|
Transmitted Dropwindsonde Observations in HRD Spline Analysis (HSA)
Format
[ Explanation of HSA Format | Example ]
HRD has established a standardized ASCII format for observations used
as input to the nested HRD Spline Analysis* and several
other numerical/graphics routines. Each line in an HSA file contains the
meteorological observations for a specified data source at a nominal date,
time, geographical position, and pressure level. Records in HSA format
are created for all mandatory, significant, additional, tropopause,
and maximum wind levels reported in the dropsonde transmitted messages
during a mission. The data are decoded from
TEMP DROP format.
- * For details about the nested HRD Spline
Analysis, please consult:
- Franklin, J. L., S. E. Feuer, J. Kaplan, and S.
D. Aberson, 1996: Tropical cyclone motion and surrounding flow
relationships: Searching for Beta-gyres in Omega dropwindsonde datasets.
Mon. Wea. Rev., 124, 64-84.
- Franklin, J. L., S. J. Lord, S. E. Feuer, and F. D.
Marks, Jr., 1993: The kinematic structure of Hurricane Gloria (1985)
determined from nested analyses of dropwindsonde and doppler radar data.
Mon. Wea. Rev., 121, 2433-2451.
|
EXPLANATION
OF HSA FORMAT
Each ASCII record in an HSA file has a length of 78 characters. The
standard format is:
II DDDDDD. HHHH XXX.XXXYYYY.YYY PPPP.P TTTT.T RRRR.R ZZZZZ.Z
UUUU.U VVVV.V FFFF
|
Field | Value** | Description
II | 2 Digit
Integer | HSA Data Source Index (this is set to 1 for
dropwindsondes)
|
---|
DDDDDD. | 7 Digit Real
| Date of Observation in yymmdd, in which yy is the last two digits
of the year, MM is the month, and DD is the day of the month
|
---|
HHHH | 4 Digit Integer
| Time of Observation in hhmm, in which hh is the hour (UTC) and mm
is the minutes
|
---|
XXX.XXX | 7 Digit Real
| Latitude of Observation (°N positive)
|
---|
YYYY.YYY | 8 Digit Real
| Longitude of Observation (°W positive)
|
---|
PPPP.P | 6 Digit Real
| Pressure Level of Observation (mb or hPa) -- 1070.0 indicates the
surface (see ZZZZZ.Z for actual pressure value)
|
---|
TTTT.T | 6 Digit Real
| Temperature (°C)***
|
---|
RRRR.R | 6 Digit Real
| Relative Humidity (%)***
|
---|
ZZZZZ.Z | 7 Digit Real
| Geopotential Height (m)*** -- this is surface pressure
(mb) if PPPP.P = 1070.0
|
---|
UUUU.U | 6 Digit Real
| U (Zonal) Wind Component (m s-1)***
|
---|
VVVV.V | 6 Digit Real
| V (Meridional) Wind Component (m s-1)***
|
---|
FFFF | 4 Character
| Data Flags (these indicate level type for operational dropwindsonde
data):
MANL - mandatory
SIGL - significant
ADDL - additional (extrapolated)
TROP - tropopause
MAXW - maximum wind
**Decimal Points are included in the number of Real variable
digits.
*** Missing values of T, RH, Z, U, and V are assigned -99.0.
|
---|
|
---|
To read a record from an HSA file in a FORTRAN program, use the following
variable masks for the fields in the Format statement:
I2,X,F7.0,X,I4,X,F7.3,F8.3,X,3(F6.1,X),F7.1,2(F6.1,X),A4
EXAMPLE
The following example shows how an operational dropsonde transmitted
message is decoded into HSA format. The message contains the actual
sounding observations of a sonde released from the NOAA G-IV aircraft
during a Hurricane Floyd synoptic surveillance mission on 13 September
1999.
