Sample ____________________________________________ McMurdo Synoptic Cloud Observations DAY TIME CA ZCB[M] CCL CCM CCH CL CM CH CAI CG1 ZC1[M] CAI2 CG2 ZC2[M] CAI3 CG3 ZC3[M] CAI4 CG4 ZC4[M] ------- ------ -- --------- --- --- --- ---- ---- ---- --- ---- --------- ---- ---- --------- ---- ---- --------- ---- ---- --------- 2005354 0 8 450 8 SC 2005354 30000 8 450 8 SC 2005354 60000 8 150 8 SC 2005354 90000 8 450 8 SC 2005354 120000 7 250 8 SC 1 CC 210 6 SC 600 7 ST 1200 2005354 150000 7 800 3 SC CI 7 ST 4500 2005354 180000 6 800 4 SC CI 4 AS 1800 6 SC 4500 2005354 210000 3 250 3 SC 3 AC 1800 _________________________________________________________________________ Explanation _____________________________- DAY - The day is in Julian form so 2002081 is today, March 22, 2002 TIME - Time is in UTC (Universal Time Coordinated) or GMT (Greenwich Mean Time), and listed in HHMMSS, that is Hour, Minute, Second. You'll always see 0, 60000, 120000, 180000 for the 0, 6, 12, and 18 UTC times that the observations are taken each day. Observations are made more often during austral summer. CA - Total cloud amount, reported in 8ths of the sky covered (so 7 means that 7/8ths of the sky is covered in clouds) ZCB[M] - This is the height, in meters, of the cloud base (I'm not sure the difference between this and the height of the first individual cloud layer that I have listed below). CCL - This is the low level cloud coverage, reported in 8ths of the sky covered (so 7 means that 7/8ths of the sky is covered in clouds) CCM - This is the medium level cloud coverage, reported in 8ths of the sky covered (so 7 means that 7/8ths of the sky is covered in clouds) CCH - This is the high level cloud coverage, reported in 8ths of the sky covered (so 7 means that 7/8ths of the sky is covered in clouds) CL - This is the type of low level cloud, reported as a two letter character, e.g., SC = Stratocumulous clouds, CU = Cumulus, ST = Stratus, etc. CM - This is the type of middle level cloud, reported as a two letter character, e.g., AS = altostratus, AC = altocumulus. CH - This is the type of high level cloud, reported as a two letter character, e.g., CI = Cirrus, CS = Cirrostratus, CC = cirrocumulus. CAI1 - This is the cloud amount for the first level of individual cloud layer or mass, reported in 8ths of the sky covered (so 7 means that 7/8ths of the sky is covered in clouds) GC1 - This is the type/genus of the cloud in the first level of individual cloud layer ZC1 - This is the height of the base of the first level of individual cloud layer or mass. You'll notice that CAI, GC and ZC are reported for up to 4 levels. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matthew Lazzara - Meteorologist - Antarctic Meteorological Research Center 925 Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences http://amrc.ssec.wisc.edu Space Science and Engineering Center E-mail: mattl@ssec.wisc.edu University of Wisconsin-Madison Phone: (608) 262-0436 1225 West Dayton Street, Madison, WI 53706 Fax: (608) 263-6738 --------------------------------------------------------------------------