In preparation for the re-processing of the entire MST radar
observation archive, a few small changes have been made to upgrade the
current version 3.2 signal processing scheme to a version 3.3 scheme:
- A correction has been made to the (time-continuity) reliability
flagging scheme, which used to cause problems when the radar cycle
format was changed (i.e. infrequently).
- The assumed value for the speed of light, which is used to
calculate the range and altitude of radar range gates, has been
changed from 3.0e8 to 299,792,458.0 m/s. This will be relatively
insignificant for the ST-mode observations, leading to a maximum
difference in the calculated ranges and altitudes of 15 m. However,
it leads to differences of up to 65 m, i.e. almost half a range
gate, in the M-mode.
- A change will be made to the bit-encoding of the reliability
details variables in order to remove a redundant piece of
information. However, there will still be an additional binary flag which
simply indicates whether or not a parameter value is judged to be
reliable.
- The Variable and Global Variable names in the netCDF files will
be changed slightly in order to reduce ambiguities and to better
reflect the relationships between parameters. This logic is most
apparent when the new names are viewed as a group. Tables are also
provided which interlace the current and new names. The new names may be
changed slightly compared to those proposed here. Final details will
be included in a separate page once the reprocessing begins.
Tables are available for the following:
Current (version 3.2) Variable names
- time
- altitude
- latitude
- longitude
- horizontal_wind_components_are_reliable
- horizontal_wind_components_reliability_details
- eastward_wind
- northward_wind
- horizontal_wind_complementary_beam_variability
- horizontal_wind_theta_s_compensation_factor
- vertical_beam_data_are_reliable
- vertical_beam_data_reliability_details
- vertical_beam_signal_power
- vertical_beam_radial_velocity
- vertical_beam_spectral_width
- vertical_beam_median_noise_power
- beam_broadening_corrected_spectral_width_is_reliable
- beam_broadening_corrected_spectral_width_reliability_details
- beam_broadening_corrected_spectral_width
- aspect_sensitivity_is_reliable
- aspect_sensitivity_reliability_details
- aspect_sensitivity
- tropopause_altitude
- tropopause_sharpness_factor
Proposed new (version 3.3) Variable names
- time
- altitude
- latitude
- longitude
- horizontal_wind_reliability_flag
- horizontal_wind_reliability_details
- horizontal_wind_eastward_component
- horizontal_wind_northward_component
- horizontal_wind_full_complementary_beam_continuity_factor
- horizontal_wind_effective_zenith_angle_compensation_factor
- vertical_beam_signal_component_reliability_flag
- vertical_beam_signal_component_reliability_details
- vertical_beam_signal_component_power
- vertical_beam_signal_component_radial_velocity
- vertical_beam_signal_component_spectral_width
- vertical_beam_median_spectrum_noise_power
- beam_broadening_corrected_spectral_width_reliability_flag
- beam_broadening_corrected_spectral_width_reliability_details
- beam_broadening_corrected_spectral_width
- radar_scatter_zenith_angle_dependence_reliability_flag
- radar_scatter_zenith_angle_dependence_reliability_details
- radar_scatter_zenith_angle_dependence
- tropopause_altitude
- tropopause_sharpness_index
- tropopause_sharpness_factor
Interlaced
current (version 3.2)
and
proposed new (version 3.3)
Variable names
- time
time
- altitude
altitude
- latitude
latitude
- longitude
longitude
- horizontal_wind_components_are_reliable
horizontal_wind_reliability_flag
- horizontal_wind_components_reliability_details
horizontal_wind_reliability_details
- eastward_wind
horizontal_wind_eastward_component
- northward_wind
horizontal_wind_northward_component
- horizontal_wind_complementary_beam_variability
horizontal_wind_full_complementary_beam_continuity_factor
- horizontal_wind_theta_s_compensation_factor
horizontal_wind_effective_zenith_angle_compensation_factor
- vertical_beam_data_are_reliable
vertical_beam_signal_component_reliability_flag
- vertical_beam_data_reliability_details
vertical_beam_signal_component_reliability_details
- vertical_beam_signal_power
vertical_beam_signal_component_power
- vertical_beam_radial_velocity
vertical_beam_signal_component_radial_velocity
- vertical_beam_spectral_width
vertical_beam_signal_component_spectral_width
- vertical_beam_median_noise_power
vertical_beam_median_spectrum_noise_power
- beam_broadening_corrected_spectral_width_is_reliable
beam_broadening_corrected_spectral_width_reliability_flag
- beam_broadening_corrected_spectral_width_reliability_details
beam_broadening_corrected_spectral_width_reliability_details
- beam_broadening_corrected_spectral_width
beam_broadening_corrected_spectral_width
- aspect_sensitivity_is_reliable
radar_scatter_zenith_angle_dependence_reliability_flag
- aspect_sensitivity_reliability_details
radar_scatter_zenith_angle_dependence_reliability_details
- aspect_sensitivity
radar_scatter_zenith_angle_dependence
- tropopause_altitude
tropopause_altitude
- tropopause_sharpness_factor
tropopause_sharpness_index
