/*------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ** NOAA/ERL ** Forecast Systems Laboratory ** ** This software and its documentation are in the public domain and are ** furnished "as is". The United Stated government, its instrumentalities, ** officers, employees, and agents make no warranty, express or implied, as to ** the usefullness of the software and documentation for any purpose. They ** assume no responsibility (1) for the use of the software and documentation; ** or (2) to provide technical support to users. ** **----------------------------------------------------------------------------*/ ******************************************************************************* Raob database help file Do not modify Written by: Mark Govett Date: November 16, 1992 Gen. Descr: Help file which provides online help for the raob CDrom data access and retrieval system. ******************************************************************************* GENERAL_INFO ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RAWINSONDE DATABASE GENERAL INFORMATION NCDC technical support: (704) 271-4702 Database developed by: Mark Govett (303) 497-6278 govett@fsl.noaa.gov Scientific support: Barry Schwartz (303) 497-6481 schwartz@fsl.noaa.gov DESCRIPTION: Contains upper-air observations from 1946 - present for most Northern and Central American civilian and some military rawinsonde sites. Reports consist of data taken at mandatory, significant, and WMO regional and significant (PPBB) wind (1981 - present) levels up to 100mb. The database is a merge of NCDC and GTS transmitted data. STATION HISTORY: Information about station elevation, location, identification numbers, and period of record can be obtained by entering "STAT". Station history information can be found in the file "astation.his" in the raob software distribution directory. TECHNICAL INFORMATION: Schwartz, B.E., and M. Govett, 1992: "A hydrostatically consistent North American Radiosonde Data Base at the forecast Systems Laboratory, 1946-present." NOAA Technical Memorandum ERL FSL-4. Available from NOAA/ERL/FSL 325 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80303. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- END. OPERATING_SYSTEM ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This software was designed to execute under the DOS, VMS or UNIX operating system however a different executable file is required for each one. If you are not running under the correct operating system, this database access system will not work correctly. Please verify that you are using the correct version of this software. Operating Systems: DOS - most personal computers (PC's) VMS - only systems manufactured by Digital Equipment (DEC) UNIX - many work stations use this (UNIX, ULTRIX, XENIX, etc) If you do not know what operating system you're using, ask someone who does. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- END. INPUT_DATES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Input dates are in the following format: YYMMDDHH where, YY = year (numeric) MM = month (numeric) DD = day (numeric) HH = hour (UTC time - numeric) All eight digits must be entered for the date to be valid. EXAMPLE: YYMMDDHH = 91013112 for January 31, 1991 at 12 UTC. Also, be sure you have the correct CDrom in the drive and have specified the correct path name to it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- END. INPUT_HOUR ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Users can select the observations for specific hours they wish to access for the desired period of record where: 0 - all hours available 1 - 00 UTC and 12 UTC only 2 - 00 UTC only 3 - 12 UTC only ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- END. ACCESS_TYPE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The database can be accessed in three different ways: station number - WMO or WBAN station numbers can be used. Enter "STAT" for station identification information. geographic location - Latitude/Longitude "box" where the user inputs the lower left and upper right corner; positive values to hundredths of degrees are required. time - all available stations are accessed. Type "STAT" to view the station history file for station information. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- END. STATION_TYPE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Two types of station numbers are allowed: WMO station number : World Meteorological Organization station block numbers WBAN station number: Weather Bureau, Army, Navy number as assigned by NCDC. Type "STAT" to view the station history file for station information. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- END. STATION_FILE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you have a file containing a list of stations that you would like to access, you can input this list of stations. Otherwise you will be prompted to input these stations interactively. Station File Format: enter one station number per line ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- END. STATFILE_NAME ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Enter the full name of the station file. This includes the path name (disk device and directory) as well as the name of the file. NOTE: If the station file is contained in your current directory, you can omit the path name and just enter the filename. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ END. NUMBER_STATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Enter the number of unique stations that you wish to assess. Station entries need to be of the same type (WMO or WBAN numbers). Type "STAT" to view the station history file for station information. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- END. STATION_NUMBER ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Enter the WMO or WBAN station number that you wish to access. If you do not know the station number, type STAT to view detailed station history information. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- END. GEOGRAPHIC ACCESS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Enter the latitude or longitude to hundredth of a degree accuracy. Positive values are required. Note: degrees / minutes / seconds units are not used. