Proposed changes to v3 Cartesian files

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:

• Version 3.2 Variable names
• Version 3.3 Variable names
• Interlaced version 3.2 and version 3.3 Variable names
  
  
• Version 3.2 Global variable names
• Version 3.3 Global variable names
• Interlaced version 3.2 and version 3.3 Global variable names

Current (version 3.2) Variable names
1. time
2. altitude
3. latitude
4. longitude
   
   
5. horizontal_wind_components_are_reliable
6. horizontal_wind_components_reliability_details
7. eastward_wind
8. northward_wind
9. horizontal_wind_complementary_beam_variability
10. horizontal_wind_theta_s_compensation_factor
    
    
11. vertical_beam_data_are_reliable
12. vertical_beam_data_reliability_details
13. vertical_beam_signal_power
14. vertical_beam_radial_velocity
15. vertical_beam_spectral_width
    
    
16. vertical_beam_median_noise_power
    
    
17. beam_broadening_corrected_spectral_width_is_reliable
18. beam_broadening_corrected_spectral_width_reliability_details
19. beam_broadening_corrected_spectral_width
    
    
20. aspect_sensitivity_is_reliable
21. aspect_sensitivity_reliability_details
22. aspect_sensitivity
    
    
23. tropopause_altitude
24. tropopause_sharpness_factor

Proposed new (version 3.3) Variable names
1. time
2. altitude
3. latitude
4. longitude
   
   
5. horizontal_wind_reliability_flag
6. horizontal_wind_reliability_details
7. horizontal_wind_eastward_component
8. horizontal_wind_northward_component
9. horizontal_wind_full_complementary_beam_continuity_factor
10. horizontal_wind_effective_zenith_angle_compensation_factor
    
    
11. vertical_beam_signal_component_reliability_flag
12. vertical_beam_signal_component_reliability_details
13. vertical_beam_signal_component_power
14. vertical_beam_signal_component_radial_velocity
15. vertical_beam_signal_component_spectral_width
    
    
16. vertical_beam_median_spectrum_noise_power
    
    
17. beam_broadening_corrected_spectral_width_reliability_flag
18. beam_broadening_corrected_spectral_width_reliability_details
19. beam_broadening_corrected_spectral_width
    
    
20. radar_scatter_zenith_angle_dependence_reliability_flag
21. radar_scatter_zenith_angle_dependence_reliability_details
22. radar_scatter_zenith_angle_dependence
    
    
23. tropopause_altitude
24. tropopause_sharpness_index
25. tropopause_sharpness_factor

Interlaced current (version 3.2) and proposed new (version 3.3) Variable names
1. time
   time
2. altitude
   altitude
3. latitude
   latitude
4. longitude
   longitude
   
   
5. horizontal_wind_components_are_reliable
   horizontal_wind_reliability_flag
6. horizontal_wind_components_reliability_details
   horizontal_wind_reliability_details
7. eastward_wind
   horizontal_wind_eastward_component
8. northward_wind
   horizontal_wind_northward_component
9. horizontal_wind_complementary_beam_variability
   horizontal_wind_full_complementary_beam_continuity_factor
10. horizontal_wind_theta_s_compensation_factor
    horizontal_wind_effective_zenith_angle_compensation_factor
    
    
11. vertical_beam_data_are_reliable
    vertical_beam_signal_component_reliability_flag
12. vertical_beam_data_reliability_details
    vertical_beam_signal_component_reliability_details
13. vertical_beam_signal_power
    vertical_beam_signal_component_power
14. vertical_beam_radial_velocity
    vertical_beam_signal_component_radial_velocity
15. vertical_beam_spectral_width
    vertical_beam_signal_component_spectral_width
    
    
16. vertical_beam_median_noise_power
    vertical_beam_median_spectrum_noise_power
    
    
17. beam_broadening_corrected_spectral_width_is_reliable
    beam_broadening_corrected_spectral_width_reliability_flag
18. beam_broadening_corrected_spectral_width_reliability_details
    beam_broadening_corrected_spectral_width_reliability_details
19. beam_broadening_corrected_spectral_width
    beam_broadening_corrected_spectral_width
    
    
20. aspect_sensitivity_is_reliable
    radar_scatter_zenith_angle_dependence_reliability_flag
21. aspect_sensitivity_reliability_details
    radar_scatter_zenith_angle_dependence_reliability_details
22. aspect_sensitivity
    radar_scatter_zenith_angle_dependence
    
    
23. tropopause_altitude
    tropopause_altitude
24. tropopause_sharpness_factor
    tropopause_sharpness_index
25. no corresponding variable
    tropopause_sharpness_factor

Current (version 3.2) Global Variable names
1. Conventions
2. title
3. institution
4. source
5. history
6. references
7. comment
   
   
8. data_year
9. data_month
10. data_day
11. data_altitude_mode
12. data_range_resolution_m
13. data_range_resolution_number
14. data_bottom_range_gate_number
15. data_top_range_gate_number
    
    
16. radar_location_name
17. radar_british_national_grid_reference
18. radar_latitude_degrees_north
19. radar_longitude_degrees_east
20. radar_altitude_above_mean_sea_level_m
    
    
21. radar_frequency_MHz
22. radar_wavelength_m
23. radar_transmitters
24. radar_peak_transmitted_power_kW
25. radar_antenna_type
26. radar_antenna_side_length_m
27. radar_beam_one_way_half_power_half_width_degrees
    
