upatext

Sections

NAME
SYNOPSIS
PARAMETERS
DESCRIPTION
EXAMPLES
FILES
SEE ALSO

SYNOPSIS

upatext [parameters...] filename

PARAMETERS

Command Line	Resource	Default	Description
-h	help	No	Lists basic help information.
-df=filename	default	wxp.cfg	Sets the name of the resource file.
-na=name	name	the program name	Specifies the name used in resource file parsing.
-me=level	message	out2	Specifies level of messages to be displayed
-fp=path	file_path	the current directory	Specifies location of database files.
-dp=path	data_path	the current directory	Specifies the location of the input raw data files.
-cp=path	con_path	the current directory	Specifies location of decoded/converted data files
-nc=name_conv	name_conv	name.cnv or name_conv file	This sets which name convention file to use.
-if=in_file	in_file	program specific	Specifies the input file name tag.
-cu=[hour]	current	none	This specifies to use current data files.
-ho=hour	hour	none	Specifies the exact hour that a data file is valid for.
-id=ident[,ident...]	identifier	None	Specifies a station identifier to plot or parse for
-pa=param[,param...]	parameter	none	Specifies addition parameters to program.
filename (positional)	filename	none	Specify input filename

DESCRIPTION

This program displays upper air sounding data. The input to the program is a upper air converted file produced by the prog:upadec programs.

The programs starts off by prompting the user for input converted file name. The user may specify the input file either via the command line of through the current resource. The input naming convention is specified by the upa_cvt tag but this can be changed with the in_file resource.

Next, the user enters a station identifier. A list of available stations from the converted file is displayed. The stations are listed by their 3/4 letter IDs and not the 5 digit WMO number for ease of selection. Once the station is selected, the program prints out sounding information, and standard sounding parameters and indices.

Text Output

The first section is the station location information which is printed at message level out1a:

Date:0000Z 30 SEP 97
Station: ILX
WMO ident:  74560
Latitude:   40.15
Longitude: -89.33
Elevation: 178.00

The next section is the raw sounding data. This is a merged set of mandatory and significant level data. Additional computations are performed. Here is a list of the columns printed (all printed at mess level out1a [see red text] unless specified)

LEV -- level number. Special levels are denoted with SFC (surface), TRP (tropopause), WND (max wind).
PRES -- pressure of level in mb
HGHT -- geopotential height in m (intermediate levels interpolated using hypsometric approximation)
TEMP -- temperature in C
DEWP -- dewpoint in C
RH -- relative humidity in %
DD -- dewpoint depression in C (mess level out1b)
WETB -- wetbulb temperature in C (mess level out1b)
DIR -- wind direction in deg (intermediate levels interpolated using significant wind level data)
SPD -- wind speed in knt (intermediate levels interpolated using significant wind level data)
THETA -- potential temperature in K (mess level out1b)
THE-V -- virtual potential temperature in K (mess level out1b)
THE-W -- wetbulb potential temperature in K (mess level out1b)
THE-E -- equivalent potential temperature in K (mess level out1b)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LEV PRES  HGHT  TEMP  DEWP  RH  DD   WETB DIR SPD THETA THE-V THE-W THE-E   W
     mb     m     C     C    %   C     C  deg knt   K     K     K     K    g/kg
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  0 1000    -1                                                                 
SFC  980   178  26.4   6.4  28 20.0  14.7 280  19 301.3 302.4 288.6 319.7  6.15
  2  925   678  22.2   2.2  27 20.0  11.3 280  47 302.0 302.9 287.6 316.6  4.85
  3  850  1403  15.2  -0.8  33 16.0   7.1 280  46 302.1 302.8 287.1 315.0  4.24
  4  700  3001   0.0  -6.0  64  6.0  -2.6 295  50 302.5 303.1 286.5 313.2  3.49
...

The next section displays standard sounding parameters and indices. Most of the information is printed at message level out1d except for thickness, lifted, Showalter, total totals and K indices which is at message level out1c (red text).

Sounding variables and indices
1000-500 mb thick:      5631.00 m
Freezing level:          700.00 mb =  3001.00 m =  9845.68 ft
Wetbulb zero:            740.60 mb =  2536.94 m =  8323.18 ft
Precipitable water:        0.65 inches
Sfc-500 mean rel hum:     36.73 %
Est. max temperature:     27.28 C =   81.10 F
Sfc-Lift cond lev (LCL): 729.89 mb =  2656.89 m =  8716.74 ft T: 3.27 C
700-500 lapse rate:        4.68 C/km
ThetaE index:             11.23 C Layer  925.0- 598.0 mb
Conv cond level (CCL):   689.45 mb =  3121.77 m = 10241.90 ft
  Mean mixing ratio:       5.11 g/kg
  Conv temperature:       27.64 C =   81.75 F
Cap Strength:              3.86 C
Lifted Index:              5.67 C Risk: None
Lifted Index @300 mb:      7.03 C
Lifted Index @700 mb:      0.59 C
Showalter Index:           6.96 C Risk: None
Total Totals Index:       39.00 C Risk: None
  Vertical Totals Index:  27.50 C
  Cross Totals Index:     11.50 C
K Index:                  20.70   Risk: 20-40 % chance of thunderstorms
Sweat Index:             178.00   Risk: None
Energy Index:              1.12   Risk: None

The next section involves a parcel trajectory. The parcel is taken from some initial condition and raised vertically to the top of the sounding. The default parcel uses a 100 mb mean layer above the surface. The parcel type can be changed with the par plot parameter:

par=pres:temp:dew

Temperature and dewpoint are optional. If not specified, the sounding temperature
and dewpoint are used.

