t2edr - Derives humidity, dew point and water vapor profiles from SSM/T datasets.

SYNOPSIS

t2edr  [ parameter=value ... ]  [ inputfile ... ]

Parameters are: af_elevation, method, dew_point, rh_calc, regress_150, maxrh, minrh, maxsh, minsh, maxwv, minwv.

DESCRIPTION

t2edr derives atmospheric humidity, dew point, and water vapor profiles from SSM/T2 brightness temperature datasets. t2edr implements the Air Force Global Weather Center (AFGWC) D-matrix algorithm to compute relative and specific humidity at standard pressure levels, along with the water vapor mass in between these levels. In addition to the five SSM/T2 brightness temperatures, the calculation uses the first four SSM/T1 brightness temperatures, the 1000, 850 and 750 millibar derived heights (t1edr), and takes into account the elevation and viewing angles of the sensor footprints. Dew point values are calculated as a diagnostic from the derived temperature profiles (t1edr) and either the specific or relative humidity profiles (see rh_calc below).

The named input files must be SSM/T2 TeraScan datasets output from the DMSP ingest functions rtdin(1) or rdsin(1). Thus, the input filenames must have the suffix ".t2_s", meaning SSM/T2 sensor dataset. As indicated above, t2edr also requires the corresponding SSM/T1 sensor and environmental datasets. These two datasets should reside in the same directory as the SSM/T2 sensor dataset and have filename suffixes ".t1_s" and ".t1_e", respectively. Except for these suffixes, their filenames should have the same form as the SSM/T2 input filename. Output filenames are generated to have the same form as the input filenames, except with the suffix ".t2_e", meaning SSM/T2 environmental dataset.

The output datasets contain essentially three dimensions: lines, samples and pressure levels. The number of lines depends on the length of the satellite pass being processed. The number of samples is fixed by the SSM/T2 to be 28. The number of pressure levels is 6. These denote the following fixed-pressure surfaces: 1000, 850, 700, 500, 400 and 300 millibars. These pressure level values are stored in the one-dimensional output variable press_levels.

The relative humidity, specific humidity, dew point temperature, dew point depression, along with the water vapor mass, are each stored as three-dimensional variables. The vertical dimension of the humidity and dew point profiles is 6 levels, while for the water vapor variable, it is 7 layers. The first layer represents the layer between the surface and 1000 mb, the second represents the layer between 1000 and 850 mb, and so on. A one-dimensional variable called press_midlevels contains linearly interpolated millibar values signifying the pressure at these layers, hence 350 mb for the layer between 300 and 400 mb, and 150 mb for the layer above 300 mb. Note: since information about the surface pressure is not known, the first layer is (somewhat arbitrarily) assigned the value 1025 mb.

The output dataset also contains the following two-dimensional (lines and samples) variables: geography type, quality flag, atmospheric type and elevation.

The geography types and their meanings are as follows:

			Geography Types
   			---------------
			1    :    Ocean
			2    :    Land
			3    :    Ice
			4    :    Coast

The values of the quality flag and their meanings are as follows:

	               Quality Flag
	------------------------------------------------
	0 : "good" retrieval
	1 : retrieval that may be contaminated by clouds
	       (liquid water > 0.15 kg/m2)
	2 : missing retrieval due to missing SSM/T2 data
	3 : missing retrieval due to missing SSM/T1 data
	4 : bad retrieval due to an algorithm error

	Note: When the height of a pressure level lies
	below the elevation, the retrievals for that
	level are set to bad value regardless of the
	value of the Quality Flag.

The atmospheric types and their meanings are as follows:

		     Atmospheric Types
		-----------------------------
		01 - 05 : Ocean
		06 - 08 : Land at 0000 meters
		09 - 11 : Land at 1500 meters
		12 - 14 : Land at 3000 meters
		15 - 17 : Land at 4500 meters
		18 - 20 : Land at 6200 meters
		21 - 22 : Sea Ice
		23 - 25 : Coast

Output datasets contain the processing history (see audit) of the SSM/T1 and SSM/T2 sensor datasets and the SSM/T1 environmental datasets. Output datasets can be examined using the functions xvu, printvar, contents, burst, stats, etc.

