High-resolution profiles of atmospheric state: the Merged sounding, Interpolated sounding, and humidity-corrected sounding value-added products

Description

Brookhaven National Laboratory has been producing radiosonde-related value-added products (VAP) for a significant time. The products that are currently available are (1) Mergesonde version 1, (2) Mergesonde version 2, (3) Sonde_Adjust, and (4) Interpolated_sonde. This poster highlights the scientific basis, the functionality, and the status of each of these VAPS. The high-time-resolution thermodynamic profiles—including both Mergesonde versions and Interpolated_sonde—serve as inputs into various other VAPS such as MICROBASE, BBHRP, RIPBE, and KAZR-ARSCL. Sonde_Adjust corrects well-known humidity problems found in the Vaisala RS-80, RS-90, and RS-92 radiosondes. Data from this VAP is used in Mergesonde version 2.

The two merged sounding VAPs produce one-minute temporal resolution profiles of atmospheric state including thermodynamic and wind quantities. Version 1 creates profiles to 20 km above mean sea level, whereas version 2 achieves heights of 60 km above mean sea level. Each version uses available ECMWF output fields to augment the data from radiosondes, surface meteorology instrumentation, and the microwave radiometer (MWR). Interpolated_sonde uses data from the radiosonde, surface meteorology, and MWR to produce near-real-time profiles of atmospheric state parameters, but does not incorporate the ECMWF fields. This product was developed to quicken the processing of the new KAZR-ARSCL and scanning radar VAPs where high resolution profiles of winds and water vapor are needed for attenuation correction and velocity de-aliasing algorithms.