on124 - EMC
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
NATIONAL METEOROLOGICAL CENTER
OFFICE NOTE 124
(Updated version of June 1976 edition)
NMC/NCEP FORMAT FOR SURFACE REPORTS
Original
NMC Automation Division Staff
June 1976
FINAL Revision
Dennis A. Keyser
NCEP Environmental Modeling Center
MARCH 2001
Revision Number 4 to NMC/NCEP Office Note Number 124.
The date of this revision is March 16, 2001 (03/16/2001).
This office note describes the format for surface reports in the
NMC observational files. This revision represents the final
update to NMC/NCEP Office Note Number 124. This format for
representing meteorological surface observational data at NMC
(later NCEP) was discontinued in March 1997 when WMO FM 94-IX
Code Form: Binary Universal Format for the Representation of
meteorological data (BUFR) became operational at NCEP. WMO BUFR
remains the official observational data format at NCEP. An
accurate version of this Office Note is still necessary for
historical reference. This revision incorporates corrections
and expansion of the table specifying report type and additional
data code figures for certain meteorological parameters which
were previously unspecified.
Revision Number 3 (dated 2/1996) had also incorporated some
minor corrections and additions since Revision 2 which had been
made necessary by the January 1, 1982 synoptic code change. The
specifics of this change are explained in detail.
Information contained in the NMC observational surface synoptic
reports consists of combinations from the IBM EBCDIC character
set. A negative value is indicated by a minus (-) sign located
in the leftmost position. A positive value is unsigned.
A report is composed of two main parts: (1) the report
identification group of fixed length (50 characters), and (2)
the bookkeeping and the observational data of variable length.
Each report consists of 70 characters or more.
The information contained in the report identification group is
given in APPENDIX S.1. The last parameter in this group
contains the total number of ten-character words in the report
and thus provides the linkage from one report to the next so
that several reports may be contained in a block. The report
identification group is followed by the category/counter and
observational data groups as needed. The format of the
category/counter groups is described in APPENDIX S.1.
Observational data is formatted according to the categories
described in APPENDIX S.2. Where no data of a given category
exist, the category/counter group as well as the data will be
absent from the report. The final group in a report contains
the ten characters "END REPORT". The number of characters in
each category of data is evenly divisible by 10 and the
character "X" is used as fill if necessary. Because of this
and the length of the groups, the number of characters in a
report (including the "END REPORT") is also evenly divisible by
10. Reports are formatted such that the "END REPORT" signal is
found in the same block as the beginning of that report.
Following are the modifications made necessary by the
introduction of FM 12-VII and FM 13-VII January 1, 1982:
(1) The code figures for iR , iW , and iX are placed into character
characters 25, 26 and 27 respectively of the report identification
group.
(2) The second character of past weather W2, is located in the 36th
character of category 51. (This location was previously assigned
to the quality mark of the dewpoint depression.) The exception is
when a manual P, H or C flag is assigned to the dewpoint
depression, in which case this character is the quality mark of the
dewpoint depression.
(3) Category 08 code figures 110-149 give section and group number
information. For example, code figure 136 means the data are from
a 6-group in section 3 of FM 2-VII or FM 13-VII.
(4) Section 5 of WMO code FM 12-VII is stored in category 09. These
data are indicated by a 5 in the first character of the first group
only. The hourly (SA) data remarks section is stored in category
09 indicated by a 1 in the first character of each group.
(5) Pressure level indicator 1 has changed meaning from 1000 gpm to
1000 mb. (Several of the old indicators are no longer used.)
(6) tR, the length of time covered by the 6RRRtR group is located in
the 12th character of category 52. (This location was previously
assigned to Rt, time precipitation began.)
(7) Period of swell waves in category 52 has changed from a code figure
to seconds.
(8) The unit of wave height in category 52 has changed from half-yard
to half-meter.
(9) The units of 24-hour pressure change have been changed from a code
figure to tenths of millibars. If the pressure change is less than
zero the value stored is the absolute value (in tenths) plus 500.
