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1988•Bulletin of the American Meteorological SocietyRequires access

Geopotential Height Errors in NWS Rawinsonde Data at Denver

Charles G. Wade, Stanley L. Barnes

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Abstract

A recent examination of Denver National Weather Service radiosonde data has revealed an error in the procedure used to establish the surface baseline pressure for Denver soundings obtained between 14 April 1983 and 2 March 1988. As a result of this error the baroswitch was improperly set on each sounding, resulting in geopotential heights that average from 16 to 30 m too low. This article alerts users of the Denver data to the existence and nature of this problem and shows the effect that such subtle bias errors in radiosonde height data can have on derived quantities such as geostrophic vorticity.

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What this paper is about

A recent examination of Denver National Weather Service radiosonde data has revealed an error in the procedure used to establish the surface baseline pressure for Denver soundings obtained between 14 April 1983 and 2 March 1988. As a result of this error the baroswitch was improperly set on each sounding, resulting in geopotential heights that average from 16 to 30 m too low. This article alerts users of the Denver data to the existence and nature of this problem and shows the effect that such subtle bias errors in radiosonde height data can have on derived quantities such as geostrophic vorticity.

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Available abstract

A recent examination of Denver National Weather Service radiosonde data has revealed an error in the procedure used to establish the surface baseline pressure for Denver soundings obtained between 14 April 1983 and 2 March 1988. As a result of this error the baroswitch was improperly set on each sounding, resulting in geopotential heights that average from 16 to 30 m too low. This article alerts users of the Denver data to the existence and nature of this problem and shows the effect that such subtle bias errors in radiosonde height data can have on derived quantities such as geostrophic vorticity.

Key concepts: Radiosonde, Geopotential height, Geostrophic wind, Geopotential, Meteorology, National weather service, Depth sounding, Climatology

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