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Title: Comprehensive aerological reference data set (CARDS)

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/548872· OSTI ID:548872
; ;  [1]
  1. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Asheville, NC (United States). National Climatic Data Center; and others

The possibility of anthropogenic climate change has reached the attention of Government officials and researchers. However, one cannot study climate change without climate data. The CARDS project will produce high-quality upper-air data for the research community and for policy-makers. The authors intend to produce a dataset which is: easy to use, as complete as possible, as free of random errors as possible. They will also attempt to identify biases and remove them whenever possible. In this report, they relate progress toward their goal. They created a robust new format for archiving upper-air data, and designed a relational database structure to hold them. The authors have converted 13 datasets to the new format and have archived over 10,000,000 individual soundings from 10 separate data sources. They produce and archive a metadata summary of each sounding they load. They have researched station histories, and have built a preliminary upper-air station history database. They have converted station-sorted data from their primary database into synoptic-sorted data in a parallel database. They have tested and will soon implement an advanced quality-control procedure, capable of detecting and often repairing errors in geopotential height, temperature, humidity, and wind. This unique quality-control method uses simultaneous vertical, horizontal, and temporal checks of several meteorological variables. It can detect errors other methods cannot.

Research Organization:
Department of Commerce, Asheville, NC (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Research, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AI05-90ER61011
OSTI ID:
548872
Report Number(s):
DOE/ER/61011-T5; ON: DE98001238; TRN: 97:005835
Resource Relation:
Other Information: PBD: [1997]
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English