==============================================================================
Dataset:       CSU-NAME upper-air and surface gridded analyses
Version:       3.0
Release date:  15 May 2007
==============================================================================

General Description:
-------------------
Analyzed fields (see list below) were produced on 1 degree 
latitude/longitude grids, 25 hPa vertical resolution (1000 to 50 hPa)
using the multiquadric interpolation scheme of Nuss and Titley (1994). 
The upper-air analysis used V2 of the CSU QC'd sonde dataset, profiler wind 
data at the NAME ISS sites, and pibal soundings. Surface analysis used
oceanic QuikSCAT winds at 00 and 12Z, and data from 157 surface sites of
various types (including METAR reports from 83 sites, 13 HOBO recorders,
3 ISS sites, RV Altair, 9 Navy sites, 23 Sonoran agricultural sites,
and 25 SMN automated sites). The surface winds were used to compute
slope flows (i.e., vertical motion at the surface). 

Version a of the dataset used no reanalysis data.

Version b of the dataset used NCEP reanalysis data over data-sparse oceanic 
regions but not in the gulf of California.

Analyses are available on two grids:
-----------------------------------
(1)  T2A (15N-40N, 120W-90W)
       * at 00 and 12 UTC
       * for 1 July thru 15 August, 2004

(2)  T1A (22N-35N, 115W-100W)
       * at 00, 06, 12, and 18 UTC
       * for 7 July thru 15 August, 2004

Upper air fields:
----------------
   z     geopotential height       (m)
   t     temperature               (C)
   q     water vapor mixing ratio  (g/kg)
   u     zonal wind                (m/s)
   v     meridional wind           (m/s)

Surface fields:
--------------
   z     geopotential height       (m)
   t     temperature               (C)
   q     water vapor mixing ratio  (g/kg)
   u     zonal wind                (m/s)
   v     meridional wind           (m/s)
   ps    surface pressure          (mb)
   mslp  mean sea level pressure   (mb)

Derived fields:
--------------
   w     vertical p-velocity       (mb/s)
   div   divergence                (1/s)
   vor   vorticity                 (1/s)
   Q1    apparent heating          (K/day)
   Q2    apparent drying           (K/day)


Notes:
-----
(1)  For upper-air fields, the first pressure level (labeled 1025 mb)
     contains the associated surface field.

(2)  A field is underground if the pressure level of the data is greater
     than the surface pressure (ps). 

(3)  In V3, surface winds were used to compute orographically forced
     vertical motion at the surface as in Luo and Yanai 1983. 
     For this procedure, a smoothed version topography was used. 

(4)  Future versions of the dataset will make use of aircraft data, 
     and hopefully contain a correction for a dry bias which has been 
     detected in many of the SMN sondes. 

(5)  A gridded analyses covering the area of the NAME enhanced budget
     array will be produced at 6 times daily (00, 04, 08, 12, 16, 20 UTC)
     for the ~18 IOP days in NAME at some time in future. 

(6)  File format:  netCDF self describing files (1 per day)
     (see  http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/netcdf/  for more info)

(7)  To quickly examine a datafile:  ncdump netcdf_filename | more

(8)  Reference for dataset: Johnson et al. 2007  (see below).

Contact information:
-------------------
If any problems are noted in these datasets, please notify Paul 
Ciesielski (paulc@atmos.colostate.edu).

History:
------------------
In creating the v2.0 the DADS algorithm (Haertel 2002), which corrects
the winds and divergence for spurious divergence introduced by the 
objective analysis scheme, was erroneously applied only at land based 
points. In v2.1 the DADS algorithm was applied over all points. Also, a
few additional NCEP data points were used west of Baja to improve the 
analysis in this region.

V3.0 used Mike Douglass's pibal dataset for NAME  and used a much 
improved surface dataset which had vertical motion at the surface 
computed from the surface winds.

References: 
----------
Haertel, P., 2002: Spurious divergence within objective analyses with
application to TOGA COARE heat and moisture budgets. 25th Conference on
Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology, San Diego, CA.

Johnson, R.H., P.E. Ciesielski, B.D. McNoldy, R.J.Rogers, and R.K.Taft,
2007: Multiscale variability of the flow during the North American Monsoon
Experiment. J.Climate, ...

Luo, H., and M. Yanai, 1983: The large-scale circulation and heat 
sources over the Tibetan Plateau and surrounding areas during the 
early summer of 1979. Part I: precipitation and kinematic analysis. 
Mon. Wea. Rev., 111, 922-944.

Nuss, W. A., and D. W. Titley, 1994: Use of multiquadric interpolation
for meteorological objective analysis. Mon. Wea. Rev., 122, 1611-1631.