Format of Wind Consensus Data Files

When the Met Products modules are invoked in the configuration file, data from each consensus average are appended to an ASCII file in \LAPXMData\ WINDTEMP with the name XYYDDD.cns where X is W for winds, YY is the year, and DDD is the Julian date. Wind data records are appended to this file throughout the day. The format of a wind consensus record is listed Table 5.

Table 5 The Format of a Wind Consensus Record

Line #

Description

Line 1:

Station name (as many as 28 characters).

Line 2:

"WINDS rev 5.0" (rev number will change if file format changes).

Line 3:

N Latitude, W Longitude, and site elevation (m).

Line 4:

Date and begin time of consensus: yy mm dd hh mm ss plus # minutes to add to get UT.

Line 5:

Consensus averaging time (minutes);
number of beams;
number of range gates.

Line 6:

For each beam, number of records required to make consensus (num);
total number of records (tot);
consensus window size (m/s);
in the format: num:tot (window).

Line 7:

No. of coded cells, no. of spectra, pulse width (ns), and inter-pulse period (µs), each with a pair of values: first value is for oblique beams, second for vertical.

Line 8:

Full scale Doppler velocity (m/s), oblique and vertical;
Vertical correction applied to oblique beams? (0 = no, 1 = yes);
Delay to first gate (ns), oblique and vertical;
Number of gates, oblique and vertical;
Spacing of gates (ns), oblique and vertical.

Line 9:

Azimuth and elevation of each beam (9s indicate vertical beam not used).

Line 10:

Labels for columns that follow.

Line 11 etc.:

Height above ground (km);
Wind speed and direction (m/s and deg E of N from N, 9s indicate did not consense);

(Optional) U,V,W velocities;

(Optional) QC flag for wind speed and direction;
Radial velocities for each beam (m/s) in order given in azimuth and elevation line (positive toward radar; 9s indicate vertical beam not used);
Number of records that made consensus (in same order);
Average SNR (dB) of records in consensus (in same order);

(Optional) QC flag for each radial velocity.

Last line:

A single ‘$’ character.

 

Format of Virtual Temperature Consensus Data Files

Virtual temperature consensus data are stored in an ASCII file in the directory LAPXMData\WINDTEMP. The file name is XYYDDD.cns where X is T for temperature, YY is the year, and DDD is the Julian date. The RASS data records are appended to this file throughout the day. The format of a single RASS record is listed in Table 6 ( below) and an example is shown in Figure 9 on page 65.

Table 6 The Format of a Single RASS Record

Line #

Description

Line 1

Station name.

Line 2

"RASS rev 5.0"

Line 3

N latitude, W longitude, and site elevation (m).

Line 4

Date and begin time of consensus: yy mm dd hh mm ss plus # minutes to add to get UT.

Line 5

Consensus averaging time (minutes; number of beams; number of range gates).

Line 6

Number of records required to make consensus (num); total number of records (tot); and the consensus window size (m/s); in the format: num:tot (window).

Line 7

no. of coded cells, no. of spec, pulse width (ns), and inter-pulse period (µs).

Line 8

Full scale Doppler value (m/s);
Delay to first gate (ns);
Number of gates;
Spacing of gates (ns).

Line 9

Azimuth and elevation.(9s indicate vertical beam not used)

Line 10

Labels for columns that follow.

Line 11 etc

Height above ground (km);
Uncorrected virtual RASS temperature consensus (deg C);
Corrected virtual RASS temperature consensus (deg C);
Vertical wind consensus (9s indicate vertical beam not used, w-component, positive upward, m/s);
Number of records that made consensus (for the 3 values in same order);
Average SNR (dB) of records in consensus (in same order);

(Optional) QC flag for T, Tc, and W.

Last line

A single ‘$’ character.