Original Encoded Message Format
Sonde # 990838036 1843 UTC 13 Sep 99
UZNT13 KWBC 131915
XXAA 63192 99280 70740 08084 99007 278// 05535 00060 27445 05537
92745 21604 07543 85477 18248 09048 70122 10042 07543 50584 05156
07549 40756 15533 08543 30967 29549 07025 25095 38750 10524 20244
511// 13531 88999 77999
51515 10167 02018
61616 NOAA9 1708A FLOYD OB 04
62626 SPL 2799N07416W MBL WND 06037=
XXBB 63198 99280 70740 08084 00007 278// 11005 27845 22958 23608
33935 22002 44779 15657 55649 05635 66642 05227 77634 04857 88616
03429 99609 03456 11571 00658 22546 01731 33510 04156 44478 07739
55443 10757 66414 14531 77380 18127 88332 24533 99255 37549 11224
44959 22199 513// 33179 58109
21212 00007 05535 11918 07542 22892 09052 33672 07539 44511 07548
55449 09047 66289 06524 77238 12018 88195 14031 99179 12552
31313 09608 81843
51515 10167 02018
61616 NOAA9 1708A FLOYD OB 04
62626 SPL 2799N07416W MBL WND 06037=
| | | | | |
|
Decoded HSA Format
1 990913. 1843 27.990 74.160 1070.0 27.8 -99.0 1007.0 -14.7 -10.3 MANL
1 990913. 1843 27.990 74.160 1000.0 27.4 75.3 60.0 -15.6 -10.9 MANL
1 990913. 1843 27.990 74.160 925.0 21.6 97.5 745.0 -21.4 -5.7 MANL
1 990913. 1843 27.990 74.160 850.0 18.2 72.7 1477.0 -24.7 .0 MANL
1 990913. 1843 27.990 74.160 700.0 10.0 74.6 3122.0 -21.4 -5.7 MANL
1 990913. 1843 27.990 74.160 500.0 -5.1 62.8 5840.0 -24.3 -6.5 MANL
1 990913. 1843 27.990 74.160 400.0 -15.5 76.0 7560.0 -22.0 -1.9 MANL
1 990913. 1843 27.990 74.160 300.0 -29.5 63.3 9670.0 -12.1 -4.4 MANL
1 990913. 1843 27.990 74.160 250.0 -38.7 60.4 10950.0 -11.9 3.2 MANL
1 990913. 1843 27.990 74.160 200.0 -51.1 -99.0 12440.0 -11.3 11.3 MANL
1 990913. 1843 27.990 74.160 1007.0 27.8 -99.0 -99.0 -99.0 -99.0 SIGL
1 990913. 1843 27.990 74.160 1005.0 27.8 75.4 -99.0 -99.0 -99.0 SIGL
1 990913. 1843 27.990 74.160 958.0 23.6 95.0 -99.0 -99.0 -99.0 SIGL
1 990913. 1843 27.990 74.160 935.0 22.0 98.7 -99.0 -99.0 -99.0 SIGL
1 990913. 1843 27.990 74.160 779.0 15.6 62.2 -99.0 -99.0 -99.0 SIGL
1 990913. 1843 27.990 74.160 649.0 5.6 77.9 -99.0 -99.0 -99.0 SIGL
1 990913. 1843 27.990 74.160 642.0 5.2 82.4 -99.0 -99.0 -99.0 SIGL
1 990913. 1843 27.990 74.160 634.0 4.8 60.1 -99.0 -99.0 -99.0 SIGL
1 990913. 1843 27.990 74.160 616.0 3.4 81.1 -99.0 -99.0 -99.0 SIGL
1 990913. 1843 27.990 74.160 609.0 3.4 64.5 -99.0 -99.0 -99.0 SIGL
1 990913. 1843 27.990 74.160 571.0 .6 54.8 -99.0 -99.0 -99.0 SIGL
1 990913. 1843 27.990 74.160 546.0 -1.7 79.2 -99.0 -99.0 -99.0 SIGL
1 990913. 1843 27.990 74.160 510.0 -4.1 63.0 -99.0 -99.0 -99.0 SIGL
1 990913. 1843 27.990 74.160 478.0 -7.7 73.6 -99.0 -99.0 -99.0 SIGL
1 990913. 1843 27.990 74.160 443.0 -10.7 56.6 -99.0 -99.0 -99.0 SIGL
1 990913. 1843 27.990 74.160 414.0 -14.5 77.5 -99.0 -99.0 -99.0 SIGL
1 990913. 1843 27.990 74.160 380.0 -18.1 79.6 -99.0 -99.0 -99.0 SIGL
1 990913. 1843 27.990 74.160 332.0 -24.5 74.5 -99.0 -99.0 -99.0 SIGL
1 990913. 1843 27.990 74.160 255.0 -37.5 61.3 -99.0 -99.0 -99.0 SIGL
1 990913. 1843 27.990 74.160 224.0 -44.9 37.7 -99.0 -99.0 -99.0 SIGL
