980410: upper air data-NOUS (fwd)

• To: nws-changes@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
• Subject: 980410: upper air data-NOUS (fwd)
• From: Linda Miller <lmiller@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
• Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1998 13:13:54 -0600 (MDT)

     
408 
NOUS40 KWBC 101527
FOS/NOAAPORT NOTICE NO. 1218           APRIL 10... 1998 
PART 1 OF A 2 PART MESSAGE
     
     
TO                  FAMILY OF SERVICES SUBSCRIBERS
                    NOAAPORT USERS
     
FROM                DOUGLAS F. HESS
                    CHIEF... SYSTEMS INTEGRATION DIVISION
     
SUBJECT             NOTIFICATION OF CORRECTIONS TO NATIONAL
                    WEATHER SERVICE /NWS/ PRACTICES FOR
                    ENCODING UPPER-AIR   DATA
     
CODED MESSAGES FOR SOUNDINGS DISSEMINATED FROM NWS 
UPPER-AIR STATIONS USING THE MICROCOMPUTER AUTOMATIC 
RADIO-THEODOLITE /MICROART/ SYSTEM ARE NOT FULLY COMPLIANT 
WITH WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION /WMO/ STANDARDS. 
THE WMO ABBREVIATED HEADING AND PLACEMENT OF THE WMO 
STATION INDEX NUMBER IN THE CODED MESSAGES ARE INCORRECT. 
FURTHERMORE  A REQUIRED CLOUD OBSERVATION  TAKEN AT THE
TIME THE UPPER-AIR SOUNDING BEGAN  IS MISSING FROM THE REPORT.
     
UPPER-AIR REPORTS RECEIVED AT THE NWS TELECOMMUNICATION 
GATEWAY /NWSTG/ ARE PROCESSED FOR DISTRIBUTION ON THE GLOBAL 
TELECOMUNICATION SYSTEM /GTS/.  THE ABBREVIATED HEADING AND 
PLACEMENT OF THE STATION INDEX NUMBER FROM ALL MICROART 
REPORTS ARE CORRECTED BY NWSTG AND SENT TO GTS.  HOWEVER 
CLOUD INFORMATION IS NOT ADDED TO THE REPORTS SINCE SUCH 
INFORMATION IS NOT AVAILABLE AT NWSTG.
     
THE NWS WILL CORRECT THE MICROART SOFTWARE SO UPPER-AIR 
REPORTS HAVE THE CORRECT ABBREVIATED HEADING AND REQUIRED 
CLOUD INFORMATION.  PART 2 OF THIS MESSAGE HAS  DETAILED 
INFORMATION ON  CURRENT NWS PRACTICES AND THE CORRECT 
FORMS  WHICH NWS PLANS TO IMPLEMENT. SINCE CORRECT 
PLACEMENT OF THE STATION INDEX NUMBER IS CURRENTLY BEING 
PERFORMED BY NWSTG  NO CHANGE WILL BE MADE AT THIS TIME. 
HOWEVER  WITHIN THE NEXT FEW YEARS  NWS PLANS TO REPLACE 
THE MICROART SYSTEMS WITH MORE MODERN EQUIPMENT THAT WILL 
PROVIDE DATA FULLY COMPLIANT WITH WMO STANDARDS.
END
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PART 2 OF A 2 PART MESSAGE


TO            FAMILY OF SERVICES SUBSCRIBERS
NOAAPORT USERS

FROM          DOUGLAS F. HESS
CHIEF... SYSTEMS INTEGRATION DIVISION

SUBJECT       NOTIFICATION OF CORRECTIONS TO NATIONAL
WEATHER SERVICE /NWS/ PRACTICES FOR
ENCODING UPPER-AIR   DATA

THE NWS PLANS TO CORRECT THE ABREVIATED HEADING AND INCLUDE
CLOUD INFORMATION IN ALL MICROART UPPER-AIR REPORTS NO EARLIER
THAN OCTOBER 1  1998.  YOU WILL BE NOTIFIED AT LEAST 60 DAYS 
PRIOR TO THE ACTUAL IMPLEMENTATION DATE.  PRIOR TO IMPLEMENTATION
NWS WILL CONDUCT A TEST WHERE CORRECTED
CODED MESSAGES FROM SELECTED UPPER-AIR STATIONS WILL BE DISSEMINATED.
THIS TEST WILL ENSURE THAT OPERATIONAL DATA USERS CAN RETRIEVE 
THESE DATA WITHOUT DIFFICULTY.