(10) Certain reports are actually converted hourlies (stored with block
station identification and report type 511). The 37th character of
the report identification group indicates whether the report is a
converted hourly or a regular synoptic report (1=hourly, 9=regular
synoptic).
(11) Hourly reports (stored with call letter identification and report
type 512) have experienced no changes due to the January 1, 1982
code change.
LIST OF APPENDICES
Report Identification
Category/Counter Group
Formats for the Categories of Data
Category 51 - Surface Data
Category 52 - Surface Data
Category 08 - Additional Data Groups
Category 09 - Plain Language Data
Table SM.1 - Report Type
Table SM.8a - Code Figures and Specifications
for Category 08
Table SM.8a.1 - Definitions of Symbols Used in
Table SM.8a
Table SM.8b - Indicator for Specification
Table SM.8c - Indicator for Form
Table SM.9 - Content of Plain Language Data
Table SM.51 - Markers for Parameters
Sample Reports to Illustrate Formats
APPENDIX S.1
REPORT IDENTIFICATION (40 Characters)
______________________________________________________________________
Character| | |
Number(s)| Parameter | Unit | Remarks .
| | |
1 - 5 | Latitude * | Hundredths of degree | Negative if in
| | | So. Hemisphere
| | |
6 - 10 | WEST longitude * | Hundredths of degree | Values 00000 to
| | | 35999
| | |
11 - 16 | Station | Alphanumeric | Left justified,
| identification $| | blank fill
| | |
17 - 20 | Observation time *| Hundredths of hour | -----
| | (UTC) |
| | |
21 - 27 | Reserved | See @ below | -----
| characters | |
| | |
28 - 30 | Report type | Character from | Always an
| | Table SM.1 | integer
| | |
31 - 35 | Station | Meter | Negative if
| elevation * | | below sea
| | | level
| | |
36 | Synoptic format | ----- | See % below
| flag (land | |
| synoptic only) | |
| | |
37 | See $ below | |
| | |
38 - 40 | Total length | Number of | -----
| of report | ten-character words|
| | | .
* Whenever value is "missing" or not applicable, all characters for the
parameter will contain "9".
@ For report types 511-562 (see Table SM.1): Characters 21-24 hold receipt
time (hundredth of an hour, missing is 9999; characters 25-27 hold flags
iR, iW, iX.
For report types 571,573,574,576: Characters 21-22 hold the number of
individual retrievals that were used to produce this superob (missing or not
a superob get 99); characters 23-26 hold the standard deviation of the
individual retrievals that were used to produce this superob {units are 10
times that for datum in cat. 08 (see Tables SM.8a and SM.8a.1), missing or
not a superob get 9999}.
% New = 1, ASOS = 2, AWOS = 3, automatic other than ASOS or AWOS = 4,
manual = 9.
$ Either: converted hourly flag (hourly = 1, regular = 9) or location flag for
ships.
CATEGORY/COUNTER GROUP (10 Characters)
_____________________________________________________________________
Character|
Number(s)| Parameter .
|
41 - 42 | Category code figure from Appendix S.2
|
43 - 45 | Number of ten-character words in the report which
| precedes the next category/counter group plus one. *
|
46 - 47 | Number of times data format for current category is
| repeated (i.e., the number of levels or entries)
|
48 - 50 | Total number of characters in current category (fill
| characters not counted)
| .
* More simply stated, the relative position in the report of the
next category/counter group.
APPENDIX S.2
FORMATS FOR THE CATEGORIES OF DATA
Whenever values are "missing", all characters allowed
for that parameter will contain "9", except for quality
marks which will always be as stated.
