Dataset
NERC Mesosphere-Stratosphere-Troposphere (MST) Radar: mesospheric structure and dynamics oberservations, version 3
Update Frequency: Daily
Latest Data Update: 2023-06-19
Status: Ongoing
Online Status: ONLINE
Publication State: Published
Publication Date: 2012-09-27
Download Stats: last 12 months
Dataset Size: 12.36K Files | 29GB
Abstract
The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Mesosphere-Stratosphere-Troposphere (MST) Radar is operated by the Science and Technology Facilities Council at the Radar Facility's (MSTRF's) site in Capel Dewi, near Aberystwyth, Mid-Wales. The 46.5 MHz pulsed Doppler radar is used primarily for making atmospheric observations over the approximate altitude range 2 - 20 km, i.e. over most of the troposphere and the lower stratosphere - hence the term "ST-mode". Additional observations are made over the approximate altitude range 56 - 96 km, i.e. covering the mesosphere - hence the term "M-mode" (see related dataset).
The instrument has been in operation, using the Dopppler Beam Swinging technique (see linked documentation for further details), since late 1989. It was intially operated on a campaign basis, but switched to quasi-continuous observations (i.e. close to 24-7 operation) in late 1997.
This dataset includes radial data products, i.e. range profiles along each beam pointing direction, and the "Cartesian" data products that are derived from them in the form of altitude profiles. The latter are used for most purposes. Data products are derived from the version 3 processing scheme, which supersedes earlier versions. Further details can be found via the linked documentation. Radial data products include:
signal power (relates to atmospheric structure)
radial velocity (relates to wind speed along the beam pointing direction)
spectral width (relates to turbulence intensity)
Cartesian data products include:
horizontal wind components (zonal and meridional)
vertical wind velocity
vertical beam signal power
tropopause altitude
vertical beam spectral width
radar return aspect sensitivity
Citable as: Natural Environment Research Council Mesosphere-Stratosphere-Troposphere Radar Facility at Aberystwyth; Hooper, D.A. (2012): NERC Mesosphere-Stratosphere-Troposphere (MST) Radar: mesospheric structure and dynamics oberservations, version 3. NCAS British Atmospheric Data Centre, date of citation. https://catalogue.ceda.ac.uk/uuid/215d6d99e46ceb067e9ee78b89f513d5
Abbreviation: Not defined
Keywords: MST Radar, NERC, mesosphere, SNR, echo power, spectral width
Details
| Previous Info: |
No news update for this record
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| Previously used record identifiers: |
http://badc.nerc.ac.uk/view/badc.nerc.ac.uk__ATOM__ACTIVITY_a0e70020-08b1-11e2-a0ba-00163e251233
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| Access rules: |
Access to these data is available to any registered CEDA user. Please Login or Register for an account to gain access.
Use of these data is covered by the following licence: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/. When using these data you must cite them correctly using the citation given on the CEDA Data Catalogue record. |
| Data lineage: |
Data are acquired by the MST radar facility and sent to the BADC within an hour of acquisition. Data are then immediately ingested into the BADC archives. |
| Data Quality: |
The MST radar data quality is described by D. A. Hooper, J. Nash, T. Oakley, and M. Turp. Validation of a new signal processing scheme for the MST radar at Aberystwyth. Ann. Geophys., 26(11):3253-3268, 2008. (available from here http://www.ann-geophys.net/26/3253/2008/angeo-26-3253-2008.html)
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| File Format: |
Data are netCDF formatted
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Process overview
This dataset was generated by instruments deployed on platforms as listed below.
