Conventional Data User's Guide
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NCAR/TN-349+IA NCAR TECHNICAL NOTE I May 1990 Taiwan Area Mesoscale Experiment: Conventional Data User's Guide Sue Chen and Aubrey Schumann Mesoscale and Microscale Meteorology Division I I NATIONAL CENTER FOR ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH BOULDER, COLORADO Table of Contents List of Tables . ... ... ... v Acknowledgements .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. vii Preface . viii 1.0 Introduction ........................... 1 2.0 Description of the Datasets ..................... 5 2.1 Mesonet IOP Surface and Rainfall Data ........... 5 2.1.1 Mesonet IOP surface data format .......... 7 2.2 Mesonet IOP/SOP High Resolution Upper-Air Sounding Data . 10 2.2.1 IOP High Resolution Upper-Air Data Format ..... 13 2.3 IOP Data in FGGE Format Within the TAMEX Data Area . 13 2.3.1 IOP Data in FGGE Format Listing .......... 14 2.3.2 FGGE Data Format ................ 14 2.4 Minisonde Data ...................... 16 2.4.1 Minisonde Data Listing .... ........... 16 2.4.2 Minisonde Data Format ................ 17 2.5 Aircraft P-3 Dropwindsonde Data ............... 17 2.5.1 P-3 Dropwindsonde Data Listing ........... 18 2.5.2 P-3 Dropwindsonde Data Format ........... 19 2.6 VHF Radar Upper-Air Wind Data (Profiler Data) ....... 19 2.6.1 Profiler Wind Data Listing ............. 20 2.6.2 Profiler Wind Data Format ............. 21 2.7 CWB and TPC hourly or 3-Hourly Surface Data ......... 22 2.7.1 CWB and TPC Surface Data Format .......... 23 2.8 TAMEX Daily Average and Extreme Values Surface Data . 24 2.8.1 Daily Average and Extreme Values Surface Data Item Code . 24 2.8.2 Daily Average and Extreme Values Surface Data Format . 25 2.9 Boundary Layer (Tower) Wind Data .............. 26 2.9.1 Tower Wind Data Listing ............... 27 2.9.2 Tower Wind Data Format . ...... 28 2.10 Aircraft (P-3) Meteorological Data ......... .. 29 2.10.1 P-3 Meteorological Data Listing ............ 29 2.10.2 P-3 Meteorological Data Format . 29 2.11 WMO Weather Coded Data in the TAMEX Data Area . 30 2.11.1 WMO Coded Data Format . ......... 31 2.12 Conventional Radar Data .................. 31 2.12.1 Conventional Radar Data Listing ........... 33 2.12.2 Conventional Radar Data Format . .40 iii** 2.13 Rawinsonde Balloon Position Data . ..... 45 2.13.1 Balloon Position Data Listing . 45 2.13.2 Balloon Position Data Format . .... 45 2.14 Mainland China Surface and Upper-Air Data .... 45 3.0 Quality Checking Procedures at U.S. TAMEX Data Center 49 3.1 Error Checking Procedures ............ 49 3.1.1 Temperature Range Check ........ 50 3.1.2 Temperature Adjacent Level Check ..... I 50 3.1.3 Dew Point Temperature Range Check .... 50 3.1.4 Wind Direction Range Check ....... 51 . I 3.1.5 Wind Direction Shear Check ........ 51 3.1.6 Wind Speed Range Check ........ 51 3.1.7 Wind Speed Shear Check ......... 51 3.1.8 Geopotential Height Range Check ..... 52 3.1.9 Pressure Check ............. 52 3.2 Diurnal Temperature Oscillation .......... 54 · · · · · 3.2.1 Procedures to Remove the Diurnal Temperature Oscillation from Tungkang and Pengchia-Yu ...... · . *. 54 3.3 Wind Data Problems ... ... 64 3.3.1 Procedure for Post-Processing TAMEX-CLASS Soundings ... O 64 4.0 Guidance for Acquiring TAMEX Datasets . .. l 67 4.1 Sample C Shell Script to Acquire MASS STORE Files 67 4.2 Data Available from the NCAR TAMEX Library .. 68 4.2.1 Aircraft Data (P-3) · . 68 4.2.2 NCAR Tech Notes and Manuals . 68 4.2.3 Conventional Radar Pictures . · . .. 68 4.2.4 Conventional Radar Video Cassette Records 69 4.2.5 Satellite Pictures - 2 Volumes . 69 4.2.6 K-Index Charts ........ 70 4.2.7 Surface Charts (CWB) ..... 70 4.2.8 Quick-Look Data (Hard Copy) . 70 4.2.9 Microfiche ........... 70 5.0 Conclusions ................. 71 References . 72 Appendix A: Data Indicator Tables ........ 73 Appendix B : Station Tables ............... 77 Appendix C : TAMEX Datasets on the NCAR MASS STORE 119 iv List of Tables Table 1.1. Summary of TAMEX Intensive Observing Periods . 3 Table 1.2. Meteorological Features Observed in IOPs . 4 Table 2.1. Surface or Upper Air Data Header Record ....... 8 Table 2.2. IOP Surface Data Record . 9 Table 2.3. Schedule for Sounding Launches . 10 Table 2.4. IOP/SOP High Resolution Upper-Air Data Record . .... 13 Table 2.5. IOP Data Listing in FGGE Format . 14 Table 2.6. FGGE Data Header Record ............... .... 14 Table 2.7. FGGE Upper-Air Data Record . 15 Table 2.8. FGGE Surface Data Record ........................ 15 Table 2.9. Minisonde Data Header Record . 17 Table 2.10. Dropwindsonde Data Listing ... 18 Table 2.11. P-3 Dropwindsonde Data Header Record . 19 Table 2.12. P-3 Dropwindsonde Data Record (10 mb interval) . .... 19 Table 2.13. Profiler Wind Data Listing . 20 Table 2.14. Profiler Data Header Record .... 21 Table 2.15. Profiler Data Record ... 21 Table 2.16. CWB Surface Data Format . 23 Table 2.17. TAMEX Daily Average and Extreme Values Surface Data . 