Overview of Automated QA - March 1995

low is an overview by Mark Shafer of the automated quality
assurance results for the March 1995 Oklahoma Mesonet data.


On the 7th and 8th there
were several pressure sensors (CAMA, CHAN, MAYR, MINC, SHAW, and
STIL) which had suspect and warning flags.  The problems were noted
only during those two days for those sites, so I suspect there was
some sort of weather-related phenomenon which caused the problems.
I recall some discussion a couple of years ago about water getting
sucked up into the pressure tube and causing some blockage.  I have
a feeling the further back we go, the more of these problems we
will see.  I guess that's the nature of the learning curve when you
establish a network 
PROBLEM SITES:
--------------

CALV  TS05      entire month, range failures.  It was flagged as 3 in
                badparm on 05/17; apparently repaired on 06/28.

FAIR  TB10      23rd - 31st; failing spatial check.  Badparm flag of 2
                issued on 04/02; instrument apparently replaced on 05/09.

MEDI  PRES      17th - 21st; every observations for those days flagged
                either warning or failure.  No badparm flag but problems
                ceased on the 21st.

RING  PRES      22nd - 29th; every observations for those days flagged
                either warning or failure.  Flag set to 3 in badparm on
                the 27th; instrument apparently relaced on the 29th.

BATV            BURB (3rd), BURN (1th), CHER (24th) and COOK (25th).
                All problems appeared sporadic.  COOK TS10 and TB10
                also had 7-8 failures on the 25th, perhaps attributed
                to battery voltage problems.

LEAF            Persistent problems: FTCB (1st), GRAN (1st), IDAB (4th),
                MARE (2nd) and PAUL (1st).
                Sporadic problems: ALTU (8th), BOWL (8th), CLAY (16th),
                LAHO (5th) and TIPT (3rd).

• -180.0 - +180.0(alt)
• accumulated rainfall since 00GMT except at 00 GMT, the number given is the total
  accumulation for the past 24 hours(prec_amt)
• vector average wind magnitude(wvec_10m)
• Time offset from base_time(time_offset)
• Retrieved pressure profile(pres)
• standard deviation of wind speed(wspd_sigma)
• average wind run (arithmetic average speed) at 10m(wspd_10m)
• vector average of wind direction measured at 10m(wdir_10m)
• air temperature at 1.5m(tdry_1_5m)
• base time in epoch(base_time)
• lon(lon)
• maximum 3-second wind speed within the 5-minute averaging period(wspd_max)
• average wind speed at 2m(wspd_2m)
• Relative Humidity (hybrid-b grid)(rh)
• air temperature at 9m(tdry_9m)
• solar radiation(srad)
• standard deviation of wind direction(wdir_sigma)
• North Latitude(lat)

• leaf wetness index, measurement of dew ranging from 0 (dry) to 100(wet)(leaf_ind)
• -180.0 - +180.0(alt)
• soil temperature at 5 cm beneath natural sod cover(tsoil5)
• 10 cm soil temp(tsoil10)
• soil temperature at 5 cm beneath bare soil(tbare5)
• Average battery voltage(vbat)
• base time in epoch(base_time)
• lon(lon)
• soil temperature at 10cm beneath bare soil(tbare10)
• soil temperature at 30 cm beneath bare soil(tbare30)
• Time offset from base_time(time_offset)
• North Latitude(lat)