1 990913. 1843 27.990 74.160 199.0 -51.3 -99.0 -99.0 -99.0 -99.0 SIGL
1 990913. 1843 27.990 74.160 179.0 -58.1 90.0 -99.0 -99.0 -99.0 SIGL
1 990913. 1843 27.990 74.160 918.0 -99.0 -99.0 -99.0 -20.9 -5.6 SIGL
1 990913. 1843 27.990 74.160 892.0 -99.0 -99.0 -99.0 -26.8 .0 SIGL
1 990913. 1843 27.990 74.160 672.0 -99.0 -99.0 -99.0 -19.4 -5.2 SIGL
1 990913. 1843 27.990 74.160 511.0 -99.0 -99.0 -99.0 -23.9 -6.4 SIGL
1 990913. 1843 27.990 74.160 449.0 -99.0 -99.0 -99.0 -24.2 .0 SIGL
1 990913. 1843 27.990 74.160 289.0 -99.0 -99.0 -99.0 -11.2 -5.2 SIGL
1 990913. 1843 27.990 74.160 238.0 -99.0 -99.0 -99.0 -8.0 4.6 SIGL
1 990913. 1843 27.990 74.160 195.0 -99.0 -99.0 -99.0 -10.3 12.2 SIGL
1 990913. 1843 27.990 74.160 179.0 -99.0 -99.0 -99.0 -21.9 15.3 SIGL
| | |
|
KEY:
|
---|
| Mandatory Level Observations
 
|
| Signficant T & RH Level Observations
 
|
| Signficant Wind Level Observations
 
|
NOTES ABOUT DECODING
- The obervational date and time of the HSA records are those from when
the sonde was launched. The day of the month is extracted from the second
group of Section 1 of TEMP DROP code Parts A and B in the transmitted
message. The launch time is retreived from the third group of Section 7
of TEMP DROP code Part B. If no Section 7 line is present, the time to
the nearest hour is assigned instead to the HSA records. The hour is also
extracted from the second group of Section 1 of TEMP DROP code Parts A and
B. The month and year match those in the special HRD header line at the
top of the dropsonde transmitted message.
- The geographical position in the HSA records is the location where the
sonde splashed. This information is retrieved from the "SPL" remarks in
the "62626" lines that appear in Section 10 of TEMP DROP code Parts A and B
in the transmitted message. If no SPL group appears in the message, the
launch position is instead assigned to the HSA records. This information
is extracted from the third and fourth groups of Section 1 of TEMP DROP
code Parts A and B in the transmitted message.
- If additional level observations are present, only those containing
extrapolated altitude data are decoded into HSA records. These are
retrieved from the group following a "10190" indicator in Section 9 of
TEMP DROP code Part B.
- The observations in the transmitted message are converted into HSA
format sequentially. Mandatory level observations in Sections 1-4 of Part
A of the TEMP DROP code in the transmitted message are decoded first,
followed by the tropopause level observations (if present) in Section 3 of
Part A, maximum wind level observations (if present) in Section 4 of Part
A, signficant temperature and relative humidity level observations in
Section 5 of Part B, signficant wind level observations in Section 6 of
Part B, and finally additional level observations (if present) in Section
9 of Part B.
Please contact Sim Aberson
if you have any questions about HSA format.
Last modified: 14 March 2000.
Please report any problems to the
HRD webmaster.
|
|