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 An accurate version of this Office Note is still necessary for historical reference.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 indentification 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 figues 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 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 APPENDIX S.1 Report Identification ................................ 4 Category/Counter Group ............................... 5 APPENDIX S.2 Formats for the Categories of Data Category 51 - Surface Data ......................... 6 Category 52 - Surface Data ......................... 8 Category 08 - Additional Data Groups ............... 9 Category 09 - Plain Language Data .................. 9 APPENDIX S.3 Table SM.1 - Report Type .......................... 10 Table SM.8a - Code Figures and Specifications for Category 08 .................... 11 Table SM.8a.1 - Definitions of Symbols Used in Table SM.8a ........................ 13 Table SM.8b - Indicator for Specification .......... 15 Table SM.8c - Indicator for Form ................... 15 Table SM.9 - Content of Plain Language Data ....... 16 Table SM.51 - Markers for Parameters ............... 16 APPENDIX S.4 Sample Reports to Illustrate Formats ................. 17 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. APPENDIX S.1 (continued) 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. 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) | Category 51 -- Surface Data (continued) 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 Office Note 29) | * - No longer used. & - Includes one or more of the following: surface tag, ice concentration, ice age, ice edge, calculated surface type. APPENDIX S.3 (continued) 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). APPENDIX S.3 (continued) TABLE SM.8a -CODE FIGURES AND SPECIFICATIONS FOR CATEGORY 08 (cont.) 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 0TTTT).] | 600 | Original data values which have been corrected by Ocean Products | Center manual quality control ... DDDDD (see Table SM.8a.1 for | DDDDD). | APPENDIX S.3 (continued) 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). APPENDIX S.3 (continued) TABLE SM.8a.1 - DEFINITIONS OF SYMBOLS USED IN TABLE SM.8a (cont.) 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. wwwww = Wind speed in meters per second multiplied by ten. xxx = Minutes. zzz = Height above sea-level in meters multiplied by ten. APPENDIX S.3 (continued) 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). APPENDIX S.3 (continued) 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