MADIS Satellite Wind Variables

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Code       Name                                    Units      Max     Notes      Database
                                                           QC Level*            FSL  AWIPS
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All Wind Products                                                       1        
-----------------

DD        wind direction                           deg          1       2        X     X
FF        wind speed                               m/s          1       2        X     X
U         u wind component                         m/s          1       2        X     X
V         v wind component                         m/s          1       2        X     X
HT        pressure altitude                        m            0       3        X     X
RFF       CIMMS/NESDIS recursive filter flag                    0       4        X
QINM      EUMETSAT quality indicator, no model                  0       4        X **
QIWM      EUMETSAT quality indicator, with model                0       4        X **
LSM       Land/sea mask                            code         0       5        X **  X
LEVTYPE   level type                               code         0       6        X     X


Infrared Cloud-Drift                                                    1        
--------------------

DDIR      wind direction                           deg          1       2        X     X
FFIR      wind speed                               m/s          1       2        X     X
UIR       u wind component                         m/s          1       2        X     X
VIR       v wind component                         m/s          1       2        X     X
HTIR      pressure altitude                        m            0       3        X     X
RFFIR     CIMMS/NESDIS recursive filter flag                    0       4        X
QINMIR    EUMETSAT quality indicator, no model                  0       4        X **
QIWMIR    EUMETSAT quality indicator, with model                0       4        X **
LSMIR     Land/sea mask                            code         0       5        X **  X


Visible Cloud-Drift                                                     1        
-------------------

DDVIS     wind direction                           deg          1       2        X     X
FFVIS     wind speed                               m/s          1       2        X     X
UVIS      u wind component                         m/s          1       2        X     X
VVIS      v wind component                         m/s          1       2        X     X
HTVIS     pressure altitude                        m            0       3        X     X
RFFVIS    CIMMS/NESDIS recursive filter flag                    0       4        X
QINMVIS   EUMETSAT quality indicator, no model                  0       4        X **
QIWMVIS   EUMETSAT quality indicator, with model                0       4        X **
LSMVIS    Land/sea mask                            code         0       5        X **  X


Water Vapor Motion                                                      1        
------------------

DDWV      wind direction                           deg          1       2        X     X
FFWV      wind speed                               m/s          1       2        X     X
UWV       u wind component                         m/s          1       2        X     X
VWV       v wind component                         m/s          1       2        X     X
HTWV      pressure altitude                        m            0       3        X     X
RFFWV     CIMMS/NESDIS recursive filter flag                    0       4        X
QINMWV    EUMETSAT quality indicator, no model                  0       4        X **
QIWMWV    EUMETSAT quality indicator, with model                0       4        X **
LSMWV     Land/sea mask                            code         0       5        X **  X


Sounder Channel 10 (7.4 um) Water Vapor Motion                          1        
----------------------------------------------

DDS10     wind direction                           deg          1       2        X     X
FFS10     wind speed                               m/s          1       2        X     X
US10      u wind component                         m/s          1       2        X     X
VS10      v wind component                         m/s          1       2        X     X
HTS10     pressure altitude                        m            0       3        X     X
RFFS10    CIMMS/NESDIS recursive filter flag                    0       4        X
QINMS10   EUMETSAT quality indicator, no model                  0       4        X **
QIWMS10   EUMETSAT quality indicator, with model                0       4        X **
LSMS10    Land/sea mask                            code         0       5        X **  X


Sounder Channel 11 (7.0 um) Water Vapor Motion                          1        
----------------------------------------------

DDS11     wind direction                           deg          1       2        X     X
FFS11     wind speed                               m/s          1       2        X     X
US11      u wind component                         m/s          1       2        X     X
VS11      v wind component                         m/s          1       2        X     X
HTS11     pressure altitude                        m            0       3        X     X
RFFS11    CIMMS/NESDIS recursive filter flag                    0       4        X
QINMS11   EUMETSAT quality indicator, no model                  0       4        X **
QIWMS11   EUMETSAT quality indicator, with model                0       4        X **
LSMS11    Land/sea mask                            code         0       5        X **  X

Notes

  1. The user can select the different wind product types individually (e.g., DDIR will retrieve only data for the infrared cloud-drift winds), or can choose to get all wind product types with the same variable call (DD will get data for all available product types).

    The availability of each product type, and the exact algorithms being used to create them, are a function of the satellite data provider. Currently, MADIS supports two processing streams: GOES operational products (3 hour availability, all types), and GOES experimental products (1 hour availability, no sounder channel products). The GOES experimental products are only available in the FSL database.

    For more information on GOES wind products, see:

    Daniels, J.M., C. Velden, G.A. Dengel, D.R. Stettner, and W. Bresky, 2003: Status and Development of GOES Wind Products at NOAA/NESDIS. 12th Conference on Satellite Meteorology, Feb 9-13, 2003. This paper is online at: http://ams.confex.com/ams/pdfview.cgi?username=53647.

  2. Wind speed and direction are reported and stored in the database. The user can optionally select u & v wind components and those will be calculated and returned. The QC results from speed and direction will be used In either case, and if one of the map projections has been selected via the MSETDOM call, the winds will be rotated to match the projection.

  3. Pressure is the vertical coordinate reported in the satellite wind products, and is returned along with the horizontal coordinates (lat/lon) in the MSATWNDSTA call. If a height coordinate is desired, the user can select the HT variable, and the MADIS API will use the U.S. Standard Atmosphere calculation to return a pressure altitude.

  4. The results of the automated quality control schemes used in the production of the satellite winds at NESDIS are available via the MADIS API. These include the CIMMS/NESDIS recursive filter flag (RFF) and the EUMETSAT quality indicator (QI). There are two forms of the QI, the first provides the QI results where no background model data has been used in its determination, and the second gives the results where background model data has been used. RFF values range from 0 (worst) to 100 (best). Winds having RFF values less than about 45 are filtered out of the dataset before being output by NESDIS. QI values range from 0 (worst) to 1 (best).

    For more information on the RFF processing see:

    Hayden, C.M. and R.J. Purser, 1995: Recursive filter objective analysis of meteorological fields, applications to NESDIS operational processing. J. Appl. Meteor., 34, 3-15.

    For more information on the QI processing see:

    Holmlund, K., 1998: The utilization of statistical properties of satellite-derived atmospheric motion vectors to derive quality indicators. Wea. Forecasting, 13, 1093-1104.

  5. Land/sea mask codes: 
           Value      Meaning
       -----      -------
         0        Land
         1        Sea
         2        Coast

  6. Level type codes: 
           Value      Meaning
       -----      -------
         1        Infrared cloud-drift
         2        Visible cloud-drift
         3        Water vapor motion
         5        Sounder channel 11 (7.0 um) water vapor motion
         7        Sounder channel 10 (7.4 um) water vapor motion
*The QC information is only available with the FSL database.

**The QI's and the LSM (for the FSL database) aren't yet available (as of 10/03) in the data files. These are expected to be added sometime in the next several months. When they are added, no MADIS API changes will be needed -- you will just start seeing non-missing data when you ask for these variables.