    
28. signal_processing_version_number
29. signal_processing_sub_version_number
    
    
30. sig_lims_min_peak_smooth_psd_to_noise_dB_to_flag
    
    
31. cart_horiz_wind_zen_angle_deg
32. cart_horiz_wind_primary_azi_angle_deg
33. cart_apply_theta_s_corr_to_horiz_wind
34. cart_max_compl_beam_horiz_vel_diff_mps
35. cart_max_theta_s_horiz_wind_corr_fact
36. cart_theta_s_high_zen_angle_deg
37. cart_theta_s_low_zen_angle_deg
    
    
38. cart_asp_sens_high_zen_angle_deg
    
    
39. cart_tpause_grad_intvl_m

Proposed new (version 3.3) Global Variable names
1. Conventions
2. title
3. institution
4. source
5. history
6. references
7. comment
   
   
8. data_year
9. data_month
10. data_day
11. data_altitude_mode
12. data_range_resolution_m
13. data_range_resolution_number
14. data_bottom_range_gate_number
15. data_top_range_gate_number
    
    
16. instrument_location_name
17. instrument_location_british_national_grid_reference
18. instrument_location_latitude_degrees_north
19. instrument_location_longitude_degrees_east
20. instrument_location_altitude_above_mean_sea_level_m
    
    
21. no corresponding Global Variable
22. no corresponding Global Variable
23. no corresponding Global Variable
24. no corresponding Global Variable
25. no corresponding Global Variable
26. no corresponding Global Variable
27. no corresponding Global Variable
    
    
28. signal_processing_version_number
29. signal_processing_sub_version_number
    
    
30. no corresponding Global Variable
    
    
31. horizontal_wind_primary_zenith_angle_degrees
32. horizontal_wind_primary_azimuth_angle_degrees
33. horizontal_wind_effective_zenith_angle_compensation_is_applied_where_possible
34. horizontal_wind_maximum_complementary_beam_continuity_factor
35. horizontal_wind_maximum_effective_zenith_angle_compensation_factor
36. horizontal_wind_effective_zenith_angle_higher_zenith_angle_degrees
37. horizontal_wind_effective_zenith_angle_lower_zenith_angle_degrees
    
    
38. radar_scatter_zenith_angle_dependence_higher_zenith_angle_degrees
    
    
39. tropopause_vertical_gradient_interval_m

Interlaced current (version 3.2) and proposed new (version 3.3) Global Variable names
1. Conventions
   Conventions
2. title
   title
3. institution
   institution
4. source
   source
5. history
   history
6. references
   references
7. comment
   comment
   
   
8. data_year
   data_year
9. data_month
   data_month
10. data_day
    data_day
11. data_altitude_mode
    data_altitude_mode
12. data_range_resolution_m
    data_range_resolution_m
13. data_range_resolution_number
    data_range_resolution_number
14. data_bottom_range_gate_number
    data_bottom_range_gate_number
15. data_top_range_gate_number
    data_top_range_gate_number
    
    
16. radar_location_name
    instrument_location_name
17. radar_british_national_grid_reference
    instrument_location_british_national_grid_reference
18. radar_latitude_degrees_north
    instrument_location_latitude_degrees_north
19. radar_longitude_degrees_east
    instrument_location_longitude_degrees_east
20. radar_altitude_above_mean_sea_level_m
    instrument_location_altitude_above_mean_sea_level_m
    
    
21. radar_frequency_MHz
    no corresponding Global Variable
22. radar_wavelength_m
    no corresponding Global Variable
23. radar_transmitters
    no corresponding Global Variable
24. radar_peak_transmitted_power_kW
    no corresponding Global Variable
25. radar_antenna_type
    no corresponding Global Variable
26. radar_antenna_side_length_m
    no corresponding Global Variable
27. radar_beam_one_way_half_power_half_width_degrees
    no corresponding Global Variable
    
    
28. signal_processing_version_number
    signal_processing_version_number
29. signal_processing_sub_version_number
    signal_processing_sub_version_number
    
    
30. sig_lims_min_peak_smooth_psd_to_noise_dB_to_flag
    no corresponding Global Variable
    
    
31. cart_horiz_wind_zen_angle_deg
    horizontal_wind_primary_zenith_angle_degrees
32. cart_horiz_wind_primary_azi_angle_deg
    horizontal_wind_primary_azimuth_angle_degrees
33. cart_apply_theta_s_corr_to_horiz_wind
    horizontal_wind_effective_zenith_angle_compensation_is_applied_where_possible
34. cart_max_compl_beam_horiz_vel_diff_mps
    horizontal_wind_maximum_complementary_beam_continuity_factor
35. cart_max_theta_s_horiz_wind_corr_fact
    horizontal_wind_maximum_effective_zenith_angle_compensation_factor
36. cart_theta_s_high_zen_angle_deg
    horizontal_wind_effective_zenith_angle_higher_zenith_angle_degrees
37. cart_theta_s_low_zen_angle_deg
    horizontal_wind_effective_zenith_angle_lower_zenith_angle_degrees
    
    
38. cart_asp_sens_high_zen_angle_deg
    radar_scatter_zenith_angle_dependence_higher_zenith_angle_degrees
    
    
39. cart_tpause_grad_intvl_m
    tropopause_vertical_gradient_interval_m

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File format for v3.2 Cartesian data files

Proposed parameter names for v3.3 radial data files