Category 51 -- Surface data (60 characters each entry)
_________________________________________________________________________________
No. of | |
characters | Parameter | Unit .
| |
5 | Sea-level pressure (see Note 1) | Tenth of millibar
| |
5 | Station pressure | Tenth of millibar
| |
3 | Wind direction | Degree
| |
3 | Wind speed | Knot
| |
4 | Air temperature | Tenth of degree C
| |
3 | Dewpoint depression | Tenth of degree C
| |
4 | Maximum temperature | Tenth of degree C
| |
4 | Minimum temperature | Tenth of degree C
| |
1 | Quality mark for sea-level pressure | Character from Table SM.51
| |
1 | Quality mark for station pressure | Character from Table SM.51
| |
1 | Quality mark for wind | Character from Table SM.51
| |
1 | Quality mark for air temperature | Character from Table SM.51
| |
1 | Past weather (W2) (see Note 2) | WMO code table 4561
| |
3 | Horizontal visibility | WMO code table 4300
| |
3 | Present weather (WW) | WMO code table 4677
| |
2 | Past weather (W1) | WMO code table 4561
| |
2 | Fraction of the celestial dome | WMO code table 2700
| covered by cloud (N) |
| |
2 | Fraction of the celestial dome | WMO code table 2700
| covered by all the CL (or CM) |
| clouds present (Nh) |
| |
2 | Clouds of genera Sc, St, Cu, Cb (CL)| WMO code table 0513
| |
2 | Height above the ground of the base | WMO code table 1600
| of the cloud (h) |
| |
2 | Clouds of genera Ac, As, Ns (CM) | WMO code table 0515
| |
2 | Clouds of genera Ci, Cc, Cs (CH) | WMO code table 0509
| |
1 | Characteristic of pressure tendency | WMO code table 0200
| during the 3 hours preceding the |
| observation time (a) (see Note 3) |
| |
3 | Amount (magnitude) of the pressure | Tenth of millibar
| tendency (see Note 3) |
| | .
Note 1 - Reference Category 51, sea-level pressure (PPPPP), the following
information describes the method for accommodating the possible
values encoded in the 4PPPP group of FM 12-VII.
Characters Level Unit
PPPPP Sea level Tenth of millibar
21PPP 1000 mb Geopotential meter
25PPP 500 mb Geopotential meter
27PPP 700 mb Geopotential meter
28PPP 850 mb Geopotential meter
29PPP Unknown (as reported)
Note 2 - If character is P, H or C then this parameter is the quality mark
for dewpoint depression. (See Table SM.51.)
Note 3 - When the characteristic of the pressure tendency is 9 and the
amount of the pressure tendency is not 999, the tendency is a
24-hour pressure change in tenths of millibars unless less than
zero. In this case the stored value is the absolute value (in
tenths) of pressure tendency plus 500.
Category 52 -- Surface data (40 characters each entry)
_________________________________________________________________________________
No. of | |
characters | Parameter | Unit .
| |
4 | Amount of precipitation past 6 hours | Hundredth of an inch
| (see Note 1) |
3 | Total depth of snow on ground | Inch
| (see Note 2) |
| |
4 | Total precipitation past 24 hours | Hundredth of an inch
| (see Note 1) |
| |
1 | Duration of precipitation observation | Number of 6-hour
| | periods
| |
2 | Period of waves (see Note 3) | Second
| |
2 | Height of waves | Half meter
| |
2 | Direction from which swell waves are | WMO code table 0877
| moving |
| |
2 | Period of swell waves | Second
| |
2 | Height of swell waves | Half meter
| |
4 | Sea surface temperature | Tenth of degree C
| |
2 | Special phenomena, general | See Note 4
| |
2 | Special phenomena, detailed | See Note 4
| |
1 | Ship's course | WMO code table 0700
| |
2 | Ship's average speed | WMO code table 4451
| |
7 | Water equivalent of snow and/or ice | Hundredth of an inch
| | .
Note 1 - Trace is output as 9998.
Note 2 - Trace is output as 998.
Note 3 - No estimate due to confused sea. Output as 98.
Note 4 - Special phenomena, general, is missing (99) only if special
phenomena, detailed, is missing (99).
Category 08 -- Additional data (10 characters each entry)
_________________________________________________________________________________
No. of | |
characters | Parameter | Unit .
| |
5 | Data given by specifications |
| in Table SM.8a.1 (see Note 1) | Variable
| |
3 | Form of additional data in | Code figure from
| report (see Note 2) | Table SM.8a
| |
1 | Indicator for data | Character from Table
| specification | SM.8b
| |
1 | Indicator for form of | Character from Table
| additional data | SM.8c
| |
| | .
