Understanding different data types.

[Shaun2453]

What are the headings for a vortex data message?

I've found the dropsonde and other's here on S2K but cant see this one anywhere!

Thanks in advance

Shaun

[sbcc]

This page on recon reports at WU might be what you're looking for - scroll down a little bit for VDM decoding: http://www.wunderground.com/about/reconreport.asp

[Shaun2453]

This page on recon reports at WU might be what you're looking for - scroll down a little bit for VDM decoding: http://www.wunderground.com/about/reconreport.asp

Perfect - Thanks

and for anynoe else who may be looking ...

VORTEX DATA MESSAGE/RECON REPORT

The VORTEX message is actually a combination of three types of
reports: the vortex data message..the supplemental vortex data
message..and the reconassaince report. Each of these types of reports
will now be discussed, beginning with the vortex data message.

The following information is designed to aid in the interpretation
of the abbreviated and detailed vortex data messages. After a step
by step explanation, a sample message will be displayed.

Both the abbreviated and detailed vortex data messages are trans-
mitted in an alphabetical manner. In each report, a letter of the
alphabet is followed by information about the center of the
tropical circulation. This information includes such items as
lat/long of the center, temperatures inside and outside of the
eye of the storm, wind information, minimum pressures, etc.
Here is a breakdown of the message:

The first line of the report gives the mission identifier...this
consists of: 1-Agency; 2-aircraft number; 3-number of missions
in this storm system; 4-depression number; 5-storm name.
AF554 WX OB 03 KMIA means this mission is flown by the Air
Force, with aircraft number 554; observation number 3, reported
to Miami.

The second line gives the name of the type of report, either
ABBREVIATED VORTEX DATA MESSAGE or DETAILED VORTEX DATA MESSAGE

A. Date and time of fix...06/1634Z means the report is from the
sixth day of the month, at 1634Z.

B. Latitude of the vortex fix in degrees and minutes...26 DEG 00 MIN N
Longitude of the vortex fix in degrees and minutes...88 DEG 00 MIN W

C. Minimum height of a standard pressure level, given in meters...
700 MB 3150 M means the lowest height of the 700 mb level
was found to be 3150 meters above sea level.

D. Estimate of maximum surface wind observed in knots...30 KT means
the highest estimated surface wind is 30 kts with this
particular storm system.

E. Bearing and range from center of the maximum surface wind, given
in degrees and nautical miles...180 DEG 18 NM means the
30 kt wind mentioned in D above is 18 nm south of the center
of the storm.

F. Maximum flight level wind near storm center with direction from
center given in degrees, and speed in knots...110 DEG 45 KT
means that the wind is from 110 degrees at 45 knots.

G. Bearing and range from center of maximum flight level wind, given
in degrees and nautical miles from the storm center...180
DEG 15 NM means the maximum wind given in F above was found
15 nautical miles south of the storm center.

H. Minimum sea level pressure computed from dropsonde or extrapolation
from within 1500 feet of the sea surface, given in millibars...
1005 MB DROPSONDE means that the lowest pressure found was
1005 millibars and was determined from a dropsonde.

I. Maximum flight level temperature in Celcius / Pressure altitude
in meters, OUTSIDE the eye...09 C / 3082 M means that at
the flight level of 700 millibars, the highest temperature
outside the eye is 9 degrees C at a pressure altitude of
3082 meters.

J. Maximum flight level temperature in Celcius / Pressure altitude
in meters, INSIDE the eye...10 C / 3040 M means that at
the flight level of 700 millibars, the highest temperature
inside the eye is 10 degrees C at a pressure altitude of
3040 meters.

K. Dewpoint temperature in Celcius / Sea surface temperature in
Celcius inside the eye...08 C / 26 C means that the dewpoint
was 8 degrees C inside the eye, and the temperature of the
sea surface was 26 degrees C.

L. Eye character...brief verbal description such as poorly defined,
closed wall, open to NW, etc.

M. Eye shape orientation and diameter...Eye shapes are codes as
follows: C-circular; CO-concentric; E-elliptical. Orientation
of major axis of ellipse is transmitted in tens of degrees,
and all diameters are transmitted in nautical miles. Examples..
E09/15/5 means elliptical eye oriented with major axis thru
90 degrees (and also 270 degrees), with length of major axis
15 nm, and length of minor axis 5 nm. CO8-14 means concentric
eye with inner eye diameter 8 miles, and outer diameter 14
miles.

N. Confirmation of lat/long/time fix with format as in A and B above.

O. Fix determined by / fix level...There are five means of
determining fixes and nine means of indicating fix level.
The fix determination will be a series of one to five
numbers depending on how many items were used to determine
the position of the storm center. The coding is as follows:
1-Penetration, 2-Radar, 3-Wind, 4-Pressure, 5-Temperature.
The fix level will be either one or two numbers, depending
on whether or not the surface and flight level centers were
the same. The surface center will be given if visible,
both the surface and flight level centers will be indicated
only when they're the same. The coding is as follows:
0-surface, 1-1500 ft, 8-850 mb, 7-700 mb, 5-500 mb, 4-400 mb,
3-300 mb, 2-200 mb, 9-Other. Example: 1245/07 means the fix
was determined by four means..penetration, radar, temperature,
and pressure. The fix level was both at the surface and at
700 mb.

P. Navigation fix accuracy in nm / Meteorological accuracy in nm...
5/10 means the center is located within 5 nm of the lat-long
given for the center, with a meteorological accuracy to 10 nm.

Q. Remarks Section.