SGP/SONDE/C1 - Possibly bad pressure sensor or operator data entry error

There is a discrepency between the surface pressure and temperature data entered by the 
operator and that recorded by the THWAPS.  Review of the raw data from the radiosonde shows 
that the pressure was periodically varying by as much as 12 hPa (~988 to 1000)in the 
time period before launch.  The operator entry of 998.2 is at the high end of this range - 
the concurrent THWAPS reading was about 988.4 at the low end.  The operator entered 
temperature 6.2 degC is considerably higher than the THWAPS value of 1.8.  The pre-flight log 
entry for this sounding is missing from the OMIS database.  If not for the extremely 
unstable pressure reading I would have assumed this was an operator error.  It will take some 
more research to figure out what is going on.

• Surface dew point temperature(dp)
• Time offset from base_time(base_time)
• surface wind speed(wspd)
• model zonal wind velocity(u_wind)
• Relative humidity scaled, by total column amount from MWR(rh)
• north latitude for all the input platforms.(lat)
• Ascent Rate(asc)
• pressure at constant pressure surface(pres)
• Wind Direction(deg)
• Wind Status(wstat)
• east longitude for all the input platforms.(lon)
• Dry-Bulb Temperature(tdry)
• Time offset of tweaks from base_time(time_offset)
• model meridional wind velocity(v_wind)
• altitude above sea levelaltunits(alt)

SGP/MMCR/C1 - Power supply failure

A power supply failed in the MMCR's receiver.  During the period of this DQR, the radar 
would appear to work but the calibration is probably incoorect during good portions of this 
time.  The power supply was replaced and normal operation resumed at 2115 on 02/11/2005.

• Bottom Height of Hydrometeor Layer from Composite (MMCR/Campbell et al. MPL)
  Algorithms(CloudLayerBottomHeightMplCamp)
• LASER Cloud Base Height Best Estimate(CloudBaseBestEstimate)
• Time offset from base_time(base_time)
• Bottom Height of Hydrometeor Layer from Composite (MMCR/Clothiaux et al. MPL)
  Algorithms(CloudLayerBottomHeightMplCloth)
• Time offset of tweaks from base_time(time_offset)
• Top Height of Hydrometeor Layer from Composite (MMCR/Campbell et al. MPL)
  Algorithms(CloudLayerTopHeightMplCamp)
• Top Height of Hydrometeor Layer from Composite (MMCR/Clothiaux et al. MPL)
  Algorithms(CloudLayerTopHeightMplCloth)

• Peak tranmitted power, averaged over the course of the hour(PeakTransmittedPowerAvg)
• Receiver Gain(RxGain)
• Range Corrected Calibrated Power(RangeCorrectedPower)
• Receiver 290K Level(Rx290KLevel)
• Number of Gate Heights(NumHeights)
• Mean Noise Level(NoiseLevel)
• radar mode char identifier(ModeDescription)
• Receiver Cal Time Stamp(RxCalTimeStamp)
• Time offset from base_time(base_time)
• MMCR Spectral Width(SpectralWidth)
• Pulse Width(PulseWidth)
• Number of Code Bits(NumCodeBits)
• Power (uncalibrated)(Power)
• RadarWaveLength(m) / [4 * InterPulsePeriod(s) * NumCoherentIntegrations](NyquistVelocity)
• Circular Depolarization Ratio(CircularDepolarizationRatio)
• Receiver Mode(ReceiverMode)
• Signal to noise ratio(SignalToNoiseRatio)
• Time offset of tweaks from base_time(time_offset)
• Range Heights (center of radar sample volume)(heights)
• TWT Status Code, details forthcoming from MMCR vendor(TWTStatusCode)
• Current Receiver Number(ReceiverNumber)
• Number of Coherent Integrations(NumCoherentIntegrations)
• Time associated with hourly averaged values(TimeAvg)
• altitude above sea levelaltunits(alt)
• Receiver Cal Check Level(CalCheckLevel)
• Average Noise Level (S/N<0)(AvgNoiseLevel)
• Delay to First Range Gate(StartGateDelay)
• Number of Points in FFT(NumFFT)
• Receiver Cal Check Time Stamp(CalCheckTime)
• MMCR Mean Doppler Velocity(MeanDopplerVelocity)
• Inter-Pulse Period(InterPulsePeriod)
• DC Filtering ON-OFF Status(DCFilterONOFF)
• Windowing ON-OFF Status(WindowingONOFF)
• Number of Receiver(NumReceivers)
• Receiver Sky Noise(SkyNoiseLevel)
• north latitude for all the input platforms.(lat)
• Minimum detectable reflectivity(MinimumDetectableReflectivity)
• Time Spacing Between Gates(GateSpacing)
• Operating Set for this Record(ModeNum)
• MMCR Reflectivity(Reflectivity)
• Data Quality Status(DataQualityStatus)
• Number of Spectral Averages(NumSpectralAverages)
• Max. height of clutter removal(ClutterHeight)
• Time offset from midnight of date of file. For CO data, this is identical to
  time_offset and is included for compatibility.(time)
• east longitude for all the input platforms.(lon)
• Radar Constant(RadarConstant)