Note 1 - Value set to "missing" (99999) if not applicable or transmitted as
missing.
Note 2 - Entries will be ordered as encountered in report.
Category 09 -- Plain Language Data (12 characters each entry)
_________________________________________________________________________________
No. of | |
characters | Parameter | Unit .
| |
1 | Indicator of content of the | Character from Table
| plain language | SM.9
| |
11 | Plain language data | Alphanumeric text
| | .
APPENDIX S.3
TABLE SM.1 - REPORT TYPE (3 CHARACTERS)
_________________________________________________________
Code Figure | Type .
|
| Land station
511 | By block and station number (international
| index number)
512 | By call letters
513 | By latitude-longitude
|
| Ocean station
521 | Fixed (OWS)
522 | Moving ship with name
523 | Moving ship without name
|
| Marine platforms
531 | Fixed (stationary) (e.g., C-MAN)
* 532 | Moving
|
| Monitoring bogus
551 | Satellite moisture, mean sea-level pressure
|
| Buoys
561 | Moored
562 | Drifting
|
| Satellite
571 | SSM/I wind speed (ocean)
573 | SSM/I soil moisture
574 | SSM/I snow depth
& 575 | SSM/I additional products
576 | SSM/I surface temperature
|
| Upper-air, aircraft, satellite above surface
| (see NMC/NCEP Office Note 29)
|
| .
* - No longer used.
& - Includes one or more of the following: surface tag, ice
concentration, ice age, ice edge, calculated surface type.
TABLE SM.8a - CODE FIGURES AND SPECIFICATIONS FOR CATEGORY 08
____________________________________________________________________________
Code |
Fig. | Specification .
|
014 | Station international index (block and station) number.
|
020 | Altimeter setting (QNH) in tenths of mb .... ppppp (see Table
| SM.8a.1 for ppppp).
|
021 | Height below which it is clear .... 00CCC (see Table SM.8a.1 for
| CCC). (Has a different meaning in Office Note 29.)
|
080 | Sunshine data (see pg. C17-2 FMH#2). (Has a different meaning in
| Office Note 29.)
|
081 | Calendar day maximum temperature .... 00ttt (+) or 01ttt (-) (see
| Table SM.8a.1 for ttt). (Has a different meaning in Office Note
| 29.)
|
082 | Calendar day minimum temperature .... 00ttt (+) or 01ttt (-) (see
| Table SM.8a.1 for ttt). (Has a different meaning in Office Note
| 29.)
|
083 | Six-hour maximum temperature .... 00ttt (+) or 01ttt (-) (see
| Table SM.8a.1 for ttt). (Has a different meaning in Office Note
| 29.)
|
084 | Six-hour minimum temperature .... 00ttt (+) or 01ttt (-) (see
| Table SM.8a.1 for ttt). (Has a different meaning in Office Note
| 29.)
|
085 | Precipitation during past hour .... 0RRRR (see Table SM.8a.1 for
| RRRR). (Has a different meaning in Office Note 29.)
|
090 | Liquid equivalent of solid precipitation .... 93RRR (see Table
| SM.8a.1 for RRR). (Has a different meaning in Office Note 29.)
|
093 | Sea-level pressure bogus .... LLPPP (see Table SM.8a.1 for LL and
| PPP).
|
095 | Satellite moisture bogus .... LL0NN (see Table SM.8a.1 for LL and
| NN).
|
098 | Duration of sunshine for the calendar day .... 98xxx (see Table
| SM.8a.1 for xxx).
|
109 | Moored buoy anemometer height (meters multiplied by ten) ....
| 00zzz (see Table SM.8a.1 for zzz).
|
110 | Raw receipt data in FM-12 (SYNOP), FM-13 (SHIP) and FM-18
to | (DRIFTER) coded format. Second digit is Section no. (1-3) and
139 | third digit is Group no. (0-9). The exception is 119 which is
| the time of the report .... 9tttt (see Table SM.8a.1 for tttt).
