Radiosonde-Derived Tropical Tropopause, Tropospheric and Stratospheric Climatologies

Prepared by Dian Seidel (NOAA Air Resources Laboratory): January 2001

This data set includes climatological monthly statistics, based on radiosonde observations, of 30 characteristics of the tropical (30N-30S) tropopause, troposphere, and lower stratosphere (Seidel et al., 2001; Gaffen et al., 2000). Climatological means and standard deviations are based on data for 1961-1990. Time series of monthly statistics span 1961-1997. A list of the 30 variables can be found below. See below for a map of radiosonde stations or for further station details.

Data are available on CEDA and can be accessed anonymously via:

sparc-ftp.ceda.ac.uk/sparc/noaa_trop/

Please use an ftp client such as FileZilla to connect to the ftp server as many browsers, including chrome, no longer support urls using the ftp protocol.

A FORTRAN routine extract.for is provided for extraction of data from either the gridded data file gridded.dat or the station climatology file station.dat. The file station.list contains a list of stations used in this analysis. Individual station time series files identified by station number and variable name are stored in subdirectory TIMESERS. These files have been concatenated into four tar files for easier downloads. Refer to the README file for further information.

Animations of Climatological Annual Cycles (Monthly Means) provided by Rebecca Ross

Level or Layer Pressure Height Temp Potential Temp Virtual Temp Saturation Mixing Ratio Lapse Rate
Lapse-rate tropopause N/A N/A
Cold-point tropopause N/A N/A
100 hPa level N/A N/A N/A
18 km level N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Minimum saturation volume mixing ratio N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Balloon burst level N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Freezing level N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
500 hPa level N/A N/A N/A N/A
Surface level N/A N/A N/A N/A
Surface to tropopause layer N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
850 hPa to 300 hPa layer N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
850 hPa to 100 hPa layer N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Surface to 500 hPa layer N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Surface to 300 hPa layer N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

Radiosonde Locations

Station Details

Name Country Id. No. Lat. Lon. (oE) Elev. Period Ob. time (UTC)
Abidjan Ivory Coast 65578 5.25 356.07 7 1961-97 both
Addis Ababa Ethiopia 63450 9.00 38.75 2362 1961-97 1200
Antananarivo Madagascar 67083 -18.80 47.48 1279 1967-97 both
Antofagasta Chile 85442 -23.42 289.53 114 1961-97 both
Ascension Island 61902 -7.97 345.60 86 1961-97 both
Atuona French Polynesia 91925 -9.82 220.99 52 1968-97 0000
Bahrain 40427 26.27 50.62 5 1961-79 both
Bangkok Thailand 48455 13.73 100.55 16 1961-97 both
Bauerfield Vanuatu 91557 -17.70 168.30 20 1972-97 0000
Belem Brazil 82193 -1.38 311.52 16 1968-97 1200
Belize Belize 78583 17.53 271.70 5 1980-97 both
Bloemfontein South Africa 68424 -28.40 21.27 850 1976-97 both
Bogota Colombia 80222 4.70 285.85 2541 1965-97 both
Brasilia Brazil 83378 -15.86 312.07 1061 1966-97 both
Broome Australia 94203 -17.95 122.22 12 1965-97 0000
Brownsville USA 72250 25.92 262.53 7 1961-93 both
Canton Island Kiribati 91701 -2.77 188.29 3 1961-92 0000
Cayenne French Guiana 81405 4.83 307.63 9 1964-97 1200
Charleville Australia 94510 -26.42 146.27 305 1961-97 0000
Chi Chi Jima Japan 47971 27.08 142.18 8 1967-97 both
Clark Air Force Base Philippines 98327 15.18 120.55 146 1961-90 0000
Cocos Island 96996 -12.18 96.83 5 1961-97 0000
Curitiba Brazil 83840 -25.51 310.83 908 1965-97 both
Dahran Saudi Arabia 40416 26.27 50.17 23 1978-97 both
Dakar Senegal 61641 14.68 342.57 27 1961-97 both
Darwin Australia 94120 -12.43 130.87 29 1961-97 0000
Del Rio USA 72261 29.33 259.12 314 1961-93 both
Douala Cameroon 64910 4.02 9.70 10 1964-97 both
Durban South Africa 68588 -29.93 30.95 8 1961-97 both
Easter Island 85469 -27.15 250.52 41 1966-97 both
Fort-Dauphin Madagascar 67197 -25.00 47.00 8 1972-97 0000
Fortaleza Brazil 82397 -3.72 321.45 19 1973-93 1200
Funafuti Tuvalu 91643 -8.52 179.22 1 1973-97 0000
Giles Australia 94461 -25.03 128.30 580 1961-97 0000
Guam 91217 13.55 144.83 87 1961-97 both
Hao French Polynesia 91944 -18.10 219.10 3 1971-97 0000
Hilo USA 91285 19.73 204.93 10 1961-97 both
Honiara Solomon Islands 91517 -9.42 159.97 56 1961-97 0000
Howard Air Force Base Panama 78806 8.98 280.45 16 1961-97 both
Isla Guadalupe Mexico 76151 28.87 241.75 23 1971-97 both
Iwo Jima Japan 47981 24.78 141.33 106 1961-90 both
Jeddah Saudi Arabia 41024 21.67 39.15 10 1965-97 both
Key West USA 72201 24.58 278.30 1961-93 both
Khamis Mushait Saudi Arabia 41114 18.30 42.80 2060 1978-97 both
Kings Park Hong Kong 45004 22.32 114.17 66 1961-97 both
Kingston Jamaica 78397 17.90 282.72 1 1961-97 both
Koror Palau 91408 7.33 134.48 30 1961-97 both
Kota Kinabalu Malaysia 96471 5.93 116.05 3 1969-97 0000
Kunming China 56778 25.02 102.43 1892 1961-97 both
Lihue USA 91165 21.98 200.65 36 1961-97 both
Majuro Marshall Islands 91376 7.10 171.40 3 1961-97 both
Manaus Brazil 82332 -3.15 300.02 84 1967-97 1200
Manzanillo Mexico 76654 19.07 255.67 3 1976-97 1200
Mazatlan Mexico 76458 23.18 253.58 4 1961-97 both
Merida Mexico 76644 20.97 270.48 9 1961-97 both
Midway Island 91066 28.22 182.63 13 1961-95 both
Minamitorishima Japan 47991 24.30 153.97 9 1963-97 both
Naha/Kagamizu Japan 47936 26.23 127.68 80 1961-97 both
Nairobi Kenya 63741 -1.30 36.75 1798 1961-97 both
Nandi Fiji 91680 -17.75 177.43 16 1961-97 0000
Niamey Niger 61052 13.48 2.17 233 1961-97 both
Norfolk Island 94996 -29.05 167.93 110 1961-97 0000
Noumea New Caledonia 91592 -22.30 166.45 69 1961-97 0000
Pago Pago American Samoa 91765 -14.33 189.28 3 1966-97 both
Papeete French Polynesia 91938 -17.55 210.39 2 1966-97 0000
Port Hedland Australia 94312 -20.38 118.62 6 1961-97 0000
Raoul Island New Zealand 93997 -29.25 182.08 36 1961-97 0000
Rapa French Polynesia 91958 -27.61 215.67 1 1966-97 0000
Rio de Janeiro Brazil 83746 -22.81 316.75 42 1961-97 both
San Jose Costa Rica 78762 10.00 275.80 920 1972-97 1200
San Juan Puerto Rico 78526 18.45 293.90 3 1961-97 both
Sao Paulo Brazil 83780 -23.62 313.35 802 1961-97 both
Seawell Barbados 78954 13.07 300.50 47 1965-97 both
Seychelles 63985 -4.67 55.52 3 1976-97 1200
Singapore 48698 1.37 103.98 18 1961-97 both
Songkhla Thailand 48568 7.18 100.62 4 1961-97 both
St. Helena Island 61901 -15.97 354.30 436 1977-97 1200
Tamanrasset Algeria 60680 22.78 5.52 1378 1961-97 both
Tarawa Coral Sea Islands 91610 1.35 172.93 2 1961-97 0000
Townsville Australia 94294 -19.25 146.77 5 1961-97 0000
Truk Micronesia 91334 7.47 151.85 3 1961-97 both
Wake Island 91245 19.30 166.62 5 1961-97 both
Windhoek South Africa/Namibia 68110 -22.57 17.10 1715 1961-85 both