- no corresponding variable
tropopause_sharpness_factor
Current (version 3.2) Global Variable names
- Conventions
- title
- institution
- source
- history
- references
- comment
- data_year
- data_month
- data_day
- data_altitude_mode
- data_range_resolution_m
- data_range_resolution_number
- data_bottom_range_gate_number
- data_top_range_gate_number
- radar_location_name
- radar_british_national_grid_reference
- radar_latitude_degrees_north
- radar_longitude_degrees_east
- radar_altitude_above_mean_sea_level_m
- radar_frequency_MHz
- radar_wavelength_m
- radar_transmitters
- radar_peak_transmitted_power_kW
- radar_antenna_type
- radar_antenna_side_length_m
- radar_beam_one_way_half_power_half_width_degrees
- signal_processing_version_number
- signal_processing_sub_version_number
- sig_lims_min_peak_smooth_psd_to_noise_dB_to_flag
- cart_horiz_wind_zen_angle_deg
- cart_horiz_wind_primary_azi_angle_deg
- cart_apply_theta_s_corr_to_horiz_wind
- cart_max_compl_beam_horiz_vel_diff_mps
- cart_max_theta_s_horiz_wind_corr_fact
- cart_theta_s_high_zen_angle_deg
- cart_theta_s_low_zen_angle_deg
- cart_asp_sens_high_zen_angle_deg
- cart_tpause_grad_intvl_m
Proposed new (version 3.3) Global Variable names
- Conventions
- title
- institution
- source
- history
- references
- comment
- data_year
- data_month
- data_day
- data_altitude_mode
- data_range_resolution_m
- data_range_resolution_number
- data_bottom_range_gate_number
- data_top_range_gate_number
- instrument_location_name
- instrument_location_british_national_grid_reference
- instrument_location_latitude_degrees_north
- instrument_location_longitude_degrees_east
- instrument_location_altitude_above_mean_sea_level_m
- no corresponding Global Variable
- no corresponding Global Variable
- no corresponding Global Variable
- no corresponding Global Variable
- no corresponding Global Variable
- no corresponding Global Variable
- no corresponding Global Variable
- signal_processing_version_number
- signal_processing_sub_version_number
- no corresponding Global Variable
- horizontal_wind_primary_zenith_angle_degrees
- horizontal_wind_primary_azimuth_angle_degrees
- horizontal_wind_effective_zenith_angle_compensation_is_applied_where_possible
- horizontal_wind_maximum_complementary_beam_continuity_factor
- horizontal_wind_maximum_effective_zenith_angle_compensation_factor
- horizontal_wind_effective_zenith_angle_higher_zenith_angle_degrees
- horizontal_wind_effective_zenith_angle_lower_zenith_angle_degrees
- radar_scatter_zenith_angle_dependence_higher_zenith_angle_degrees
- tropopause_vertical_gradient_interval_m
Interlaced
current (version 3.2)
and
proposed new (version 3.3)
Global Variable names
- Conventions
Conventions
- title
title
- institution
institution
- source
source
- history
history
- references
references
- comment
comment
- data_year
data_year
- data_month
data_month
- data_day
data_day
- data_altitude_mode
data_altitude_mode
- data_range_resolution_m
data_range_resolution_m
- data_range_resolution_number
data_range_resolution_number
- data_bottom_range_gate_number
data_bottom_range_gate_number
- data_top_range_gate_number
data_top_range_gate_number
- radar_location_name
instrument_location_name
- radar_british_national_grid_reference
instrument_location_british_national_grid_reference
- radar_latitude_degrees_north
instrument_location_latitude_degrees_north
- radar_longitude_degrees_east
instrument_location_longitude_degrees_east
- radar_altitude_above_mean_sea_level_m
instrument_location_altitude_above_mean_sea_level_m
- radar_frequency_MHz
no corresponding Global Variable
- radar_wavelength_m
no corresponding Global Variable
- radar_transmitters
no corresponding Global Variable
- radar_peak_transmitted_power_kW
no corresponding Global Variable
- radar_antenna_type
no corresponding Global Variable
- radar_antenna_side_length_m
no corresponding Global Variable
- radar_beam_one_way_half_power_half_width_degrees
no corresponding Global Variable
- signal_processing_version_number
signal_processing_version_number
- signal_processing_sub_version_number
signal_processing_sub_version_number
- sig_lims_min_peak_smooth_psd_to_noise_dB_to_flag
no corresponding Global Variable
- cart_horiz_wind_zen_angle_deg
horizontal_wind_primary_zenith_angle_degrees
- cart_horiz_wind_primary_azi_angle_deg
horizontal_wind_primary_azimuth_angle_degrees
- cart_apply_theta_s_corr_to_horiz_wind
horizontal_wind_effective_zenith_angle_compensation_is_applied_where_possible
- cart_max_compl_beam_horiz_vel_diff_mps
horizontal_wind_maximum_complementary_beam_continuity_factor
- cart_max_theta_s_horiz_wind_corr_fact
horizontal_wind_maximum_effective_zenith_angle_compensation_factor
- cart_theta_s_high_zen_angle_deg
horizontal_wind_effective_zenith_angle_higher_zenith_angle_degrees
- cart_theta_s_low_zen_angle_deg
horizontal_wind_effective_zenith_angle_lower_zenith_angle_degrees
- cart_asp_sens_high_zen_angle_deg
radar_scatter_zenith_angle_dependence_higher_zenith_angle_degrees
- cart_tpause_grad_intvl_m
tropopause_vertical_gradient_interval_m
Internal Links:
- Return to top of page
- File format for v3.2
Cartesian data files
- Proposed parameter names
for v3.3 radial data files