| Description: | DQR No: Platform: SGPSONDEC1
Subject: operator error
Date Submitted: 11/12/93
Submitted By: Barry Lesht _X_ Instrument Mentor
___ EST Member
___ Science Team Member
___ Other _____________________________
For questions or problems, please contact the ARM Experiment Center at
509-375-6898 or via email at problems@arm.gov.
Platform/Measurement: All
What level data: (raw,a0,a1,b1,c1 etc):
What location was the data collected at: SGP/CF
Period of time in question
Begin Date 11/11/93 Time 19:27 (GMT)
End Date / / Time : (GMT)
Sonde data files 11/11/93 19:27 and following may have bad data.
Data should be labeled:
_X_ questionable ___ All data fields affected
___ incorrect ___ Only some data fields affected
___ wrong calibration
___ others
Discussion of Problem:
Mike Splitt of the site scientist team noted that the sounding done 11/11/93
showed 0 RH at the ground. I looked at the raw data file and also noted that
the ground check humidity values were entered as 70 (reference) and 69 (sonde).
The ground check humidity values should be zero. This suggests an operator
error of some sort. Because 11/11 was a holiday, the usual sonde operator
was not on site. No entries of anything unusual were found in the daily
ops log. It may be coincidental that the SDS change-over moving Dorothy
from the SPARC 2 to the SPARC 10 occurred at this time, but it may not be.
The sounding done 11/12/93 also had problems. Dave Glahn reported that the
first sonde he tried showed 44% RH in the ground check set. This typically
results from using an incorrect calibration tape. Dave opened a second
sonde which passed ground check. After launch, when Dave attempted to enter
the surface observations, he says they were not written to the normal output
file and that he was unable to graph the sounding on the sonde PC
as it was occurring. The operators played with the computer and ended up
overwriting the standard output file - losing all data below about 5 km.
It is difficult to determine the cause of the problem. These data files
should be flagged as questionable until we understand what happened. My
hypothesis is that the operators inadvertently modified the sonde software
on 11/11 and that the output files are being written to the wrong directories.
It is also possible that this problem resulted from the SDS change-over.
SDS change-overs have, in the past, caused problems with the sonde data
archiving. I gave instructions to Dave Glahn to check the directory pointers
before doing a sounding on Monday. I will be on site Wednesday (for another
purpose) and will check the system if we do not have resolution by then.
Other observations/measurements impacted by this problem:
Suggested Corrections of the Problem: (e.g. change calibration factor and
recompute, flag data with this comment, etc.)
Flag data.
Data Processing Notes Date |