Complex Quality Control of Significant Level Rawinsonde Temperatures

Abstract

Rawinsonde heights and temperatures have been quality controlled using complex quality control at the National Centers for Atmospheric Prediction since December 1988 when an algorithm using only hydrostatic checking was introduced for the checking of mandatory level heights and temperatures. The quality control of significant level temperatures was added to the hydrostatic code in April 1990. In November 1991, the mandatory level checking was greatly expanded and improved by the inclusion of additional checks: increment (observation minus 6-h forecast), horizontal, and vertical. This paper describes a major improvement to the significant level quality control, introduced in May 1994, using complex quality control techniques. The philosophy of the method and the various checks are described. The principles of the decision-making algorithm are stated, examples are shown, and some statistics of the use of the significant level checking are presented.