Xiangyanghong Quality Control Report

Christopher Harvey and Shawn Smith

Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere (TOGA)
Coupled Ocean Atmosphere Response Experiment (COARE)

Surface Meteorological Data Processing Center
Center for Ocean Atmospheric Prediction Studies
The Florida State University

August 1, 1995

Report COAREMET 95-9

Version 1.0

Introduction:

The general surface meteorological data referenced in this report were
collected from the research vessel Xiangyanghong (call sign BNTA; data
acquired from the People's Republic of China) for TOGA COARE during
the Intensive Observing Period (IOP).  All data were converted to a
standard format and were then preprocessed using an automated data
quality checking program.  The data were then visually inspected by a
data quality analyst who reviewed, modified, and added appropriate
quality control (QC) flags to the data.  This report summarizes the
flags for the Xiangyanghong data sets, including both flags added by
the preprocessor and the analyst.

Statistical Information:

The data from the Xiangyanghong during the IOP were expected to
include standard observations every three hours from three cruises.
Table 1 provides a listing of the cruises and their start and end
dates.  Time (TIME), latitude (LAT), longitude (LON), wind direction
(DIR), wind speed (SPD), atmospheric pressure (P), dew point
temperature (TD), relative humidity (RH), temperature (T), wet-bulb
temperature (TW), and sea surface temperature (TS) were quality
controlled.  A total of 6,611 values were reviewed and checked and 19
flags were added resulting in 0.2874% of the data being flagged.
Table 2 provides a listing of the cruises and the percent of the data
flagged and Table 3 details the distribution of flags and includes the
percentages flagged for each variable sorted by flag type.

Table 1:  Cruise Information


Cruise 
Leg    Start Date      End Date   Total Number of
                                        Days
			
1	11/05/92	11/30/92	26
2	12/16/92	01/09/93	25
3	01/24/93	02/19/93	27

Table 2:  Availability of Data


Cruise Number   Total Number 
Leg	of       of  Data     Percent 
       Records   Values       Flagged
1	199	 2,189        0.2284
2	193	 2,123        0.4710
3	209	 2,299        0.1740
Total	601	 6,611        0.2874

Table 3:  Frequency of Flags Assigned for each Variable and Flag Type



           Failed     Unrealistic  >4 S.D. From               Total      Percent of
           T>=TW>=TD  Movement     Climatolo-      Time       Number     Variable
Variable   Check                   gical Mean    Duplicate    of Flags   Records Flagged
TIME                                                2            2         0.3328
LAT                      5                                       5         0.8319
LON                      5                                       5         0.8319
DIR                                                              0          0
SPD                                    4                         4         0.6656
P                                                                0          0
TD          1                                                    1         0.1664
RH                                                               0          0
T           1                                                    1         0.1664
TW          1                                                    1         0.1664
TS                                                               0          0
Total       3          10              4            2           19
Percent of
Total Data
Flagged   0.454      0.1512         0.0605        0.0303     0.2874	

Data Notes:

When the Xiangyanghong data arrived at the FSU data center, the README
file contained no information on units.  Therefore, all units for the
Xiangyanghong were determined by inspection of the data and comparison
to nearby stations.  As a result, all data values that passed all the
other quality control tests were assigned an "A" flag to inform the
user that the original units were not known but were later determined
at the Data Processing Center (DPC).  Also similar to the "Z" flags,
the "A" flags were not included in any statistical information
regarding the number of flags added.  (Smith et al.  1995)

Summary:

As the statistical information indicates, the data from the
Xiangyanghong were in very good condition.  Minor problems occurred in
a few variables, and although most of the data have "A" flags, the
analyst does not foresee any problems in using this data.


Reference:

1.  da Silva, A.M., C.C. Young and S. Levitus, 1994: Atlas of Surface
Marine Data 1994, Volume 1: Algorithms and Procedures.  NOAA Atlas
Series.  In preparation.

2.  Smith, S.R., C. Harvey and D.M. Legler, 1995: handbook of Quality
Control Procedures and Methods 1995, Report WOCEMET 95-5.  In
preparation.