PARAMETERS

af_elevation

If af_elevation=yes, then the AFGWC elevation dataset is used for the retrieval scheme. This dataset is stored in the form of an "1/8 meso-scale (mesh) grid". Each hemisphere contains 512 x 512 points, with the pole at the center of the grid; therefore the resolution is approximately 1/3 degree. The elevation at each SSM/T2 footprint is assigned the elevation of the grid point that has its center closest to the center of the sensor footprint. If af_elevation=no, then the elevation dataset is the etop05 topography dataset. This dataset is provided at 5 minute intervals over the globe; therefore, the grid contains (12 x 360) x (12 x 180) points (i.e., 1/12 degree resolution). See parameter method to specify options for assigning the elevation value to SSM/T2 footprints when using the etop05 dataset.

Valid responses are [yes or no]. The default is yes.

method

If af_elevation=no, then the value of method determines the manner in which the etop05 elevation values are assigned to individual SSM/T2 footprints. Since the size of the SSM/T2 footprint near nadir is about 175 km and the etop05 elevation dataset has a resolution of about 9 km (or less), several options are provided for specifying the elevations.

Use the elevation value closest to the sensor footprint center.

Use the mean of the elevation values within an area approximately the size of a SSM/T2 footprint at nadir.

Use the median of the elevation values within an area approximately the size of a SSM/T2 footprint at nadir.

Use the maximum elevation value within an area approximately the size of a SSM/T2 footprint at nadir.

Use the minimum elevation value within an area approximately the size of a SSM/T2 nadir footprint.

Note: processing time is least for method=center.

Valid responses are [center, mean, median, max, min]. The default is mean.

dew_point

Specifies whether dew point temperature and dew point depression profiles are to be calculated.

The default value is [no].

rh_calc

Since the specific and relative humidities are derived independently, they are not necessarily consistent with the derived (SSM/T1) temperature values for the given pressure surface. When rh_calc=yes, the the dew point temperature and dew point depression are calculated from the derived relative humidity. When rh_calc=no, the dew point values are calculated from a relative humidity computed from the derived specific humidity, temperature, and pressure level value.

The default value is [yes].

regress_150

OPTIONAL. Specifies whether the 150 Ghz channel is to be computed via linear regression for passes acquired after June, 1993. See NOTES.

The default value is [yes]. This parameter can only be set by an explicit specification on the command line.

maxrh

OPTIONAL. Specifies the maximum "good" value for relative humidity retrievals (in percent), values exceeding this are set to bad value.

The default value is [95]. This parameter can only be set by an explicit specification on the command line.

minrh

OPTIONAL. Specifies the minimum "good" value for relative humidity retrievals (in percent), values below this are set to bad value.

The default value is [0]. This parameter can only be set by an explicit specification on the command line.

maxsh

OPTIONAL. Specifies the maximum "good" value for specific humidity retrievals (in gm/kg), values exceeding this are set to bad value.

The default value is [95]. This parameter can only be set by an explicit specification on the command line.

minsh

OPTIONAL. Specifies the minimum "good" value for specific humidity retrievals (in gm/gk), values below this are set to bad value.

The default value is [0]. This parameter can only be set by an explicit specification on the command line.

maxwv

OPTIONAL. Specifies the maximum "good" value for water vapor retrievals (in kg/m2), values exceeding this are set to bad value.

The default value is [95]. This parameter can only be set by an explicit specification on the command line.

minwv

OPTIONAL. Specifies the minimum "good" value for water vapor retrievals (in kg/m2), values below this are set to bad value.

The default value is [0]. This parameter can only be set by an explicit specification on the command line.

EXAMPLES

This example shows how to execute t2edr on an SSM/T2 dataset created in the manner shown in the EXAMPLES section of rtdin. This example assumes that t1edr has already been executed as shown in the EXAMPLES section of that manual page.

% t2edr
input file(s)  : char(255) ? f11.92351.1415_t2_s
af_elevation   : char(  3) ? [yes]
dew_point      : char(  3) ? [no] y
rh_calc        : char(  3) ? [yes]

Processing f11.92351.1415_t2_s
SSM/T2 data starts at 14:15:19.371 GMT on 92/12/16.
TDF data set f11.92351.1415_t2_e created.

