September 7, 2017

POINT OF CONTACT

Principle investigator:
     Richard Eckman
     NOAA Air Resources Laboratory Field Research Division
     1750 Foote Dr.
     Idaho Falls, ID 83402
     Richard.Eckman@noaa.gov
     (208) 526-2740

README.TXT - Description of Data Files from Radar Wind Profiler and RASS

A 500 W, 915 MHz radar wind profiler (PRO) with Radio Acoustic Sounding System (RASS) 
measured the upper wind and air temperature profiles during PSB1.  This system has 
operated continuously at its location on the tracer dispersion grid at about 800 m arc 
distance and 56 degrees arc angle since 1992. The radar wind profiler with RASS provided 
highly-resolved round-the-clock data for determining mixing layer characteristics above 
the sounding site.  The radar wind profiler was configured to take measurements at 28 
levels covering the vertical range of 159 to 2895 m with a vertical resolution set at 
101 m.  Remotely-sensed measurements include wind speed and direction. The RASS was 
configured to take measurements of temperature with a vertical resolution of 105 m 
covering the range 165 to 1633 m AGL.  

The wind profiler data was retrieved and stored in the ARLFRD database similarly to 
the Mesonet data.  The system has a built-in automatic quality control algorithm from 
the manufacturer. Data was flagged as -950 for any data points identified as suspect.

Some of the  data from the wind speed profiler is suspect. As noted above, the PRO 
wind directions were roughly consistent with wind direction measurements made by other 
instruments at similar heights. However, the PRO wind speed measurements were 
characterized by a low wind speed bias relative to other instruments when wind speeds 
were below 5 m/s.

The data for the wind profiler and RASS are archived in their original files. There is 
one wind profiler and one RASS file for each of the IOPs. Each file covers the 24 h 
period encompassing each of the IOPs. The file notation is GRI6xxyy.zzz where the 
6 represents the year, the xx represents the month, and the yy represents the 
day. The zzz file extension is W2B for the wind profiler data and T2B for the RASS 
data.

A supplemental file named PSB2_RadarProfiler_AllIOPs.csv contains reformatted wind 
profiler data for the 4 h period encompassing each IOP. Wind data were collected for 
25 minute intervals twice each hour at 5 to 30 minutes past the hour and at 35 to 60 
minutes past the hour. The first, second, third, and fourth columns contain a QC code, 
the measurement height (m agl), wind speed (m s-1), and wind direction (deg), 
respectively. Each half hour block is separated by an hour and minute (hrmn) timestamp 
designating the start time (MST) of the measurement interval. For example, 0235 
represents the measurement from 2:35 to 3:00 AM. The 28 is the number of measurement 
levels. Wind speed (m/s) is specified with ws and wind direction (degrees) is 
specified with wd. The number appended to the ws and wd represents the height 
level of the measurement. Levels 1 through 28 represent the measurement heights of 
159, 261, 362, 463, 565, 666, 767, 868, 970, 1071, 1172, 1274, 1375, 1476, 1578, 1679, 
1780, 1882, 1983, 2084, 2186, 2287, 2388, 2490, 2591, 2692, 2794, and 2895 m agl, 
respectively. Missing values are designated by -950.

The temperature data were collected for 5 minute intervals twice each hour from zero 
to 5 minutes past the hour and from 30 to 35 minutes past the hour.  The first, second, 
and third columns contain a QC code, the measurement height (m agl), and virtual 
temperature (TV, deg C), respectively. The hour and minute (hrmn, MST) starting time 
of each 5 minute measurement interval is given at the start of each half hour record 
block. For example, 0030 represents the measurements from time period 12:30 to 12:35 AM. 

The QC code 0 indicates valid data and temperature records with -950 represent 
failed consensus. The data codes are listed in the header text of each file along 
with date, location, Julian day, and other information.