Airborne doppler radars dynamical fields: data format

Airborne doppler radars dynamical fields data set description page

Airborne doppler radars dynamical fields data set

Each file name *.dat is made by appending the beginning date and time
in the YYYYMMDDHHMISS format to the method ident (MAND for MANDOP). Each file
contains a header of 2 lines followed by a data block of nx*ny*nz lines.

General comment
---------------
a- The horizontal wind components are relative to the system's advection
(that is, the relative wind components in the storm-relative moving frame).
If the absolute wind components are needed, just add the advection (cx,cy)
given in the header to these relative horizontal wind components.
b- In order to maximize the amount of processed measurements each retrieval
is performed in a frame (X, Y, z) that has been rotated through an angle
alfa (counterclockwise from East) from the (x=East, y=North, z) frame.

Header organization (line 1 to 3)
--------------------

Line No Parameter Meaning                                       Unit      Format
--- -- ---------  --------------------------------------------  ----      ------
 1   1 provider  Scientist and laboratory who provided the dataset         a25
 1   2 method                                                              a25
 1   3 version                                                             a11
 1   4 timestamp                                                YYMMDD     a6

 2   1 niop      Processed IOP                                             i3
 2   2 ref_lat   Reference latitude corresponding to the lower  dec.degr   f9.3
 2               left corner of the retrieval box
 2   3 ref_lon   Reference longitude corresponding to the lower dec.degr   f9.3
 2               left corner of the retrieval box
 2   4 alfa      Rotation angle of the retrieval box            dec.degr   f9.3
 2   5 nx        Number of points along the X-direction                    i3
 2   6 ny        Number of points along the Y-direction                    i3
 2   7 nz        Number of points along the z-direction                    i3
 2   8 deltax    Horizontal resolution along the X-direction    kilometers f8.3
 2   9 deltay    Horizontal resolution along the Y-direction    kilometers f8.3
 2  10 deltaz    Vertical resolution                            kilometers f8.3
 2  11 cx        Eastward advection component                   m/s        f8.3
 2  12 cy        Northward advection component                  m/s        f8.3

 3   1 beg_date  Begin date and time                        YYYYMMDDHHMISS a14
 3   2 end_date  End date and time                          YYYYMMDDHHMISS a14
 3   3 ref_date  Reference date and time                    YYYYMMDDHHMISS a14

Data block organisation
-----------------------

 No Parameter Meaning                                  Unit           Form. Miss
 -- --------- ---------------------------------------- ----           ----- ----

  1 alt       Altitude                                 km             f4.1
  2 xlat      Latitude                                 dec.degr       f7.2
  3 xlon      Longitude                                dec.degr       f7.2
  4 u         Eastward wind component                  m/s            f8.2 9999.
  5 v         Northward wind component                 m/s            f8.2 9999.
  6 w         Vertical wind component                  m/s            f8.2 9999.
  7 ref       Reflectivity                             dBz            f8.2 -100.

Example to read data in FORTRAN format:

c To define variables:
      integer niop,nx,ny,nz
      real ref_lat,ref_lon,alfa,deltax,deltay,deltaz,cx,cy
      real alt,xlat,xlon,u,v,w,ref
      character*14 beg_date,end_date,ref_date
      character*25 provider,method
      character*12 version
      character*6 timestamp

c To read data with a Fortran format:
c     Header
c     ------
      read(unit=1,fmt='(A25, 1X, A25, 1X, A12, 1X, A6)')
     +     provider,method,version,timestamp
      read(unit=1,fmt='(I3, 3F9.3, 3I3, 5F8.3)')
     +     niop,ref_lat,ref_lon,alfa,nx,ny,nz,deltax,deltay,deltaz,cx,cy
      read(unit=1,fmt='(A14, 1X, A14, 1X, A14)')
     +     beg_date,end_date,ref_date

c     Data
c     ----
      DO k=1, nz
         DO i=1, nx
            DO j=1, ny
               read (unit=1,fmt='(F4.1, 2F7.2, 4F8.2)')
     +               alt,xlat,xlon,u,v,w,ref
            ENDDO
         ENDDO
      ENDDO