% contents f11.92351.1415_t2_e
printout       : char(  3) ? [no]
Contents of File: f11.92351.1415_t2_e    Page 1

Dimension       Size            Coord           Scale      Offset
 mt2line           98            y                  1           0
 mt2samp           28            x                  1           0
 standard_levels    6            ?                  1           0
 standard_layers    7            ?                  1           0

Attribute       Type            Units           Value
 projection      long            std_projection  sensor_scan
 et_affine       double                          1 0 0 1 0 0
 satellite       string12                        f-11
 sensor          long            std_sensor      ssmt2
 pass_date       long            std_date        92/12/16
 start_time      double          std_time        14:15:19.371
 time_adjust     double          std_time        00:00:00
 attitude        double          radians         0 0 0
 sensor_tilt     double          radians         0
 scan_samples    long                            28
 scan_rates      double                          0.125 5.303 -0.267751
 sensorient      double          radians         0 0.785398 0 0.706858
                                                  -0.706858
 orb_elem_date   long            std_date        92/12/16
 orb_elements    double                          0.237152 0.829383 4e-05
                                                  0.0012575 0.697166 0.72245
                                                  0.274848
 history         byte

Variable        Type            Units
 press_levels    float           millibars
 press_midlevels float           millibars
 rel_humidity    float           percent
 spec_humidity   float           gm/kg
 dew_point       short           celsius
 dew_point_dep   short           celsius
 water_vapor     float           kg/m3
 geography_type  byte
 quality_flag    byte
 atmos_type      byte
 elevation       short           meters

Variable        Dimension       Size
 press_levels    standard_levels    6
 press_midlevels standard_layers    7
 rel_humidity    mt2line           98
 rel_humidity    mt2samp           28
 rel_humidity    standard_levels    6
 spec_humidity   mt2line           98
 spec_humidity   mt2samp           28
 spec_humidity   standard_levels    6
 dew_point       mt2line           98
 dew_point       mt2samp           28
 dew_point       standard_levels    6
 dew_point_dep   mt2line           98
 dew_point_dep   mt2samp           28
 dew_point_dep   standard_levels    6
 water_vapor     mt2line           98
 water_vapor     mt2samp           28
 water_vapor     standard_layers    7
 geography_type  mt2line           98
 geography_type  mt2samp           28
 quality_flag    mt2line           98
 quality_flag    mt2samp           28
 atmos_type      mt2line           98
 atmos_type      mt2samp           28
 elevation       mt2line           98
 elevation       mt2samp           28

Variable            BadValue    ValidMin    ValidMax       Scale      Offset
 press_levels    -3.4028e+38 -3.4028e+38  3.4028e+38           1           0
 press_midlevels -3.4028e+38 -3.4028e+38  3.4028e+38           1           0
 rel_humidity         -10000      -32768       32767        0.01           0
 spec_humidity        -10000      -32768       32767        0.01           0
 dew_point            -10000      -32768       32767        0.01           0
 dew_point_dep        -10000      -32768       32767        0.01           0
 water_vapor          -10000      -32768       32767        0.01           0
 geography_type          255           0         255           1           0
 quality_flag            255           0         255           1           0
 atmos_type              255           0         255           1           0
 elevation            -32768      -32768       32767           1           0

FILES

$TSCANROOT/refdata/ssp/af_geog.tdf $TSCANROOT/refdata/ssp/af_elev.tdf $TSCANROOT/refdata/bathy/etop05 $TSCANROOT/refdata/satel/f-*/t2dmatrix.tdf $TSCANROOT/refdata/satel/f-*/t2alphabeta.tdf

SEE ALSO

dmsp, ols, ssmt, geoph, rtdin, rdsin, t1edr, miedr, datasets.

NOTES

In June, 1993 the 150 Ghz channel went out of specification. For passes acquired after this date, the 150 Ghz channel is computed via multiple linear regression from the other four SSMT/2 channels and the first four SSMT/1 channels. The regression coefficients are supplied by the Air Force Global Weather Center.

References:

System Summary Report for the SSM/T-2 Water Vapor Profiling Sensor Hardware Segment. Aerojet, Report 9538, CDRL 035A2, 18 June 1980.


Last Update: $Date: 1998/05/29 20:52:54 $