no level has been removed. All soundings were also visually inspected to remove seriously flawed soundings. Browse data are .gif images of skewT-logP diagrams.

The version 'd' data files are the same as the version 'a' files except that each level in the data files has 5 quality flags assigned based on a TOGA-COARE upper air sounding quality control procedures (on physical basis) by Loehrer et l. (1996) mentioned in Bull. Am. Met. Soc. , 77, No. 11, p 2651-2671.

Availability

Matrices showing the launch frequency and availability of soundings by site above can be found on the TRMM Field Campaign Soundings Quality Control (QC) web site located at

http://www.trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov

File Characteristics

Naming Convention

The file naming convention is the same for all sites and has the following structure:

NNDDMM.TTa

where

NN = two-letter station identifier (kw = Kwajalein, ro = Roi Namur, (me = Meck, rb = R/V Ron Brown, lo = Lae, wo = Woja)
DD = day of month
MM = calendar month (01 = Jan, 02 = Feb)
TT = UTC hour
a = denotes Version A sounding file

d = denotes Version D sounding file with quality flags based on TOGA-COARE Gross limit checks and vertical consistency checks.

i.e. wo0509.00a is a sounding from Woja, 05 September 1999

Formats

The date and time at which the sounding was released is specified in the file header. Native vertical resolution of the soundings varies according to the sonde manufacturer. file header. Native vertical resolution with approximate temporal resolution (in parenthesis) of the interpolated KWAJEX data as they appear in version 'd' files are as follows:

: Lae: 5 mb (10 sec); Woja: 5 mb. (10 sec); RHB: 3 mb. (6 sec); Roi: 1 mb. (2 sec); Kmr (Kwajalein): 1 mb. (2 sec); Meck: 1 mb. ( 2 sec)

All version 'd' data from all field campaign sites are now formatted as follows:

KWAJEX  -  WETAMC/TRMM  
  Station  : KMR, KWAJ.    
  Location : 8.72N, 167.7E   Elev 6.0 m 
  RS TEST NUMBER: 990801      
  Ground Check:   Ref   RS   Corr
  Pressure:    -999.9 -999.9  -999.9
  Temperature: -999.9 -999.9  -999.9
  Humidity:    -999.9 -999.9  -999.9
 Started at:  1 AUG 99   08:12 UTC 
  Hgt/MSL  Press     Temp     RH     Dir    Speed 
  m        hPa       C       %      deg     m/s   qz qp qt qh qw
     6.0  1010.2    27.2    82.0   170.0     1.5   1  2  2  2  1
     4.0  1010.4    27.2    82.0   170.0     1.5   1  2  2  2  1
     4.0  1010.4    27.6    90.0   170.0     1.5   1  3  3  3  1
    11.0  1009.5    26.2    89.0   170.0     1.5   1  2  2  2  1

Except for the five columns of quality control flags, the version a (raw) data format is identical to version d, i.e.

 KWAJEX  -  WETAMC/TRMM
 Station  : KMR, KWAJ.     
 Location : 8.27N, 167.7E   Elev 6.0 m 
 RS TEST NUMBER: 990801
 Ground Check:   Ref   RS   Corr
 Pressure:    -999.9 -999.9  -999.9
 Temperature: -999.9 -999.9  -999.9
 Humidity:    -999.9 -999.9  -999.9
Started at:  1 AUG 99   08:12 UTC
 Hgt/MSL  Press     Temp     RH     Dir    Speed
  m        hPa       C       %      deg     m/s
      6.0  1010.2    27.2    82.0   170.0     1.5
      4.0  1010.4    27.2    82.0   170.0     1.5
      4.0  1010.4    27.6    90.0   170.0     1.5
     11.0  1009.5    26.2    89.0   170.0     1.5

Quality Flags

The quality flags qz, qp, qt, qh, and qw are, respectively, for altitude, pressure, temperature, relative humidity, and total wind. The following table explains the QC flags based on Loehrer et al. (1996):

Flag	Description	Code
Good (G)	No obvious physical reason to question the parameter	1
Questionable (Q)	The parameter seems to be questionable on a physical basis	2
Bad (B)	The parameter seems to be in error	3
Estimated (E)	The parameter was interpolated	4
Missing (M)	The parameter was missing in original file	9
Unchecked (U)	The parameter is present but was not checked	99

Gross Limit Checks

The reasonableness of each data point (on the physical basis) to allow for use of a code from the above table was based on the tropical atmosphere gross limit checks that were applied to TOGA-COARE sounding data sets. Also a vertical consistency check was done - both mentioned in Tables 3 and 4 of Loehrer et al. (1996) The gross limit cheks for current level (C) the Pressure ( P), Temperature (T), Relative Humidity (RH) and Total wind (W) are as follows:

Parameter

Gross Limit Check

Parameter Flagged

Flag Applied

Data Points

NOTE: If your browser doesn't display the inequality symbols in this table, an MS Word version of this document is available online.

