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Radiosonde Data Collected During California Storms

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Radiosonde Data Collected During California Storms

About this collection

Extent

1 digital object.

Cite This Work

Ralph, F. Martin; Wilson, Anna M.; Demirdjian, Reuben; Alden, Douglas; Hecht, Chad; Ellis, Carolyn J.; Kawzenuk, Brian; Cannon, Forest; Cooper, Ava; Paulsson, Kerstin (2021). Radiosonde Data Collected During California Storms. UC San Diego Library Digital Collections. Dataset. https://doi.org/10.6075/J09P31S0

Description

Rationale for data collection: Radiosondes are released during atmospheric river conditions (integrated vapor transport exceeding 250 kg/ms) or to coincide with Atmospheric River Reconnaissance flights.

Stations:
USBOD = Bodega Bay, CA; 38.3 N 123.1 W
USCAT = Catalina Island, CA; 33.4 N 118.5 W
USSAL = Salton Sea, CA; 33.2 N 115.9 W
USSIO = Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA; 32.9 N 117.3 W
USUKI = Ukiah, CA; 39.1 N 123.1 W
USYUB = Marysville, CA; 39.2 N 121.5 W

Scope And Content

The raw data from the Vaisala radiosondes, which were originally in .mwx format, have been processed into .txt files and made available here.

Details for each directory in the archive are as follows:
Text files: Text file for each radiosonde launch including data for every level that was qualified as good data by sounding software. Filenames are formatted as station_yyyymmdd_hhmn.txt. Columns are year, month, day, hour, minute, seconds, pressure (hPa), temperature (C), dew point (C), wind direction, wind speed (m/s), height (m), latitude, longitude
Skew-Ts: Image files for all radiosonde launches, created by CW3E. Filenames are formatted as station_yyyymmdd_hhmn.png
Bufr: Raw bufr files output from sounding software for all radiosonde launches.
GTS_Files: Text files for all radiosonde launches decoded in WMO format for ingest in the GTS. Filenames are formatted as station_yyyymmdd_hhmn.txt.

Date Collected
  • 2016 to 2021
Date Issued
  • 2021
Creators
Principal Investigator
Co Principal Investigator
Researcher
Data Manager
Methods

We coordinate with the Atmospheric River Reconnaissance forecasting team during that campaign. Otherwise, we use ensemble forecasts of IVT (e.g., the AR landfall tool (Cordeira and Ralph, 2021)) to identify events to sample. During sampling, we obtain permission from the Federal Aviation Administration and local airports via filing Notice to Airmen to release unmanned free balloons. Balloons are filled with helium using the process described in Vaisala's manuals. Releases may or may not include parachutes. As of 2019, ascent and descent profiles are processed and provided to global operational numerical weather prediction models via the Global Telecommunications System. Profiles are also shared with National Weather Service Weather Forecast Offices throughout Western Region.

Funding

USACE grant W912HZ-19-2-0023
USACE grant W912HZ-15-2-0019

Topics

Format

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Language
  • English
Identifier

Identifier: Anna M. Wilson: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7342-1955

Identifier: Brian Kawzenuk: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1194-4296

Identifier: Carolyn Ellis: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0901-1545

Identifier: Chad Hecht: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8357-3263

Identifier: F. Martin Ralph: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0870-6396

Identifier: Forest Cannon: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2520-3790

Related Resources
Radiosonde Data Collected During California Storms
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