List of Variables

Short form name Variable and units
sfc_pres surface pressure – hPa
sfc_temp surface temperature – C
sfc_thet surface potential temperature – K
500mb_ht 500 hPa height – m
500mb_TT 500 hPa temperature – C
500mb_TH 500 hPa potential temperature – K
gamma500 surface-500 hPa lapse rate – K/km
gamma300 surface-300 hPa lapse rate – K/km
sfctrp_T surface-LRT virtual temperature – C
850300_T 850 hPa-300 hPa virtual temperature – C
850100_T 850 hPa-100 hPa virtual temperature – C
freeze_p freezing level pressure – hPa
freeze_z freezing level height – m
100_zzzz 100 hPa height – m
100_temp 100 hPa temperature – C
100_thet 100 hPa potential temperature – K
100_smra 100 hPa sat. volume mixing ratio – ppmv
lrt_zzzz lapse-rate tropopause height – m
lrt_pres lapse-rate tropopause pressure – hPa
lrt_temp lapse-rate tropopause temperature – C
lrt_thet lapse-rate tropopause potential T – K
lrt_smra lapse-rate tropopause sat. vmr – ppmv
cpt_pres cold-point tropopause pressure – hPa
cpt_zzzz cold-point tropopause height – m
cpt_temp cold-point tropopause temperature – C
cpt_thet cold-point tropopause potential T – K
cpt_smra cold-point tropopause sat. vmr – ppmv
min_smra minimum sat. volume mixing ratio – ppmv
18k_pres 18 km pressure – hPa
18k_temp 18 km temperature – C

References

Seidel, D. J., R. J. Ross, J. K. Angell and G. C. Reid (2001), Climatological characteristics of the tropical tropopause as revealed by radiosondes. J. Geophys. Res.106, 7857-7878, doi:10.1029/2000JD900837.

Gaffen, D. J., B. D. Santer, J. S. Boyle, J. R. Christy, N. E. Graham, and R. J. Ross (2000), Multi-decadal changes in the vertical temperature structure of the tropical troposphere. Science287, 1239-1241, doi:10.1126/science.287.5456.1242.