Pressure Ł 0 mb or ł 1030 mb P B C

Altitude Ł 0 m or ł 40000 m P, T, RH Q C

Temperature Ł -99.9⁰C or ł 40⁰C T Q C

Dewpoint Ł -99.9⁰C or ł 30⁰C RH Q C

Dewpoint > T T, RH Q C

Relative Humidity Ł 0% or ł 100 % RH B C

Total Wind Speed < 0 ms^-1 of ł 70 ms^-1 W Q C

Wind Direction < 0⁰ or > 360⁰ W B C

Sonde Ascension Rate Ł 10 ms^-1 or ł 10 ms^-1 P, T, RH Q C

Vertical Consistency Checks

The vertical consistency checks for the current (C) and previous (P) levels, and the flags applied based on the physical conditions are shown below:

Parameter

Vertical check

Parameter flagged

Flag applied

Data points flagged

NOTE: If your browser doesn't display the inequality symbols in this table, an MS Word version of this document is available online.

Altitude
Decreasing/equal P, T, RH
Q

C

Pressure Increasing/equal P, T, RH Q C

Pressure ł 1 mbs^-1 or Ł -1 mbs^-1 P, T, RH Q C, P

Pressure ł 2 mbs^-1 or Ł -2 mbs^-1
P, T, RH

B

C, P

Temperature
Ł-15⁰C km^-1
P, T, RH
Q C, P

Temperature

Ł-30⁰C km^-1
P, T, RH B C, P

Temperature
ł5⁰C km^-1 (not (applied at p < 150 mb)
P, T, RH Q C, P

Temperature
ł30⁰ C km^-1(not applied at p < 150 mb)
P, T, Rh B C, P

Sonde Ascension Rate Change of ł 3 ms^-1 or Ł -3 ms^-1 P Q C, P

Sonde Ascension Rate Change of ł 5 ms^-1 or Ł -5 ms^-1 P B C, P

Missing Data Flags

Site Sonde Wind speed Wind Direction Temperature Relative humidity Pressure Height

Lae (VIZ) -99.9 -99.9 -99.9 none found -99.9 -99.90

Roi (MSS) -99.9 999.0 none found none found none found -99.0

Kmr
(Kwajalein) (MSS) -99.9 999.0 none found -99.0 none found none found

Meck (MSS) -99.9 999.0 none found -99.0 none found none found

Rhb Vaisala -99.9 -99.0 none found -99.0 none found none found

Woja (VIZ) -99.9 -99.9 none found -99.9 -99.90 -99.9

*NOTES:
·For MSS soundings wind speed originally reported in knots has been converted to ms^-1 using factor 0.5076
·For VIZ soundings, humidity originally reported at dew point has been converted to RH%. The humidity is derived from the dew point temperature (DWPC) and the air temperature (TMPC) using the following equation of Bolton, Mon Wea. Rev., 1980, Vol 10 8, p 1046-1053:

VAPS=6.112exp[(17.67*TMPC)/(TMPC+243.5)]
where
DWPC is in degree Celsius
TMPC is in degree Celsius

Quality Control

Note: A retro-processing of the soundings data files from the Kwajalein Missile Range (KMR) was made in October, 2001 to correct the latitude on heading line 3 to 8.72N.

For further information on the ongoing sounding quality control, a map of the sounding network, technical information on soundings, calibration and other issues, please visit the TRMM Field Campaign Soundings Quality Control website listed above. If you use these data, please inform the Soundings QC PI so we can inform you of future changes and other relevant information.

Data Access and Contacts

FTP Site

The sounding data from KWAJEX may be accessed from this page, Sounding Data Online

Browse Soundings

or directly via ftp: ftp disc2.nascom.nasa.gov
logon: anonymous
passwd:
cd data/KWAJ/soundings/

Points of Contact

The principal investigator for the KWAJEX Sounding data is

Dr. Jeffrey Halverson
Code 912, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, MD 20771

halverson@agnes.gsfc.nasa.gov

(301) 614-6333 (voice)

For Information about field experiment data at the Goddard DISC, contact

Hydrology Data Support Team
Goddard DISC, Code 610.2
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, MD 20771
phone: 301-614-5224
fax: 301-614-5268
email: help-disc@listserv.gsfc.nasa.gov

Last update:Tue Dec 9 14:48:47 EST 2003

Page Author: Hydrology Data Support Team -- hydrology-disc@listserv.gsfc.nasa.gov
Web Curator: -- Website Curator: Stephen W Berrick
NASA official: Steve Kempler, DISC Manager -- kempler@disc.gsfc.nasa.gov