|
140 | Raw receipt data in FM-12 (SYNOP), FM-13 (SHIP) and FM-18
to | (DRIFTER) coded format for Section no. 5. Third digit is Group
149 | no. (0-9).
|
196 | SSM/I surface wind speed (ocean, meters per second multiplied by
| ten) .... wwwww (see Table SM.8a.1 for wwwww).
|
199 | SSM/I surface temperature (degrees Kelvin) .... 00TTT (see Table
| SM.8a.1 for TTT).
|
201 | SSM/I soil moisture (millimeters) .... 00mmm (see Table SM.8a.1
| for mmm).
|
202 | SSM/I snow depth (millimeters) .... 00sss (see Table SM.8a.1 for
| sss).
|
210 | SSM/I surface tag .... 0000f (see Table SM.8a.1 for f).
|
211 | SSM/I ice concentration .... 00iii (see Table SM.8a.1 for iii).
|
212 | SSM/I ice age .... 0000a (see Table SM.8a.1 for a).
|
213 | SSM/I ice edge .... 0000e (see Table SM.8a.1 for e).
|
214 | SSM/I calculated surface type .... 000ss (see Table SM.8a.1 for
| ss).
|
255 | RESERVED [Used by GOES skin temperature in unpacked W3FI77 format
| (degrees Kelvin multiplied by ten) .... 0TTTT (see Table SM.8a.1
| for TTTT).]
|
600 | Original data values which have been corrected by Ocean Products
| Center manual quality control ... DDDDD (see Table SM.8a.1 for
| DDDDD).
| .
TABLE SM.8a.1 - DEFINITIONS OF SYMBOLS USED IN TABLE SM.8a
a = SSM/I ice age (0 = first year ice, 1 = multiyear ice).
CCC = Height above sea-level in hundreds of feet.
DDDD = The original data value determined by the data type.
The data type is indicated in Table SM.8b.
For pressure, pressure in millibars multiplied by ten.
For latitude, latitude in degrees multiplied by one
hundred (negative if southern hemisphere).
For longitude, longitude in degrees west(?) multiplied by
one hundred.
For air temperature, air temperature in degrees Celsius
multiplied by ten.
For water temperature, water temperature in degrees Celsius
multiplied by ten.
For wind, wind represented by ddfff (where dd is direction
in degrees divided by 10 and rounded to the nearest 10
degrees, and fff is speed in knots).
e = SSM/I ice edge (0 = no edge present, 1 = edge present).
f = SSM/I surface tag (0 = land, 1 = vegetation covered
land, 2 = near coast, 3 = multiyear ice, 4 = possible
ice, 5 = ocean, 6 = coast).
iii = Ice concentration in per cent.
LL = Level indicator; 99 means sea level, 97 means station
level (surface).
mmm = Soil moisture in millimeters.
NN = Relative humidity category indicator (01 through 13).
ppppp = Altimeter setting in tenths of millibars.
PPP = Pressure in whole millibars (last three digits).
RRR = Liquid water in inches times ten.
RRRR = Precipitation in inches times one-hundred.
ss = SSM/I calculated surface type (1 = vegetation, 3 = ice,
5 = ocean, 6 = coast, 7 = flooded condition, 8 = dense
vegetation, 9 = dense agriculture crops, 10 = dry
arable soil, 11 = moist soil, 12 = semi-arid surface,
13 = desert, 14 = precipitation over vegetation,
15 = precipitation over soil, 16 = composite
vegetation-water, 17 = composite soil-water-wet soil;
18 = dry snow, 19 = wet snow, 20 = refrozen snow).
sss = Snow depth in millimeters.
ttt = Temperature in degrees Celsius multiplied by ten (even
tenths digit indicates positive, odd tenths digit
indicates negative).
tttt = Time in hours (UTC) multiplied by one hundred plus
minutes.
TTT = Temperature in degrees Kelvin.
TTTT = Temperature in degrees Kelvin multiplied by ten.
wwwww = Wind speed in meters per second multiplied by ten.
xxx = Minutes.
zzz = Height above sea-level in meters multiplied by ten.
