NOAA/ESRL Radiosonde Database Home Page

ESRL Radiosonde Database
Station History Files
Download Access Software
Data Restrictions / Disclaimer

OVERVIEW

The REAL-TIME ARCHIVE

The radiosondearchive is comprised of all global GTS observations. The same decoding and extensive QC analysis are run on each observations and is consisent with data on the CDROM/DVD archive. Data is stored in the same randomly accessible compressed data format. Users can access this data from GSL's web site.. In 2007, we completed a merge of GTS global data available thru NCDC's IGRA project, with the observations we have collected at ESRL/GSD. The merged dataset contains significantly more observations than were available from either dataset. An inventory of the data available online.

Quality Control Procedures

Most questions regarding the processing of the data can be answered by reading the official NOAA Technical Memorandum: "A Hydrostatically Consistent North American Radiosonde Data Base At The Forecast Systems Laboratory, 1946-Present" . This PDF document is 67MB so it may take a few minutes to download. Please refer to this document for answers to any technical questions that are not answered elsewhere on this website.

STATION HISTORY

The station history is an integral part of the radiosonde archive. Information contained in the station history are required for output of data. As a result, a sounding will not be output unless a corresponding entry exists in the station history file. We strive to maintain an updated station history tracking changes of location, station identifiers and dates station moves as they occur. You are encouraged to update your copy of this station history frequently.

Two history files are used: international sites and north american sites . Both files are required for the global archive, only the North American file is used by the CDrom product.

DATABASE ACCESS SOFTWARE

Data is stored in binary for efficient storage and flexible access. A database access routine was been written to speed your access to the observations needed. The user can select for output to the screen or file: a single station or multiple stations for a defined time period, or all stations within a specified geographic region in either synoptic or station sort. Data can be output in 4 currently supported data formats: two ASCII ESRL formats, a GTS format, and a NetCDF format.

Reports consist of data taken at mandatory, significant, and WMO regional and significant (PPBB) wind levels General information about radiosonde data is available from the Federal Meteorological Handbooks.

`Data Disclaimer / Restrictions`

Please note: This is recent, research-quality data that has not been subjected to production quality control procedures. Nor has the data acquisition system been designed to be continuously-available for operational use.

We are making this available for research use, but be warned that the Global Systems Laboratory makes no guarantees as the the accuracy, timeliness or availability of this service or data provided by it. We cannot be held responsible for any circumstances resulting from its use, unavailability, or possible inaccuracy. We reserve the right to suspend or discontinue this service or portions thereof at any time.

We also reserve the right to deny access to any individual or organization that we determine is abusing this service. Examples of abuse include automated transfers resulting in excessive data requests (because it hinders others from accessing the service) and attempting to gain access to documents and host machines not intended for public use.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Global Systems Laboratory (GSL)

Prepared by: Mark Govett, mark.w.govett@noaa.gov