Instrument/Platform pairings
| NERC: Mesosphere-Stratosphere-Troposphere (MST) Radar | Deployed on: Capel Dewi Atmospheric Observatory (CDAO) |
| Output Description | None |
- units: 1
- long_name: (Velocity bin number of the most positive limit of the signal component
- var_id: final_velocity_bin_number
- names: (Velocity bin number of the most positive limit of the signal component
- units: 1
- long_name: Alternative profile details
- var_id: alternative_profile_details
- names: Alternative profile details
- units: m
- standard_name: altitude
- var_id: altitude
- long_name: Altitude above mean sea level
- names: altitude, Altitude above mean sea level
- units: m s-1
- long_name: Complementary beam horizontal velocity variability
- var_id: horizontal_wind_complementary_beam_variability
- names: Complementary beam horizontal velocity variability
- units: 1
- long_name: Data weighting window index
- var_id: data_weighting_window_index
- names: Data weighting window index
- units: 1
- long_name: Dwell number
- var_id: dwell_number
- names: Dwell number
- units: m s-1
- standard_name: eastward_wind
- var_id: eastward_wind
- long_name: Eastward wind component
- names: eastward_wind, Eastward wind component
- units: 1
- long_name: Horizontal wind data reliability details
- var_id: horizontal_wind_components_reliability_details
- names: Horizontal wind data reliability details
- units: 1
- long_name: Horizontal wind data reliability flag
- var_id: horizontal_wind_components_are_reliable
- names: Horizontal wind data reliability flag
- units: us
- long_name: Inter pulse period
- var_id: inter_pulse_period
- names: Inter pulse period
- units: us
- long_name: Length of transmitter pulse
- var_id: length_of_transmitter_pulse
- names: Length of transmitter pulse
- units: dB
- long_name: Median spectral noise power for vertical beam profile
- var_id: vertical_beam_median_noise_power
- names: Median spectral noise power for vertical beam profile
- units: m s-1
- standard_name: northward_wind
- var_id: northward_wind
- long_name: Northward wind component
- names: northward_wind, Northward wind component
- units: 1
- long_name: Number of coherent integrations
- var_id: number_of_coherent_integrations
- names: Number of coherent integrations
- units: 1
- long_name: Number of incoherent integrations
- var_id: number_of_incoherent_integrations
- names: Number of incoherent integrations
- units: 1
- long_name: Number of samples in the coherently integrated time series
- var_id: number_of_complex_samples_in_discrete_fourier_transform
- names: Number of samples in the coherently integrated time series
- units: dB
- long_name: Peak smoothed signal power spectral density to noise power spectral desnity
- var_id: peak_smooth_psd_to_noise
- names: Peak smoothed signal power spectral density to noise power spectral desnity
- units: degrees
- long_name: Radar beam pointing azimuth angle
- var_id: beam_pointing_azimuth_angle
- names: Radar beam pointing azimuth angle
- units: 1
- long_name: Radar beam pointing direction number
- var_id: beam_pointing_direction_number
- names: Radar beam pointing direction number
- units: degrees
- long_name: Radar beam pointing zenith angle
- var_id: beam_pointing_zenith_angle
- names: Radar beam pointing zenith angle
- units: dB
- long_name: Radar return aspect sensitivity
- var_id: aspect_sensitivity
- names: Radar return aspect sensitivity
- units: 1
- long_name: Radar return aspect sensitivity is reliable
- var_id: aspect_sensitivity_is_reliable
- names: Radar return aspect sensitivity is reliable
- units: 1
- long_name: Radar return aspect sensitivity reliability details
- var_id: aspect_sensitivity_reliability_details
- names: Radar return aspect sensitivity reliability details
- units: dB
- long_name: Radar return signal power
- var_id: signal_power
- names: Radar return signal power
- units: m s-1
- long_name: Radar return spectral width
- var_id: spectral_width
- names: Radar return spectral width
- units: m
- long_name: Radar-derived tropopause altitude
- standard_name: tropopause_altitude
- var_id: tropopause_altitude
- names: Radar-derived tropopause altitude, tropopause_altitude