• Raw data stream - documentation not supported(raw)

• Rx bandwidtch switch code(Switch)
• Pulse Width(PulseWidth)
• altitude above sea levelaltunits(alt)
• Number of Coherent Integrations(NumCoherentIntegrations)
• east longitude for all the input platforms.(lon)
• Spectral Data(Spectra)
• Delay to First Range Gate(StartGateDelay)
• Time offset from base_time(base_time)
• Time Spacing Between Gates(GateSpacing)
• Inter-Pulse Period(InterPulsePeriod)
• Range Heights (center of radar sample volume)(Heights)
• Number of Spectra Averaged(NumSpectraAveraged)
• Number of Gate Heights(NumHeights)
• Time offset of tweaks from base_time(time_offset)
• north latitude for all the input platforms.(lat)
• Delay thgrough Rx(Delay)
• Number of Code Bits(NumCodeBits)
• Number of Ffts(NumFft)

• Top Height of Hydrometeor Layer from Composite (MMCR/Clothiaux et al. MPL)
  Algorithms(CloudLayerTopHeightMplCloth)
• Bottom Height of Hydrometeor Layer from Composite (MMCR/Campbell et al. MPL)
  Algorithms(CloudLayerBottomHeightMplCamp)
• MPL Campbell et al. Algorithm Cloud Base Height(CloudBaseMplCamp)
• MPL Scott Algorithm Cloud Base Height(CloudBaseMplScott)
• MMCR Mean Doppler Velocity(MeanDopplerVelocity)
• MMCR Top Height of Lowest Detected Layer before Clutter Removal(RadarFirstTop)
• MPL Clothiaux et al. Algorithm Cloud Base Height(CloudBaseMplCloth)
• Microwave Radiometer Wet Window/Optical Rain Gauge Cloud Base Height(CloudBasePrecipitation)
• MMCR Signal-to-Noise Ratio(SignaltoNoiseRatio)
• MMCR Spectral Width(SpectralWidth)
• BLC/VCEIL Standard Algorithm Cloud Base Height(CloudBaseCeilometerStd)
• MMCR Reflectivity with Clutter Removed(ReflectivityNoClutter)
• MPL Campbell et al. Algorithm Cloud Mask Occurrence(CloudMaskMplCamp)
• LASER Cloud Base Height Best Estimate(CloudBaseBestEstimate)
• Time offset from base_time(base_time)
• MMCR Mode I.D.(ModeId)
• Range Heights (center of radar sample volume)(Heights)
• MPL Clothiaux et al. Algorithm Cloud Mask Occurrence(CloudMaskMplCloth)
• Time offset of tweaks from base_time(time_offset)
• MMCR Best Estimate of Hydrometeor Reflectivity(ReflectivityBestEstimate)
• BLC/VCEIL Clothiaux et al. Algorithm Cloud Base Height(CloudBaseCeilometerCloth)
• Bottom Height of Hydrometeor Layer from Composite (MMCR/Clothiaux et al. MPL)
  Algorithms(CloudLayerBottomHeightMplCloth)
• MMCR Reflectivity(Reflectivity)
• Top Height of Hydrometeor Layer from Composite (MMCR/Campbell et al. MPL)
  Algorithms(CloudLayerTopHeightMplCamp)

SGP/SONDE/C1 - Increased precision for alt, dp, pres, rh, tdry

The output precision of the following variables was increased 20060928

alt  changed from 1m to 0.1m
dp   changed from 0.1degC to 0.01degC
pres changed from 0.1 hPa to 0.01 hPa
RH   changed from 1%RH to 0.01%RH
tdry changed from .1degC to 0.01degC

Note that the increase in precision does not necessarily imply an increase in accuracy.  
Users are cautioned to continue to use their best scientific judgement when using these or 
any other data.

• Surface dew point temperature(dp)
• Dry-Bulb Temperature(tdry)
• Relative humidity scaled, by total column amount from MWR(rh)
• pressure at constant pressure surface(pres)
• altitude above sea levelaltunits(alt)