National Weather Service Upper Air Measurements (NWSUPA)
Information updated on July 22, 2011, 5:28 pm GMT
General Data Description
These data are NWS soundings covering all three ARM sites. Some of these data are high temporal resolution (6 seconds and 1 second) others are only for mandatory and significant levels. Most of these data sets were provided by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).
Expand All
Collapse AllData Stream Names
- 01snwsupaddc - NWS profiles at Dodge City, KS with 1-second resolution
netCDF File Header Description (Data Object Design File) - 01snwsupaoun - NWS profiles at Oklahoma City, OK with 1-second resolution
netCDF File Header Description (Data Object Design File) - 01snwsupatop - NWS profiles at Topeka, KS with 1-second resolution
netCDF File Header Description (Data Object Design File) - 06snwsupabrw - NWS profiles at Barrow, Alaska with 6-second resolution
netCDF File Header Description (Data Object Design File) - 06snwsupaddc - NWS profiles at Dodge City, KS with 6-second resolution
netCDF File Header Description (Data Object Design File) - 06snwsupaoun - NWS profiles at Norman, OK with 6-second resolution
netCDF File Header Description (Data Object Design File) - 06snwsupatop - NWS profiles at Topeka, KS with 6-second resolution
netCDF File Header Description (Data Object Design File)
Measurement Description
Description of ASCII Files:
Note: All data files (except for sgp06snwsupaX1.00 and sgp01snwsupaX1.00 which are daily) are monthly, i.e. they contain all the soundings for the given month.
sgp06snwsupaX1.00
6 second high resolution upper air soundings for the Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes EXperiment (VORTEX) These data are in columnar ASCII format
The soundings were typically released at 00 and 12 UTC, however, several stations had additional launches on an as requested basis, particularily Norman OK (OUN).
The following data are reported:
- Time(accumulated seconds),
- Pressure(Pa),
- Altitude(m),
- Temperature(K),
- Dewpoint(K),
- Wind Speed(m/s),
- Wind Direction(deg.),
- Longitude(degrees.minutes),
- Latitude(degrees.minutes).
Quality Code (Qc) Description:
Code Description
0 Unchecked Dataum; QC information is missing.
1 Checked, datum seems physically reasonable. No physical reason observed to
question datum.
2 Checked, datum seems questionable on a physical basis. The user should
exercise caution when using data with this flag.
3 Checked, datum appears to be in error. The user is strongly encouraged not
to use data with this flag.
8 Checked (Wind data only), wind datum was computed or interpolated from bad
or outlier original position data. A least squares fit was applied to a
running 2-min.
Missing Data Values: -999 means data are missing
nsa06snwsupabrwX1.00
nsa06snwsupafaiX1.00
sgp06snwsupaabqX1.00
sgp06nwsupaddcX1.00
sgp06snwsupaounX1.00
sgp06snwsupatopX1.00
twp06snwsupagumX1.00
twp06snwsupahtoX1.00
twp06snwsupamkjX1.00
twp06snwsupastuX1.00
twp06snwsupatkkX1.00
twp06snwsupatpnX1.00
twp06snwsupatroX1.00
twp06snwsupatyaX1.00
twp06snwsupawakX1.00
twp06snwsupahliX1.00
See sample sounding under "Example Data" below.
All upper air soundings were converted to University Corporation
for Atmospheric Research/Joint Office for Science Support (UCAR/JOSS)
Cross Chain LORAN Atmospheric Sounding System (CLASS) Format
(JCF). JCF 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 launch site.
4 Release Location (lon,lat,alt): Position of launch site,
in format described below.
5 UTC Release Time (y,m,d,h,m,s): Time of release, in format:
yyyy, mm, dd, hh:mm:ss
6 Ascension No: Ascension number of the
site for the year .
7 Radiosonde Serial Number: Serial number of this
radiosonde.
8 Radiosonde Manufacturer: Manufacturer of this
radiosonde.
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 label is padded to 35 characters to match the standard
header lines.
Data Records
The data records each contain time from release, pressure,
temperature, dewpoint, 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 Range Kilometers 999.0
14 5 F5.1 Azimuth 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 UCAR Joint Office for Science Support (UCAR/JOSS).
Any QC information from the original sounding is replaced by the
following JOSS 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")
sgpnwsupaX1.00These data contain soundings at mandatory and significant levels in BUFR format.
twpwmoupaX1.00
ASCII files in spreadsheet format. See sample sounding under "Example Data" below. These data were obtained from NCAR and are WMO soundings at mandatory and significant levels.
