Aspen (Atmospheric Sounding Processing Environment) is used for analysis and quality control (QC) of sounding data. The program runs on Windows machines. It has the following capabilities:
Automatically apply quality ... control procedures to the sounding data
Present data in tabular and graphical forms
Automatically determine levels and code them in WMO message formats
Transmit the WMO messages to other systems
Save the raw and derived data products in various formats
Since Aspen can process data provided in the AVAPS Dropsonde, NCAR GLASS, NCAR MCASS and NCAR CLASS formats, it is able to analyze both dropsonde and upsonde soundings.
Aspen is designed to operate as automatically as possible, while allowing the user to have some control over the QC methods. For instance, as soon as the user selects a sounding file for processing, the data is brought into Aspen and automatically analyzed. In most cases this first pass will be the only one required. If the processing needs to be modified, the user can change the QC parameters and reprocess the data as many times as necessary.
An extensive series of QC algorithms are applied to the data. These algorithms typically have one or two parameters that may be adjusted by the user if the default values are not suitable for a particular sounding. The user can save the modified options, so that when a new sounding is opened, the initial analysis will use the customized QC parameters.
Aspen can have up to twenty sounding files open at the same time. This makes it convenient to compare soundings. Output results can be formatted as printed text and graphics, and in ASCII and netCDF files.
Name:
CHARLIE
MARTIN
Email:
martinc at ucar.edu
Contact Address:
NCAR/Atmospheric Technology Division
P.O. Box 3000
1850 Table Mesa Drive City:
Boulder
Province or State:
CO
Postal Code:
80307
Country:
USA
Personnel
SCOTT
A.
RITZ Role:
SERF AUTHOR
Phone:
301-614-5126
Fax:
301-614-5268
Email:
Scott.A.Ritz at nasa.gov
Contact Address:
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Global Change Master Directory City:
Greenbelt
Province or State:
Maryland
Postal Code:
20771
Country:
USA
CHARLIE
MARTIN Role:
TECHNICAL CONTACT
Email:
martinc at ucar.edu
Contact Address:
NCAR/Atmospheric Technology Division
P.O. Box 3000
1850 Table Mesa Drive City:
Boulder
Province or State:
CO
Postal Code:
80307
Country:
USA
Creation and Review Dates
SERF Creation Date: SERF Last Revision Date:
2005-04-27
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