Vertical Levels

When a program uses upper air data (observed or forecasted), a vertical level needs to be specified. This value can also be set with the level resource.

        Vertical Level Menu

  1: Sea level                       12: 150 mb                        
  2: Surface                         13: 100 mb                        
  3: 1000 mb                         14: 70 mb                         
  4: 925 mb                          15: 50 mb                         
  5: 850 mb                          16: 30 mb                         
  6: 700 mb                          17: 20 mb                         
  7: 500 mb                          18: 10 mb                         
  8: 400 mb                          19: Tropopause                    
  9: 300 mb                          20: Max wind                      
 10: 250 mb                          21: Whole sounding                
 11: 200 mb                        
  0: Back to previous menu           -1: Exit program                  

Enter the level:

The items in the level menu can be tailored in the ".lev" menu file. This will allow the user to toggle items on and off based on model type and forecast time.

Specifying Vertical Levels

The menu lists standard pressure levels but other levels can also accessed. A specific level can be entered with its value and units:

Value	Description
	Special Levels
snd	Entire vertical column or whole sounding
sfc	Surface level
sfc[100]	surface level with 100 mb above surface layer average (parcel trajectory)
sl	Sea level
frz	Freezing level
lcl	Lifted condensation level (LCL)
sea	Sea surface
mwnd	Maximum wind level
trop	Tropopause level
top	Top of the atmosphere (not used)
whole	Whole atmosphere
top_frz	Top most freezing level
lcld_bot	Bottom of low cloud layer
lcld_top	Top of low cloud layer
lcld_lyr	Low cloud layer
mcld_bot	Bottom of middle cloud layer
mcld_top	Top of middle cloud layer
mcld_lyr	Middle cloud layer
hcld_bot	Bottom of high cloud layer
hcld_top	Top of high cloud layer
hcld_lyr	High cloud layer
conv_bot	Bottom of convective cloud layer
conv_top	Top of convective cloud layer
conv_lyr	Convective cloud layer
	Pressure Levels
430mb	430 mb level (pressure)
sfc[100]-500	Surface to 500 mb trajectory with 100 mb mean layer average
850-500mb	850-500 mb layer
sfc-850mb	surface to 850 mb layer
p430	430 mb pressure level
p850-500	850-500 mb layer

10mb_ag	10 mb above ground level
10-40mb_ag	10-40 mb above ground layer
	Potential Temperature Levels
310k	310 K potential temperature level (isentropic)
310-330k	310-330 K isentropic layer
k310	310 K isentropic level
k310-330	310-330 K isentropic layer
	Height Levels
2000m	2000 meter level (height)
2000ft	2000 foot level
2000-5000m	2000-5000 meter layer
2000-5000ft	2000-5000 foot layer
h2000	2000 meter level
h2000-5000	2000-5000 meter layer

50m_ag	50 meters above ground level
50ft_ag	50 foot above ground level
50cm_bg	50 cm below ground level
50-200m_ag	50-200 meters above ground layer
50-200ft_ag	50-200 foot above ground layer
50-200cm_ag	50-200 cm below ground layer
	Miscellaneous Levels
97sig	.97 sigma level
97-91sig	.97-.91 sigma layer
97eta	.97 eta level
97-91eta	.97-.91 eta layer
2lev	2nd level
2-5lev	2nd-5th level layer

level	use the value of the level resource (used in var files)
miss	missing level, take first available

Last updated May 30, 1998