Rapid Refresh (RAP) and High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) Forum

Re: Mid-level data missing?

Posted By: Stan Benjamin
Date: 13-March-06 2014Z

In Response To: Mid-level data missing? (Scott Dennstaedt)

Scott, The reason for the variation in vertical resolution in the RUC soundings is because the soundings use the RUC native isentropic-sigma levels (the best possible vertical resolution). The vertical resolution is coarser in near-adiabatic-lapse-rate layers, but can be very sharp in very thermally stable layers. Note the variation of vertical resolution from the RUC 1h forecast soundings for DEN today valid at 20z. The lapse rate is very steep (unstable) from 700-400mb (few RUC levels), but very stable above the tropopause at about 400 mb. I've included the text for this sounding below after your original question. -- Stan Benjamin Scott's original question: Why are some soundings rich in mid-level data and others are not? The 13 km RUC as I understand it, has 50 levels. I am sure these are not "evenly" spread through the troposphere. However, from time to time I will see an obvious gap in between layers especially in the mid-levels as if it is missing a level and other times the data seems pretty rich. Is there a reason for this or am I just imagining it? P_alt mb t/td w_dir/w_spd (ft) (deg C) (kts) 5571 827 -1.8/-7.30 33°/003 5620 825 -2.4/-7.60 34°/003 5725 822 -2.7/-7.90 32°/004 5879 817 -3.2/-8.20 30°/004 6089 811 -3.8/-8.50 30°/004 6401 801 -4.8/-8.90 30°/004 6719 791 -5.7/-9.20 24°/003 7041 781 -6.6/-9.90 6°/003 7362 771 -7.1/-13.4 328°/010 7690 762 -6.6/-14.3 317°/015 8022 752 -6.9/-16.6 310°/020 8356 742 -7.6/-18.8 305°/022 8694 732 -8.2/-21.1 304°/025 9035 722 -8.8/-22.9 303°/026 9383 713 -9.7/-23.7 302°/026 9826 700 -10.9/-24.7 301°/026 11473 656 -15.2/-28.6 295°/026 17743 500 -32.5/-41.0 281°/030 22910 400 -46.8/-51.1 270°/033 23346 393 -48.0/-52.0 265°/033 24685 369 -50.4/-54.8 267°/035 25043 363 -50.0/-54.8 268°/038 25331 358 -49.4/-54.6 270°/042 25627 353 -48.8/-54.5 272°/047 ... and so on with more levels above 353 mb.

Messages In This Thread

Mid-level data missing? -- Scott Dennstaedt -- 9-March-06 2112Z

Re: Mid-level data missing? -- Stan Benjamin -- 13-March-06 2014Z

Re: Mid-level data missing? -- Scott Dennstaedt -- 16-March-06 2131Z

Re: Mid-level data missing? -- Bill Moninger -- 16-March-06 2158Z

Re: Mid-level data missing? -- John Brown -- 16-March-06 2344Z

Re: Mid-level data missing? -- John Brown -- 17-March-06 2010Z

Rapid Refresh (RAP) and High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) Forum is maintained by RR/RAP Forum Administrators with WebBBS 5.12.