- latitude and longitude of station (degrees)
- station elevation (meters)
- pressure (millibars)
- geopotential height (meters)
- temperature (degrees C)
- dewpoint depression (degrees C)
- wind direction (degrees)
- wind speed (knots)
- quality marks for geopotential height, temperature, dewpoint depression and wind
For further information on these data, see the NCAR Web site for these data sets. The quality codes are discussed in Office Note 29 linked to this web page.
Temporal Coverage
| nsa06snwsupabrwX1.b1 | April 1996 - present* |
| nsa06snwsupafaiX1.00 | April 1996 - December 2000 |
| sgpnwsupaX1.00 | April 1993 - October 1998 |
| sgp06snwsupaX1.00 | April 1994 - September 1995 |
| sgp06snwsupaabqX1.00 | April 1996 - December 2000 |
| sgp06nwsupaddcX1.b1 | April 1996 - June 11, 2010 |
| sgp01nwsupaddcX1.b1 | June 22,2010 - present* |
| sgp06snwsupaounX1.b1 | April 1996 - October 2006 |
| sgp01snwsupaounX1.b1 | November 2006 - present* |
| spg06snwsupatopX1.b1 | April 1996 - March 31,2009 |
| spg01snwsupatopX1.b1 | April 1, 2009 - present* |
| twp06snwsupagumX1.00 | April 1996 - December 2000 |
| twp06snwsupahtoX1.00 | April 1996 - December 2000 |
| twp06snwsupamkjX1.00 | April 1996 - December 2000 |
| twp06snwsupastuX1.00 | April 1996 - December 2000 |
| twp06snwsupatkkX1.00 | April 1996 - December 2000 |
| twp06snwsupatpnX1.00 | April 1996 - December 2000 |
| twp06snwsupatroX1.00 | April 1996 - December 2000 |
| twp06snwsupatyaX1.00 | April 1996 - December 2000 |
| twp06snwsupawakX1.00 | April 1996 - May 1997 |
| twp06snwsupahliX1.00 | April 1996 - December 2000 |
| twpwmoupaX1.00 | October 1996 - October 1999 |
Area Covered
nsa06snwsupafaiX1.00 - Fairbanks, Alaska
sgpnwsupaX1.00 - Covers the entire Continental United States
sgp06snwsupaX1.00
Twelve NWS sounding stations in the VORTEX domain (lat 31N : 40N lon 91W: 107W).
Lat Lon Station Name
______________________________________
31.8 -106.4 El Paso, TX
32.0 -102.2 Midland, TX
32.5 -93.8 Shreveport, LA
32.8 -97.8 Ft. Worth, TX
34.8 -92.3 North Little Rock, AR
35.0 -106.6 Albuquerque, NM
35.2 -97.4 Norman, OK
35.2 -101.7 Amarillo, TX
37.2 -93.4 Springfield, MO
37.8 -100 Dodge City, KS
39.1 -95.6 Topeka, KS
39.8 -104.9 Denver, CO
sgp06snwsupaabqX1.00 - Albuquerque, NM
sgp06nwsupaddcX1.b1 - Dodge City, Kansas
sgp01nwsupaddcX1.b1 - Dodge City, Kansas
sgp06snwsupaounX1.b1 - Norman, OK
sgp01snwsupaounX1.b1 - Norman, OK
spg06snwsupatopX1.b1 - Topeka, Kansas
spg01snwsupatopX1.b1 - Topeka, Kansas
twp06snwsupagumX1.00 - Guam, Marianna Is (144 48.00'E, 13 30.00'N)
twp06snwsupahtoX1.00 - Hilo, HI (155 06.00'W, 19 42.00'N)
twp06snwsupamkjX1.00 - Majuro, Marshall Is (171 24.00'E, 7 06.00'N)
twp06snwsupastuX1.00 - Pago Pago, Am Samoa (170 42.00'W, 14 18.00'S)
twp06snwsupatkkX1.00 - Moen Is, Micro. (151 48.00'E, 7 24.00')
twp06snwsupatpnX1.00 - Ponape, ECI (158 12.00'E, 7 00.00'N)
twp06snwsupatroX1.00 - Koror, Palau Is, Micro. (134 30.00'E, 7 18.00'N)
twp06snwsupatyaX1.00 - Yap, WCI (138 06.00'E, 9 30.00'N)
twp06snwsupawakX1.00 - Wake Island (166 39.00'E, 19 17.00'N)
twp06snwsupahliX1.00 - Lihue, HI (159 24.00'W, 22 00.00'N)
Click here for map of station locations
twpwmoupaX1.00
List of 32 stations
Map of station locations
Data Stream Inputs
sgp06nwsupaddcX1.00
sgp06snwsupaounX1.00
sgp06snwsupatopX1.00
sgp01snwsupaounX1.00
Notification Form Link
Related Links
Contacts
- ARM Mentor Alice Cialella
- ARM Software Developer Alice Cialella
Data User Notes
See the powerpoint presentation at XDC web site
Slide 1. Shows how our RAOB launches were conducted: At the Great White, the operational procedure was followed, except for the Saturday and Sunday launches. At the ARM Duplex, we launched 4/day of the RS-90 sondes. On 8 separate occasions at the Duplex, we launched the Snow Whites, which contained a Chilled Mirror and a Carbon Hygristor humidity element. On the same balloon the RS90s were also attached. Two-synoptic launches/day were conducted by the NWS at Barrow, using the VIZ Carbon Hygristor sondes. A data set of about 200 radiosondes was obtained during the WVIOP.