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- END. OUTPUT_FORMAT ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Enter the output format that you want to view your data. There are currently three output formats: 0 - FSL: an ASCII fixed length format developed at the Forecast Systems Laboratory. A detailed description of this format can be found in the file format.fsl in your raob distribution directory. 1 - WMO: an ASCII format commonly used for realtime GTS data distribution of upper-air data (TTAA,TTBB,PPBB). A legend for interpretation of this format can be found in Federal Meteorological Handbook No. 4 (FMH-4; Radiosonde Code; available from The U.S.Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402). 2 - NETCDF: a binary format developed by the University Center for Atmospheric Research (UCAR). This format has been commonly used by the university community and is supported by UNIDATA. This option is only available if you have the NetCDF libraries on your local system. 3 - SKEWT PLOT: NCAR graphics is used to display skewt plots of the data you request. This data can be output to the screen, to a file, or directly to the printer. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- END. LEVEL_TYPE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Select among all types of data or just mandatory, or significant level data. 0 - all levels available in the database for the sounding 1 - mandatory levels (surface, 1000, 850, ... , 100) when available 2 - mandatory and significant levels (significant levels are those meeting NCDC criteria for significance (see NOAA Technical Memo ERL FSL-4). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- END. WIND_UNITS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Select among the following units for wind speed? 0 - Knots (kt) 1 - tenths of meters/sec (ms-1*10) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- END. SORT_ORDER_TYPE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- How do you wish to organize the data in your output files? Climatological Sort - all times / one station at a time Synoptic Sort - all stations / one time period at a time *** PERFORMANCE INFORMATION *** The time it takes to access and output data, depends on the amount of data requested, the type of sort desired, and the system load. Users who request over 1000 soundings may attain significantly better performance by choosing one type of sort over the other. In general, if the number of stations requested is within an order of magnitude of the number of days requested then either sort will perform equally well. However, if the number of stations is MUCH greater than the number of days requested then a synoptic sort will be faster. Conversely, if the number of stations is MUCH less than the number of days requested, a climatological sort will be more efficient. EXAMPLE: Period of Record: 50010100 thru 59010100 Number of Days requested: ~ 3285 Number of Stations Requested: 2 Number of Soundings Output: 11973 Time: (MM:SS) Climatological Sort: 1:20 Synoptic Sort: 14:40 EXAMPLE: Period of Record: 85020100 thru 85020300 Number of Days Requested: 3 Number of Stations Requested: 151 (all) Number of Soundings Output: 697 Time: (MM:SS) Climatological Sort: 2:21 Synoptic Sort: 0:21 NOTE: the execution times for these sorts were obtained on a SUN 670 server. Your times will vary depending on the speed of your system and other factors. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- END. OUTPUT_LOCATION ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Location to where data is to be written on your computer system. 0 - SCREEN: useful for a quick look at the data 1 - FILE: make sure you have enough disk space. Each sounding can take from 5 - 20 Kilo-bytes. 2 - PRINTER: available only if a printer is connected directly to your system printer port (DOS systems only) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- END. OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The default output location is the directory you were in when you executed the data request. Otherwise - enter the disk and directory name of where you wish to write the data. EXAMPLE: DOS - c:\raobs\ VMS - raob_data:[raobs] UNIX - /usr/local/data/raobs/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- END. NO_DIRECTORY ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you were unable to write output files you should: 1. be sure you entered the name of a directory that exists. 2. verify that you have permission to write to this directory 3. verify there is disk space available to write data Enter a to choose another directory that you wish to write your output file(s). Enter EXIT to quit this application... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ END. TIME_OUTFILE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Users can organize their time series sorted data into smaller sized files if desired. The output file names will differ slightly based on the selection made: Multiple days or multiple stations per file: YYMMDDHH.rao ,where YY = year, MM = month, DD = day, HH = hour EXAMPLE: 92021200.rao - Multiple soundings beginning on February 2, 1992 at 12 UTC. A single sounding per file: YYMMDDHH.INI ,where YY = year, MM = month, DD = day, HH = hour and INI = station initials as shown in the file "astation.his". EXAMPLE: 92020112.den - Denver,CO data beginning at February 1, 1992 at 12 UTC. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- END. STATION_OUTFILE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Users can organize their station series sorted data into smaller sized files if they wish. The output file names will differ slightly according to the selection made: Multiple days and / or multiple stations per file: YYMMDDHH.rao ,where YY = year, MM = month, DD = day, HH = hour EXAMPLE: 92021200.rao - Multiple soundings beginning on February 2, 1992 at 00 UTC. One station and multiple soundings per file: YYMMDDHH.INI ,where YY = year, MM = month, DD = day, HH = hour and INI = station initials as shown in the file "astation.his" EXAMPLE: 92020112.den - Denver data beginning at February 1, 1992 at 12 UTC One station and one sounding per file: MMDDYYHH.INI ,where MM = character month, DD = day, YY = year, HH = hour, INI = station initials as shown in the file "astation.his". EXAMPLE: FE019100.den - Denver, CO on February 1, 1992 00 UTC. