Wind Profiler Demo Network (WPDN)

• 06fslwpdnmet - Wind Profiler Demo Network (WPDN): 6-min meteorological data
  
  netCDF File Header Description (Data Object Design File)
• 06fslwpdnrass - Wind Profiler Demo Network (WPDN): 6-min RASS data
  
  netCDF File Header Description (Data Object Design File)
• 06wpdnmmts - Wind Profiler Demo Network (WPDN): 6-min wind moments
  
  netCDF File Header Description (Data Object Design File)
• 60fslwpdnmet - Wind Profiler Demo Network (WPDN): meteorology data, 60-min
  
  netCDF File Header Description (Data Object Design File)
• 60fslwpdnrass - Wind Profiler Demo Network (WPDN): RASS data, 60-min
  
  netCDF File Header Description (Data Object Design File)
• 60wpdnrass - Wind Profiler Demo Network (WPDN): RASS virtual temperature data, 60-min
  
  netCDF File Header Description (Data Object Design File)
• 60wpdnsurf - Wind Profiler Demo Network (WPDN): surface meterology data, 60-min
  
  netCDF File Header Description (Data Object Design File)
• 60wpdnwnds - Wind Profiler Demo Network (WPDN): 60-minute consensus average wind components
  
  netCDF File Header Description (Data Object Design File)

Current data are available at the ARM Archive approximately three days after they are generated.

LOCATION                LAT     LON
______________________________________
Haviland        KS      37.65   99.09 
Hillsboro       KS      38.31   97.30  
Lamont          OK      36.69   97.48 
Morris (Haskell)OK      35.68   95.86
Neodesha        KS      37.38   95.63 
Purcell         OK      34.98   97.52   
Vici            OK      36.07   99.22

A list of available stations can be found at
profiler site location information

sgp06fslwpdnmetX1.00
sgp06fslwpdnrassX1.00
sgp60fslwpdnmetX1.00
sgp60fslwpdnrassX1.00

• ARM Mentor
Laurie Gregory and
Alice Cialella

• ARM Software Developer
Alice Cialella

• Institution
Data are provided by the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC)

The following is the data provider's response to a question about correcting for vertical velocity in the temperature estimates:

To this date, we have not corrected our RASS temperature estimates for the vertical motion of the atmosphere. It is true that we should, at least some of the time, but not during periods of precipitation.

Ideally, we would apply the vertical velocity correction anytime the profiler would be measuring the true clear-air motion of the atmosphere. But when precipitation begins, the vertical velocity correction should not be applied because the wind profiler would then be measuring the fall speed of the hydrometeors and not the true air motion that the RASS is working with.

The question becomes when is it precipitating? Our profilers are sensitive to clouds and easily measure the fall velocity of snowflakes. We are looking at the magnitude of the errors in RASS temperatures versus the measured vertical velocities. We no doubt should correct for larger fall velocities, say > 1-3 m/s, but we see these often here in the lee of the Rockies, both clear-air and during precipitation. Surface obs. don't work well to detect precipitation because of our dry atmosphere (virga). Maybe it's a combination of thresholds (velocity and signal power) that must be known to tell when to apply the correction.

Consensus Algorithms

A reference for consensus algorithms is available at the XDC Web site (http://www.xdc.arm.gov/docs/data_info/sgp/qcalgo.txt)

sgp60wpdnsurfX1
The global attribute, Platform Description, is incorrect after Oct. 1, 1997 through the end of coverage (Feb. 26, 2002). The global attribute only lists the first 14 stations. The complete station information can be found at the XDC Web site.

Check for Data Quality Reports about these data at the DQR Browse Web Page

Forecast Systems Laboratory (FSL), May 1996, FSL in Review- Fiscal Year 1995, U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, 102 pp.

National Weather Service and the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, August 1994, Wind Profiler Assessment Report and Recommendations for Future Use 1987-1994, U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, Silver Spring, Maryland, 141 pp.