t1edr - Derives temperature, height and wind profiles from SSM/T1 datasets.

SYNOPSIS

t1edr  [ parameter=value ... ]  [ inputfile ... ]

Parameters are: af_elevation, method, 1000mb_height, constant_height, wind, centered, satelxy, raindiag.

DESCRIPTION

t1edr derives atmospheric temperature, height and wind profiles from the SSM/T1 TeraScan datasets output by the DMSP ingest functions rtdin and rdsin. t1edr implements the Air Force Global Weather Center (AFGWC) D-matrix algorithm to compute temperature and heights at standard pressure levels, along with the the tropopause temperature and pressure. In addition to the seven SSM/T1 brightness temperatures, the calculation takes into account the latitude zone, elevation, season and viewing angle of each SSM/T1 footprint. The geostrophic winds at the standard pressure levels and thermal winds between these levels are computed as diagnostics based on the derived heights.

The named input files must be SSM/T1 TeraScan datasets output from the DMSP ingest functions rtdin and rdsin. Thus, the input filenames must have the suffix ".t1_s", meaning SSM/T1 sensor dataset. Output filenames are generated to have the same form as the input filenames, except with the suffix ".t1_e", meaning SSM/T1 environmental dataset.

The output datasets contain essentially three dimensions: lines, samples and pressure levels. The number of lines depends on the length of the satellite pass being processed. The number of samples is fixed by the SSM/T1 to be 7 (see centered below). The number of pressure levels is 15. These denote the following fixed-pressure surfaces: 1000, 850, 700, 500, 400, 300, 250, 200, 150, 100, 70, 50, 30, 20 and 10 millibars. These pressure level values are stored in the one-dimensional output variable press_levels.

The temperature, pressure height and wind profiles, along with the layer thickness, are each stored as three-dimensional variables. The vertical dimension of the temperature, pressure height and geostrophic wind profiles is 15 levels, while for the thickness and thermal wind profiles, it is 14 layers. The first layer represents the layer between 1000 mb and 850 mb, the second represents the layer between 850 and 700 mb, and so on. A one-dimensional variable called press_midlevels contains linearly interpolated millibar values signifying the pressure at these layers. The output dataset also contains the following two-dimensional (lines and samples) variables: tropopause pressure, tropopause temperature, rain indicator (Boolean), zone, season, geography type, and elevation.

The zone values indicate:

            Zone
         ----------------------------------
         1  :  Tropics       (< 30 Degrees)
         2  :  Mid-latitudes
         3  :  High-latitudes(> 60 Degrees)

The season values indicate:

          Season
         ------------
         1  :  Fall
         2  :  Winter
         3  :  Spring
         4  :  Summer

The geography values indicate:

         Geography
         ---------------
         1  :  Ocean
         2  :  Land
         3  :  Ice
         4  :  Coast

Output datasets can be examined using the functions xvu, printvar, contents, burst, stats, etc.

PARAMETERS

af_elevation

If af_elevation=yes, then the AFGWC elevation dataset is used for the retrieval scheme. This dataset is stored in the form of an "1/8 meso-scale (mesh) grid". Each hemisphere contains 512 x 512 points, with the pole at the center of the grid; therefore the resolution is approximately 1/3 degree. The elevation at each SSM/T1 footprint is assigned the elevation of the grid point that has its center closest to the center of the sensor footprint. If af_elevation=no, then the elevation dataset is the etop05 topography dataset. This dataset is provided at 5 minute intervals over the globe; therefore, the grid contains (12 x 360) x (12 x 180) points (i.e., 1/12 degree resolution). See parameter method to specify options for assigning the elevation value to SSM/T1 footprints when using the etop05 dataset.

Valid responses are [yes or no]. The default is yes.

method

If af_elevation=no, then the value of method determines the manner in which the etop05 elevation values are assigned to individual SSM/T1 footprints. Since the size of the SSM/T1 footprint near nadir is about 175 km and the etop05 elevation dataset has a resolution of about 9 km (or less), several options are provided for specifying the elevations.

Use the elevation value closest to the sensor footprint center.

Use the mean of the elevation values within an area approximately the size of a SSM/T1 footprint at nadir.

Use the median of the elevation values within an area approximately the size of a SSM/T1 footprint at nadir.

Use the maximum elevation value within an area approximately the size of a SSM/T1 footprint at nadir.

Use the minimum elevation value within an area approximately the size of a SSM/T1 nadir footprint.

Note: processing time is least for method=center.

Valid responses are [center, mean, median, max, min]. The default is mean.