ANY COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS SHOULD BE DIRECTED TO WILLIAM H. 
BLACKMORE BEFORE JUNE 1.  HE CAN BE CONTACTED AT 
301-713-0722 X170 OR ON E-MAIL   WILLIAM.BLACKMORE NOAA.GOV.


CURRENT NWS PRACTICES FOR ENCODING WMO UPPER AIR REPORTS AND
THE CORRECT FORM NWS WILL IMPLEMENT


WMO ABBREVIATED HEADING

CURRENT NWS PRACTICE

NWS USES THE WMO ABBREVIATED HEADINGS FORM TTAAI CCCC WHERE

TT = DATA TYPE DESIGNATOR /NWS USES UJ INCORRECTLY/

AA = GEOGRAPHICAL DESIGNATOR /E.G.  US  PA  ETC./

I =  VALUE THAT DIFFERENTIATES BETWEEN TWO OR MORE BULLETINS
CONTAINING DATA IN THE SAME CODE  ORIGINATES FROM THE SAME 
GEOGRAPHICAL AREA  AND HAS THE SAME ORIGINATING CENTER.

CCCC = INTERNATIONAL FOUR-LETTER LOCATION INDICATOR OF THE 
STATION ORIGINATING OR COMPILING THE BULLETIN.

CORRECT FORM

REFERENCE   WMO NO. 386 MANUAL ON THE GLOBAL TELECOMMUNI- CATIONS
SYSTEM  VOL. I  PART II  ATTACHMENTS 4 AND 6.

THE CORRECT FORM IS TTAAII CCCC WHERE

TT = DATA TYPE DESIGNATOR /E.G.  US = TEMP PART A  
UK = TEMP PART B  ETC./

II = SAME AS CURRENT NWS PRACTICE  BUT SHOULD ALWAYS BE TWO DIGITS.
VALUES OF II LESS THAN 10 SHALL BE PRECEDED BY ZERO /E.G.  TTAA01/.

CLOUD INFORMATION

CURRENT NWS PRACTICE

A COMPLETE SURFACE WEATHER OBSERVATION IS RECORDED NEAR THE
START OF THE UPPER AIR SOUNDING BY NWS OBSERVERS  BUT
THE CLOUD PORTION OF THE OBSERVATION IS NOT INCLUDED IN THE
CODED MESSAGE.

CORRECT FORM

REFERENCE   WMO NO. 306 MANUAL ON CODES  VOL 1.1  
SECTIONS A AND B.

A CODE GROUP ON CLOUD INFORMATION SHOULD BE INCLUDED IN THE 
CODED MESSAGE.  IT BELONGS BETWEEN THE 31313 AND 51515
GROUPS IN THE PART B OR  TTBB  MESSAGE AND SHOULD APPEAR
AS FOLLOWS

41414  NHCLHCMCH

WHERE

NH = AMOUNT OF ALL CL CLOUD PRESENT OR  IF NO CL IS PRESENT
THE AMOUNT OF ALL CM CLOUD PRESENT IN EIGHTHS OF CLOUD COVER.
CODE FIGURES 0 THROUGH 9 AND / ARE USED TO DEFINE CLOUD TYPES
AS DEFINED BY A CODE TABLE.

CL = TYPE OF LOW CLOUD PRESENT.

H =  HEIGHT ABOVE SURFACE OF THE LOWEST CLOUD SEEN AS DEFINED BY
A CODE TABLE.

CM = TYPE OF MID-LEVEL CLOUD PRESENT.

CH = TYPE OF HIGH-CLOUD PRESENT.
END
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