- units: 1
- long_name: Radar-derived tropopause sharpness factor
- var_id: tropopause_sharpness_factor
- names: Radar-derived tropopause sharpness factor
- units: m s-1
- standard_name: radial_velocity_of_scatterers_away_from_instrument
- var_id: radial_velocity
- long_name: Radial velocity of scatterers away from the radar
- names: radial_velocity_of_scatterers_away_from_instrument, Radial velocity of scatterers away from the radar
- units: m
- var_id: range
- long_name: Range from the radar
- names: Range from the radar
- units: 1
- long_name: Scale factor applied to horizontal wind components to compensate for the effects of aspect sensitivity
- var_id: horizontal_wind_theta_s_compensation_factor
- names: Scale factor applied to horizontal wind components to compensate for the effects of aspect sensitivity
- units: 1
- long_name: Signal component number
- var_id: signal_component_number
- names: Signal component number
- units: 1
- long_name: Signal component reliability details
- var_id: signal_component_reliability_details
- names: Signal component reliability details
- units: 1
- long_name: Signal component reliability flag
- var_id: signal_component_is_reliable
- names: Signal component reliability flag
- long_name: Spectral Width
- names: Spectral Width
- units: dB
- long_name: Spectral noise power
- var_id: noise_power
- names: Spectral noise power
- units: m s-1
- long_name: Spectral velocity bin spacing
- var_id: spectral_velocity_bin_spacing
- names: Spectral velocity bin spacing
- units: us
- long_name: Sub-length of transmitter pulse
- var_id: sub_length_of_transmitter_pulse
- names: Sub-length of transmitter pulse
- units: 1
- long_name: Time index of first dwell in cycle
- var_id: time_index_of_first_dwell_in_cycle
- names: Time index of first dwell in cycle
- units: 1
- long_name: Velocity bin number of the most negative limit of the signal component
- var_id: first_velocity_bin_number
- names: Velocity bin number of the most negative limit of the signal component
- units: 1
- long_name: Vertical beam data reliability details
- var_id: vertical_beam_data_reliability_details
- names: Vertical beam data reliability details
- units: 1
- long_name: Vertical beam data reliability flag
- var_id: vertical_beam_data_are_reliable
- names: Vertical beam data reliability flag
- units: dB
- long_name: Vertical beam radar return signal power
- var_id: vertical_beam_signal_power
- names: Vertical beam radar return signal power
- units: m s-1
- long_name: Vertical beam radar return spectral width
- var_id: vertical_beam_spectral_width
- names: Vertical beam radar return spectral width
- units: m s-1
- long_name: Vertical beam radar return spectral width corrected for beam-broadening
- var_id: beam_broadening_corrected_spectral_width
- names: Vertical beam radar return spectral width corrected for beam-broadening
- units: 1
- long_name: Vertical beam radar return spectral width corrected for beam-broadening is reliable
- var_id: beam_broadening_corrected_spectral_width_is_reliable
- names: Vertical beam radar return spectral width corrected for beam-broadening is reliable
- units: 1
- long_name: Vertical beam radar return spectral width corrected for beam-broadening reliability details
- var_id: beam_broadening_corrected_spectral_width_reliability_details
- names: Vertical beam radar return spectral width corrected for beam-broadening reliability details
- units: m s-1
- long_name: Vertical beam radial velocity
- standard_name: upward_wind
- var_id: vertical_beam_radial_velocity
- names: Vertical beam radial velocity, upward_wind
Co-ordinate Variables
- units: degrees_north
- standard_name: latitude
- var_id: latitude
- long_name: Radar latitude
- names: latitude, Radar latitude
- units: degrees_east
- standard_name: longitude
- var_id: longitude
- long_name: Radar longitude
- names: longitude, Radar longitude
- standard_name: time
- var_id: time
- long_name: UTC
- names: time, UTC
Coverage
Temporal Range
Start time:
2005-04-30T23:00:00
End time:
Ongoing
Geographic Extent
52.4245° |
||
-4.0055° |
-4.0055° |
|
52.4245° |
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