Slide2. Shows the dramatic difference between the performance of the carbon hygristor and the RS90. The plot on the right shows a single launch of the 5 sensors. The plot in the upper right shows the significant statistical difference between the NWS and the RS90 that approaches 20 % in the upper troposphere-lower stratosphere. The lower left plot shows that there was little, if any, difference between the RS90 and the Chilled Mirror. Bottom line: the Barrow NWS sondes would be of very limited value for long term climate studies or for satellite validation.
Slide 3. Shows the PWV as measured by all of the RAOB types. Bottom line: the PWV from the NWS sondes is also biased, but the agreement between the Chilled Mirror and the RS90 is excellent.
On November 13, 2006 the Norman, OK changed over to the Radiosonde Replacement System (RRS). With the change to RRS there were some changes in the instrumentation and data processing:
1) The winds are now from a GPS.
2) The data are now at 1 second vertical resolution.
3) There is some additional information in the header records.
4) The smoothed and processed version of the data have been used. Corrections, such as the solar radiation correction, have been applied.
Additional Information:
The GPS data are smoothed to remove the erratic and pendular motion of the sonde.
The PTH and GPS data are processed by applying normalization, correction, smoothing, outlier removal, and data plausibility checks to the raw PTH and smoothed GPS data.
The raw wind data are nomalized by linear interpolation into 1 second processed data.
For pressure the smoothing is performed over 11 seconds of corrected pressure and the result is applied to the 6th pressure element in the 11 second spread. A least squares formula is utilized.
For temperature the smoothing is performed over 9 seconds of corrected temperature and the result is applied to the 5th temperature element in the 9 second spread. A running mean is utilized.
Pressure correction is used to compensate for offsets of the sonde pressure sensor compared to the surface pressure sensor.
Temperature correction is used to compensate for solar radiation,
Example Data
nsa06snwsupafaiX1.00
sgp06snwsupaabqX1.00
sgp06nwsupaddcX1.00
sgp01snwsupaddcX1.00
sgp06snwsupaounX1.00
sgp01snwsupaounX1.00
sgp06snwsupatopX1.00
sgp01snwsupatopX1.00
twp06snwsupagumX1.00
twp06snwsupahtoX1.00
twp06snwsupamkjX1.00
twp06snwsupastuX1.00
twp06snwsupatkkX1.00
twp06snwsupatpnX1.00
twp06snwsupatroX1.00
twp06snwsupatyaX1.00
twp06snwsupawakX1.00
twp06snwsupahliX1.00
Sample Data
The following is a sample record of SGP99 NWS High-Resolution
Upper-Air data in JOSS CLASS 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: EPZ Santa Teresa, NM
Release Location (lon,lat,alt): 106 42.00'W, 31 54.00'N, -106.7, 31.9,
1257.0
UTC Release Time (y,m,d,h,m,s): 1999, 06, 30, 23:04:00
Ascension No: 1357
Radiosonde Serial Number: 906556213
Radiosonde Manufacturer: Vaisala
/
/
/
Nominal Release Time (y,m,d,h,m,s):1999, 07, 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
------ ------ ----- ----- ----- ------ ------ ----- ----- ----- --------
------- ----- ----- ------- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
0.0 868.1 40.0 4.0 11.0 3.6 2.1 4.1 240.0 999.0 -106.700
31.900 999.0 999.0 1257.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 99.0 99.0 9.0