1000mb_height

This parameter determines the way the 1000mb height is obtained. This height is the value which the atmospheric thickness are stacked onto to compute the standard pressure heights. If 1000mb_height=contant, then the user is prompted to provide the constant value (in meters). If 1000mb_height=nmc_clim, then the twelve-month global climatology from the National Meteorological Center's 10-year analysis is used. This dataset is on a 2.5 x 2.5 degree rectangular grid.

Valid responses are [constant or nmc_clim]. The default is constant.

constant_height

If 1000mb_height=yes, then the value of this parameter specifies the height in meters of the 1000mb pressure surface for the profiles in the output dataset.

Valid responses are [>= 0]. The default is 110.0.

wind

If wind=yes, then the geostrophic and thermal winds are calculated from the derived height profiles. The geostrophic winds at a given pressure level are based on the gradients of the height surface at that pressure level. The thermal winds for the layers between pressure levels are calculated as differences between the geostrophic winds at the layer above minus that at the layer below. (See Wallace and Hobbs, 1977). Note: no absolute wind information is available for the calculation so these geostrophic winds are relative, and thus not anchored to a given absolute "known" wind at a given pressure level. The wind variables are output as two components, "east" and "north" (see satelxy below).

Valid responses are [yes or no]. The default is no.

centered

If centered=yes, then the numerical differential scheme to compute the geostrophic winds is the centered differencing scheme, except for edge points. If centered=no, then the differences are averages of two pairs of adjacent points.

       Points 1,2,3,4 represent gridpoints.
       o represents the center grid point.

                                  3    y
           centered=yes:         1o2   ^
                                  4    |
                                       -->x
           centered=no:          12
                                 34

If centered=yes, then the x derivative is determined from points 2 - 1, and the y derivative is determined from points 4 - 3. The output value is at location 'o' above. Thus the input grid and output grid are the same. If either the x or y derivative is missing then both components of the wind vector are set to missing. Edge lines and samples are calculated based on the 'o' point, and for example, the points 2 and 4 for the vector in the upper left corner of the image.

If centered=no, then the x derivative is determined from average of points 2 - 1 and points 4 - 3, and the y derivative is determined from average of points 3 - 1 and points 4 - 2. If only one pair of the two derivative differences is available, the difference is still computed. If either the x or y derivative cannot be calculated, then both components of the wind vector are set to missing. The output value is at a new point at the center of points 1, 2, 3, 4. Thus in this case, the output grid for the wind vectors has one less line and sample and is shifted by a half line and sample. This option provides a slightly smoother output and will usually result in fewer dropouts.

Valid responses are [yes or no]. The default is yes.

satelxy

OPTIONAL. Instructs t1edr to output winds that are in satellite coordinates, with along track and along scan components, rather than east and north wind components. In this case, the wind variables have a naming convention of "scan" and "track", rather than "east" and "north".

The default value is no. This parameter can only be set by an explicit specification on the command line.

raindiag

OPTIONAL. Instructs t1edr to print out diagnostic information for footprints which may be contaminated by precipitation.

The default value is no. This parameter can only be set by an explicit specification on the command line.

EXAMPLES

This example shows how to execute t1edr on an SSM/T1 dataset created in the manner shown in the EXAMPLES section of rtdin. For this example, raindiag was turned on, and the 1000mb height was set to 110 meters. The output indicates that two profiles may be contaminated by rain.

% t1edr raindiag=y
input file(s)  : char(255) ? f11.92351.1415_t1_s
af_elevation   : char(  3) ? [yes]
1000mb_height  : char(  8) ? [constant]
constant_height: real      ? [110]
wind           : char(  3) ? [yes]
centered       : char(  3) ? [yes]

Processing f11.92351.1415_t1_s
SSMT/1 data starts at 14:15:19.371 GMT on 92/12/16.

*** LIQ H2O > 0.5 KG/M**2 *** LAT= 42.5 LON=-134.9, Line= 12 Sample= 1,
    Channel 1 Temp = 247.4, View Angle = 36, View = 4, Zone = 2,
    Season = 1, Terrain Type = 1, Precip. Thresh =   245
*** LIQ H2O > 0.5 KG/M**2 *** LAT= 42.0 LON=-131.9, Line= 12 Sample= 2,
    Channel 1 Temp = 244.2, View Angle = 24, View = 3, Zone = 2,
    Season = 1, Terrain Type = 1, Precip. Thresh =   240

TDF data set f11.92351.1415_t1_e created.

Below is the description of the output dataset given by contents.