24 Table 2.18. Daily Average and Extreme Values Surface Data Format .......... 25 Table 2.19. Tower Wind Data Listing ................... 27 Table 2.20. Tower Wind Data Header Record . 28 Table 2.21. Tower Wind Data Record . ...................... 28 Table 2.22. P-3 Meteorological Data Listing . 29 Table 2.23. P-3 Meteorological Data Format . ... 30 Table 2.24. WMO Coded Data Format . 31 Table 3.1. Temperature Range Check ....................... 50 Table A-1. Report Forms . ... 73 Table A-2. Time System . 73 Table A-3. Data Source Indicator . 73 Table A-4. Instrument Type Indicator . 74 Table A-5. Pressure Code Indicator . .. 74 Table A-6. Time Period Indicator . 75 Table A-7. Type of Level in Upper-Air Data . 75 Table A-8. Quality Check Code . .. 75 Table A-9. Current Weather Code. ................... 76 Table A-10. CWB Surface Station Data Item Code . ..... 76 Table B-1. TAMEX Mesonet Surface Weather Stations . .............. 77 Table B-2. TAMEX Rainfall Stations . 79 v Table B-3. TAMEX Upper-Air Sounding Stations ........... 83 Table B-4. TAMEX Upper-Air Pibal Stations .............. 83 Table B-5. CWB Surface Stations ....... .. ... .. 84 Table B-6. Daily Average and Extreme Values Surface Stations . 87 Table B-7. TAMEX Tower Stations . ............... .... .. 110 Table B-8. Conventional Radar Stations ................ 110 Table B-9. Surface Stations from the Mainland China Data Set ...... 111 Table B-10. Rawinsonde Stations from the Mainland China Data Set . 117 Table B-11. Pibal Stations from the Mainland China Data Set. .... .. 118 vi Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank a number of people for helping to make the Conventional TAMEX data available and for striving to provide high quality datasets. Contributions from organizations, in both Taiwan; the Republic of China's National Science Council, the Ministry of Communications, the Chinese Air Force, and in the United States; the National Science Foundation, made TAMEX possible. Much of the success of the project is due to the diligence of the U.S. com- ponent, particularly Ying-Hwa (Bill) Kuo (NCAR/MMM) and the support of NCAR's Division Directors, Rick Anthes (UCAR/President), Robert Serafin (NCAR/Director), and Phil Merilees (NCAR/MMM). The cooperation and help extended by the Taiwan Data Center, particularly Fung-Lun Chiao and his group (CWB), was greatly appreciated. We would also like to thank Ken Hansen (NCAR's Computing Facility) for his assistance in archiving the TAMEX data on the NCAR MASS STORE. Dr. Richard Johnson (Colorado State University) and his graduate students, James Bresch and Gregory Stumpf, contributed greatly in providing quality checking techniques. We also thank Jeremy Asbill (NCAR/MMM) for programming support and Twyla Barrett (NCAR/MMM) for preparing the manuscript for publication. The authors appreciate the time Stan Trier (NCAR/MMM), Ying-Hwa Kuo, and Jeremy Asbill put into reviewing the manuscript. All of the information in Appendix A and B were provided by the Taiwan TAMEX Data Center. vii Preface The purpose of this technical note is to provide information regarding the Taiwan Area Mesoscale Experiment (TAMEX) conventional data archived at the U.S. TAMEX Data Center located at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). The observation network, quality of the data, data format, data inventory, and data acquisition procedures are described. The TAMEX observation network consists of one NOAA P-3 aircraft, three ground-based C-band Doppler radars, five conventional radars, one VHF Doppler radar, one minisonde station, twelve rawinsonde stations, ten pibal stations, 74 surface stations, 126 raingauge stations, and 21 tower stations. Data were collected from the area of 20-29° N, 114-130° E during May-June 1987. Fourteen datasets are available, including: 1) Mesonet IOP surface and rainfall data, 2) Mesonet IOP/SOP high resolution upper-air data, 3) IOP data in FGGE format within the TAMEX data area, 4) Minisonde data, 5) P-3 aircraft dropwindsonde data, 6) VHF radar upper-air wind profiler data, 7) Hourly and three-hourly CWB surface data in May and June 1987, 8) TAMEX daily average and extreme values surface data, 9) Boundary layer (Tower) wind data, 10) P-3 aircraft meteorological data, 11) WMO weather coded data in the TAMEX area, 12) Conventional radar data, 13) Balloon position data, and 14) Mainland China surface and upper-air data. viii 1.0 Introduction The Taiwan Area Mesoscale Experiment (TAMEX) is a mesoscale meteorological research program conducted jointly by scientists from Taiwan, the Republic of China and the United States. As stated in the TAMEX overview paper by Kuo and Chen (1990), the main scientific objectives of TAMEX are to study the Mei- Yu front, mesoscale convective systems, and orographic effects. Since the end of the field program in 1987, two scientific workshops have been held for presentations of the TAMEX preliminary research results.