Quality Mark Tables for Categories 08, 09, 51, 52
TABLE SM.8b - INDICATOR FOR SPECIFICATION
________________________________________________________________________
Character | Meaning .
|
blank | Not specified
P (see $) | Data type is pressure
L (see $) | Data type is latitude
G (see $) | Data type is longitude
T (see $) | Data type is air temperature
S (see $) | Data type is water temperature
W (see $) | Data type is wind
| .
$ - Applies only to code figure 600.
TABLE SM.8c - INDICATOR FOR FORM
________________________________________________________________________
Character | Meaning .
|
blank | Not specified
0 (see $) | Refers to good accuracy
1 (see $) | Refers to fair accuracy
2 (see $) | Refers to suspect accuracy
3 (see $) | Refers to poor accuracy
7 (see $) | Refers to out-of-bounds value
| .
4 digits 4 digits
transmitted output .
0 (see *) XXXX XXXX
1 (see *) XXX/ XXX9
2 (see *) XX/X XX9X
3 (see *) XX// XX99
4 (see *) X/XX X9XX
5 (see *) X/X/ X9X9
6 (see *) X//X X99X
7 (see *) X/// X999
8 (see *) /XXX 9XXX
9 (see *) /XX/ 9XX9
A (see *) /X/X 9X9X
B (see *) /X// 9X99
C (see *) //XX 99XX
D (see *) //X/ 99X9
E (see *) ///X 999X
F (see *) //// 9999
* - Applies only to code figures 110-149.
$ - Applies only to code figure 196 (non-superobs).
TABLE SM.9 - CONTENT OF PLAIN LANGUAGE DATA
________________________________________________________________________
Character | Content .
|
1 | Remarks section from SA (hourly) report
2 | Section 5 (or other) from FM 12-VII or FM13-VII report
| .
TABLE SM.51 - MARKERS FOR PARAMETERS
_______________________________________________________________________
Character| Parameter| Meaning | Local BUFR
| | | Table Value.
-- all surface data types --
blank | Any | Not specified | 7
H | Any | Monitor keep | 0(see *)
P | Any | Monitor purge |14(see *)
A | PMSL | Good agreement between PMSL & PSTN | 1(PMSL/PSTN)
B | PMSL | Disagreement between PMSL & PSTN |13(PMSL/PSTN)
D | PMSL | Fair agreement between PMSL & PSTN | 5(PMSL/PSTN)
| | at high elevations |
-- land surface data only --
C | PMSL | Missing PSTN for which expected | 9 (PMSL)
-- marine surface data only --
A | Wind | Wind measurement by anemometer | 5
C |PMSL,wind,| Corrected value, by O.P. Center | 4
|temp,tdep | manual q. control (eff: 3/15/89) |
D | PSTN | Unreliable PMSL from a ship report |12(PMSL/PSTN)
| | (reject list) | (see $)
| | | .
Note: Here, PMSL refers to mean sea-level pressure and PSTN refers
to station pressure.
* Overrides any other BUFR table values previously assigned.
$ Overrides any other BUFR table values previously assigned to PMSL).
APPENDIX S.4
SAMPLE REPORTS TO ILLUSTRATE FORMATS
Typical land station other than blocks 70-74
070930086701001 12001223191511000091901551012010600993699999
350023-08803399999999 20200360308080803101020050801502020
69901116 091137139 0END REPORT
Typical land stations from blocks 70-74
035400976072353 12001223392511003971901551012010601013209672
180010005007201390050A 0749999900999909999930050901602024
51047 058047************XXXXXXEND REPORT
Typical hourly (SA) report
0422007253CEF 12001155999512000759902351012010601009899999
300010022701199999999 0400109903030602101010075201701040
0003999999999999999999999999999999999999080190101074491014 0
9023020241 20003 WET 1RWY XXXXXXEND REPORT
Typical moving ship (without name)
0264022200SHIP 12001242444523000009901751012010601018099999
060011018504099999999 A 0989999908080506101020205201701040
9999999999990101999999019099990000099999END REPORT