6.0 865.0 39.3 6.9 14.0 9999.0 9999.0 999.0 999.0 5.8 9999.000
999.000 999.0 999.0 1292.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 9.0 9.0 99.0
12.0 861.8 38.6 9.2 17.0 9999.0 9999.0 999.0 999.0 5.7 9999.000
999.000 999.0 999.0 1326.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 9.0 9.0 99.0
twpwmoupaX1.00
RECORD YY MM DD HH DSTYP LAT LON ELEV STATION OBSTIME REPORT TYPE
94846 99 8 1 0 ADPUPAC2 7.20 259.40 4. 48568 0.00 11
STACKED DATA 47
LEVEL PRESS HEIGHT TEMP DEWDEP DIR SPEED QUAL
1 1007.0 99999.0 26.0 2.3 999.0 999.0
2 1000.0 72.0 26.6 5.0 240.0 9.0
3 993.0 99999.0 27.0 6.0 999.0 999.0
4 925.0 99999.0 22.8 4.2 999.0 999.0
5 919.0 99999.0 23.0 6.0 999.0 999.0
6 850.0 1492.0 17.6 3.4 235.0 11.0
7 811.0 99999.0 14.6 2.2 999.0 999.0
8 804.0 99999.0 15.4 3.8 999.0 999.0
9 733.0 99999.0 9.8 3.3 999.0 999.0
10 700.0 3127.0 8.4 6.0 265.0 30.0
11 691.0 99999.0 8.2 7.0 999.0 999.0
12 670.0 99999.0 7.2 7.0 999.0 999.0
13 652.0 99999.0 5.6 2.4 999.0 999.0
14 639.0 99999.0 6.0 6.0 999.0 999.0
15 605.0 99999.0 3.2 3.8 999.0 999.0
16 562.0 99999.0 0.0 4.1 999.0 999.0
17 534.0 99999.0 -1.1 6.0 999.0 999.0
18 500.0 5850.0 -5.7 5.0 205.0 12.0
19 464.0 99999.0 -9.5 6.0 999.0 999.0
20 448.0 99999.0 -11.3 3.1 999.0 999.0
21 418.0 99999.0 -12.7 7.0 999.0 999.0
22 400.0 7570.0 -14.9 9.0 130.0 22.0
23 382.0 99999.0 -17.5 10.0 999.0 999.0
24 333.0 99999.0 -24.9 2.9 999.0 999.0
25 300.0 9680.0 -30.7 2.8 35.0 17.0
26 258.0 99999.0 -40.1 3.2 999.0 999.0
27 250.0 10940.0 -41.9 3.4 20.0 19.0
28 200.0 12410.0 -54.7 4.7 75.0 27.0
29 190.0 99999.0 -57.3 5.0 999.0 999.0
30 150.0 14190.0 -68.7 6.0 75.0 47.0
31 109.0 99999.0 -82.9 7.0 999.0 999.0 T
32 103.0 99999.0 -82.9 7.0 999.0 999.0
33 100.0 16520.0 -78.1 7.0 80.0 53.0
34 94.8 99999.0 -69.3 1.6 999.0 999.0
35 87.0 99999.0 -65.1 6.0 999.0 999.0
36 75.5 99999.0 -69.3 6.0 999.0 999.0
37 70.0 18680.0 -65.5 6.0 100.0 22.0
38 68.6 99999.0 -64.3 6.0 999.0 999.0
39 60.8 99999.0 -62.7 7.0 999.0 999.0
40 51.8 99999.0 -65.9 17.0 999.0 999.0
41 50.0 20720.0 -64.7 8.0 80.0 13.0
42 43.1 99999.0 -60.9 8.0 999.0 999.0
43 38.5 99999.0 -62.1 8.0 999.0 999.0
44 30.0 23890.0 -58.5 10.0 80.0 16.0
45 24.9 99999.0 -50.5 11.0 999.0 999.0
46 20.0 26490.0 -54.7 13.0 120.0 24.0
47 12.8 99999.0 -46.5 20.0 999.0 999.0
WIND BY HEIGHT 20
1 4.0 230.0 3.0
2 300.0 210.0 9.0
3 600.0 215.0 14.0
4 900.0 225.0 13.0
5 1200.0 230.0 10.0
6 1800.0 200.0 13.0
7 2100.0 260.0 17.0
8 2400.0 255.0 23.0
9 2700.0 255.0 27.0
10 3600.0 260.0 27.0
11 4200.0 260.0 20.0
12 4800.0 270.0 18.0
13 6000.0 200.0 13.0
14 7500.0 135.0 20.0
15 9000.0 65.0 14.0
16 10500.0 20.0 23.0
17 15000.0 80.0 46.0
18 16200.0 80.0 54.0
19 21000.0 65.0 13.0
20 24000.0 90.0 17.0
Acronyms
ADPUPA Automatic Data Processing, UPper-Air data file BUFR Binary Universal Format for the Representation of meteorological data CLASS Cross Chain LORAN Atmospheric Sounding System JOSS Joint Office for Science Support NCAR National Center for Atmospheric Research NSA North Slope of Alaska NWS National Weather Service SGP Southern Great Plains TWP Tropical Western Pacific UCAR University Corporation for Atmospheric Research UPA Upper Air VORTEX Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes EXperiment WMO World Meteorological Organization
Citable References
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.