% contents f11.92351.1415_t1_e
printout       : char(  3) ? [no]
Contents of File: f11.92351.1415_t1_e    Page 1

Dimension       Size            Coord           Scale      Offset
 mt1line           24            y                  1           0
 mt1samp            7            x                  1           0
 standard_levels   15            ?                  1           0
 standard_layers   14            ?                  1           0

Attribute       Type            Units           Value
 projection      long            std_projection  sensor_scan
 et_affine       double                          1 0 0 1 0 0
 satellite       string12                        f-11
 sensor          long            std_sensor      ssmt1
 pass_date       long            std_date        92/12/16
 start_time      double          std_time        14:15:19.371
 time_adjust     double          std_time        00:00:00
 attitude        double          radians         0 0 0
 sensor_tilt     double          radians         0
 scan_samples    long                            7
 scan_rates      double                          0.03125 0.333333 -0.0698132
 sensorient      double          radians         0 0.785398 0 0.628319
                                                  -0.628319
 orb_elem_date   long            std_date        92/12/16
 orb_elements    double                          0.237152 0.829383 4e-05
                                                  0.0012575 0.697166 0.72245
                                                  0.274848
 history         byte

Variable        Type            Units
 temp_profile    short           kelvin
 press_heights   float           meters
 layer_thick     float           meters
 press_levels    float           millibars
 trop_temp       short           kelvin
 trop_press      float           millibars
 rain_flag       byte
 zone            byte
 season          byte
 geography_type  byte
 elevation       short           meters
 geos_wind_east  short           m/s
 geos_wind_north short           m/s
 thrm_wind_east  short           m/s
 thrm_wind_north short           m/s

Variable        Dimension       Size
 temp_profile    mt1line           24
 temp_profile    mt1samp            7
 temp_profile    standard_levels   15
 press_heights   mt1line           24
 press_heights   mt1samp            7
 press_heights   standard_levels   15
 layer_thick     mt1line           24
 layer_thick     mt1samp            7
 layer_thick     standard_layers   14
 press_levels    standard_levels   15
 trop_temp       mt1line           24
 trop_temp       mt1samp            7
 trop_press      mt1line           24
 trop_press      mt1samp            7
 rain_flag       mt1line           24
 rain_flag       mt1samp            7
 zone            mt1line           24
 zone            mt1samp            7
 season          mt1line           24
 season          mt1samp            7
 geography_type  mt1line           24
 geography_type  mt1samp            7
 elevation       mt1line           24
 elevation       mt1samp            7
 geos_wind_east  mt1line           24
 geos_wind_east  mt1samp            7
 geos_wind_east  standard_levels   15
 geos_wind_north mt1line           24
 geos_wind_north mt1samp            7
 geos_wind_north standard_levels   15
 thrm_wind_east  mt1line           24
 thrm_wind_east  mt1samp            7
 thrm_wind_east  standard_layers   14
 thrm_wind_north mt1line           24
 thrm_wind_north mt1samp            7
 thrm_wind_north standard_layers   14

Variable         BadValue    ValidMin    ValidMax       Scale      Offset
 temp_profile           0      -32768       32767        0.01           0
 press_heights       -999 -3.4028e+38  3.4028e+38           1           0
 layer_thick         -999 -3.4028e+38  3.4028e+38           1           0
 press_levels -3.4028e+38 -3.4028e+38  3.4028e+38           1           0
 trop_temp              0      -32768       32767        0.01           0
 trop_press             0 -3.4028e+38  3.4028e+38           1           0
 rain_flag            255           0         255           1           0
 zone                 255           0         255           1           0
 season               255           0         255           1           0
 geography_type       255           0         255           1           0
 elevation         -32768      -32768       32767           1           0
 geos_wind_east    -32768      -32768       32767         0.1           0
 geos_wind_north   -32768      -32768       32767         0.1           0
 thrm_wind_east    -32768      -32768       32767         0.1           0
 thrm_wind_north   -32768      -32768       32767         0.1           0

FILES

$REFDATA/ssp/t1aabb.tdf, $REFDATA/ssp/af_geog.tdf, $REFDATA/ssp/af_elev.tdf, $REFDATA/bathy/etop05, $REFDATA/ssp/nmc_1000mb.tdf, $SATDATA/f-*/t1dmatrix.tdf

SEE ALSO

dmsp, ols, ssmt, geoph, rtdin, rdsin, t2edr, miedr, datasets.

NOTES

System Summary Report Passive Microwave Sounder (SSM/T). Aerojet, Report 5542, CDRL A006, 23 November 1977.

Tactical Applications of DMSP Microwave Temperature Sounders (SSM/T) and Imager (SSM/I) Data. R.G. Isaacs and J.C. Barnes, Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc., Cambridge, MA., 1985.

Wallace, J.M. and P.V Hobbs, Atmospheric Science: An Introductory Survey. Academic Press, San Diego, CA. 1977.


Last Update: $Date: 2000/11/20 19:13:50 $