Type	Pres	Temp	Dew
pressure level	pres	temp	dew
surface level	sfc	temp	dew
max temperature	maxt	--	--
pressure layer	layer	thick	--

The data are printed at message level out2b except for CAPE, convective inhibition and cap strength which is printed at level out2a (red text).

Parcel Indices
Parcel: using 100 mb layer
CAPE (B+):                10.89 J/kg
Max Up Vert Vel:           4.67 m/s
Conv Inhibition (B-):     30.45 J/kg
Cap Strength:              5.49 C
Lift Cond Lev (LCL):     696.21 mb =  3044.15 m =  9987.25 ft
Lev Free Conv (LFC):     681.21 mb =  3217.42 m = 10555.70 ft
Equ Level (EL):          631.21 mb =  3818.50 m = 12527.73 ft
B at Equ Level:            7.84 J/kg
Max Parcel Lev (MPL):    611.21 mb =  4071.09 m = 13356.44 ft

The next section displays significant wind level data. Storm relative winds are computed based on a mean storm motion. This is computed using the mean wind of the lower 6km of the atmosphere. The storm direction is deflected 30 deg clockwise and the speed is 75% of the 6km mean speed. The output is at message level out3a (red text) except for the storm relative winds which is at out3b.

Wind level data
   Storm motion: 325 at  43 knt
----------------------------------------------------------
                   TRUE/GROUND REL   |     STORM REL
 LEV   P    H    DIR SPD   U     V   | DIR SPD   U     V
       mb   m        knt     m/s     |     knt     m/s
----------------------------------------------------------
  0   980   178  280  19  18.7  -3.3 | 170  32  -5.6  31.9 
  1   966   305  280  30  29.5  -5.2 | 190  30   5.3  30.0 
  2   932   610  275  46  45.8  -4.0 | 215  38  21.6  31.2 
  3   925   678  280  47  46.3  -8.2 | 219  35  22.0  27.0 
 ...

The next section is wind parameters and indices. This is printed at message level out2d except for mean winds, storm direction, helicity and energy-helicity index which are at level out2c (red text)

Wind Parameters
Mean winds (0-6000m):            295.4 at   57.0 knts
Storm direction:                 325.4 at   42.8 knts
Shear (0-3000m)              pos:    2.6 neg:    4.7 tot:    7.3 10-3/s
Storm rel Dir Shear (0-3000m):      69.6 deg
Storm rel helicity (0-3000m) pos:  310.7 neg:   -7.0 tot:  303.7 m^2/s^2
                             ave:  101.2 10^-3 m/s^2 rel:   0.84
Storm rel vorticity (0-3000m) horiz:    8.0 stream:    6.7 10^-3/s
Energy-Hel index:          0.02
Bulk Rich Number:          0.13
Bulk Shear:               85.84 m/s

The next section shows storm layer parameters. All of this information is printed at message level out3c.

Storm Parameters
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Depth  Mean    Inflow|    Shear      |           Helicity           | Vorticity
 AGL  Dir Spd Dir Spd|  Pos  Neg  Tot|  Pos   Neg   Tot   Ave   Rel |  Hor Strm
  m       knt     knt|     10^-3/s   |       m^2/s^2     m/s^2      | 10^-3/s
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 500  278  36 200  32|  0.0 28.8 28.8|225.6   0.0 225.6  451.2  1.00| 29.7 29.6
1000  279  41 210  33|  0.0 14.0 14.0|225.6  -7.0 218.6  218.6  0.94| 15.3 14.4
1500  280  43 213  33|  0.9  9.3 10.2|229.6  -7.0 222.6  148.4  0.88| 11.1  9.8
2000  281  44 215  33|  1.1  7.0  8.1|249.4  -7.0 242.5  121.2  0.89|  9.0  7.9
2500  282  45 217  32|  1.7  5.6  7.3|280.2  -7.0 273.2  109.3  0.89|  8.0  7.1
3000  284  45 219  31|  2.6  4.7  7.3|310.7  -7.0 303.7  101.2  0.84|  8.0  6.7
4000  289  47 225  28|  2.8  4.6  7.3|351.2  -7.0 344.3   86.1  0.75|  7.9  6.0
5000  294  51 237  26|  3.3  4.6  7.9|458.4  -7.0 451.4   90.3  0.73|  8.5  6.2
6000  295  57 248  29|  2.7  5.6  8.4|458.4-100.4 358.0   59.7  0.50|  9.0  4.5

EXAMPLES

ua_parse -cu=la -id=ILX -de=d

This displays sounding data for ILX.

FILES

upa.cty - the surface station location database file