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- END. REPEAT_ACCESS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Would you like to view this same data again? When you repeat a data access, you can change several parameters: sort order, wind speed units, type of data levels, output location or output location. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- END. ANOTHER_REQUEST ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Do you want to look at some other data? This gives you the option to change to time period or stations for your data access. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- END. NO_FILES_AVAILABLE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are three possible reasons why you were unable to access any raob database files: you did not specify the path name to the database correctly, you cannot read the data from the CDrom drive, or there is no data for the station(s) and time period requested. To verify that no data exists: 1. Check to see that you have entered the correct input parameters for running the database access program. The general syntax required to execute the database software is: getraob COMMAND LINE SYNTAX: getraob Due to the structure of the CDroms, the location of the database field (parameter #1) will always include a subdirectory: "raobs" after the CDrom directory / device name. View the readme file in the software distribution directory for further system specific information. NOTE: If no parameters were entered, the current directory is assumed for each field. If you are running this software on a VMS or UNIX system, a symbol (VMS) or alias (UNIX) may have been predefined with default parameters for you. 2. Verify that you can reach the location where the data archive resides. Try accessing the CDrom drive to see if you can "see" the data files. If you are unable to access files on the CDrom, the device may not be mounted, or mounted correctly. See your system administrator for help mounting your CDrom in the drive if needed. 3. View the station history help to determine the WMO / WBAN stations were operating during the period of access. To obtain this information, enter the station history help by typing "STAT". NOTE: just because a station was operating does not mean is was taking observations or that data is available. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- END. NO_FILES_OPEN ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you were unable to open any database files, there probably is not any data available for year(s) and station(s) that you requested. You might enter the station history help (enter "STAT") to see if the station(s) that you requested were operating during these year(s). It is possible that the station(s) moved and/or changed WBAN or WMO station numbers. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- END. NOT_ENOUGH_FILES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a warning for those systems where you are not able to open enough input files due to your system parameters. Optimal performance is attained for the time series sort when, all of the input files (up to 200 station files), can be opened at one time. If your system is not able to open the required number of files, you can still access the data, it will just be slower. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- END. DATE_HIS_HELP ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Enter "Y" if you wish to view only the station history records which pertain to a date that you input. This will give you accurate information regarding the station(s) location, elevation and identifiers. Enter "N" if you wish to view all unique (WBAN number) station entries in the database. Since many stations have moved during their period of record, the station history records may not contain accurate elevations, locations, 3 letter identifiers or names. Users are advised to use to date option for greater accurary or view the station history file "astation.his" in your software distribution directory for more information. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ END. DATES_STAT ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Input dates are in the following format: YYMMDD where, YY = year (numeric) MM = month (numeric) DD = day (numeric) All six digits must be entered for the date to be valid. EXAMPLE: YYMMDDHH = 910131 for January 31, 1991. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- END. VIEW_STAT_HELP ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- How do you wish to access the station history file? 1 - access by standard three letter identifier (999 = missing) 2 - access by two letter state abbreviation (99 = missing or NA) 3 - access by two letter country abbreviation (99 = missing) 4 - access by five digit WBAN station number (Asheville assigned) 5 - access by five digit WMO station number 4 - access all approximately 500 station file entries ********* WARNING ******* ******* WARNING ******** ******* WARNING ******** All of the stations shown in the station help will not necessarily be available for access for the dates requested. See the station history file, "astation.his" in your software distribution directory for more information regarding the exact location, elevation, and period of record. ******** WARNING ******* ******* WARNING ********* ******* WARNING ******** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- END. VIEW_SCREEN_HELP ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The information displayed on the screen is shown in columns defined as: INIT - three letter station initials WBAN - WBAN station number (assigned by NCDC) WMO - WMO station number (assigned by WMO) LAT - station latitude (degree units only) LONG - station longitude (degree units west) ELEV - station elevation (in meters) NAME - station name or common name ST - state where station resides CY - country where station resides ********* WARNING ******* ******* WARNING ******** ******* WARNING ******** All of the stations shown in the station help will not necessarily be available for access for the dates requested. See the station history file, "astation.his" in your software distribution directory for more information regarding the exact location, elevation, and period of record. ******** WARNING ******* ******* WARNING ******** ******* WARNING ********* ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- END.