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An automated monitoring of atmospheric mixing height from routine radiosonde profiles over South Korea using a web-based data transfer method

Environmental Monitoring and Assessment volume 186, pages 3253–3263 (2014)Cite this article

Abstract

This study describes an effort to estimate atmospheric mixing height using vertical profiles of thermodynamic variables measured operationally at radiosonde sites in South Korea. We focus on mixing height at 06UTC (15LST) when vigorous daytime convection is expected with clear skies. For this purpose, we developed a simple numerical algorithm using a new data transfer tool, known as cURL, to determine mixing height and applied it to radiosonde data at Osan and Gwangju for 2010. Emphasis was placed on automating as much as possible the process of determining mixing height. According to the preliminary results, the estimation algorithm performed successfully for most cases with clear sky conditions and was useful in diagnosing and monitoring daytime mixing heights more effectively on a near-real-time basis. With the developed algorithm, it is possible to estimate mixing heights from radiosonde data within a few hours of the development of the convective boundary layer. Application to radiosonde sites in other countries is straightforward and continued modifications of the algorithm are anticipated in the near future.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Korea Meteorological Administration Research and Development Program under Grant CATER 2013-3030. The first author thanks Dr. Steven Greybush in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science at University of Maryland, and research scientists in Complex System Science Laboratory at Seoul National University and Forecast Research Division in National Institute for Meteorological Research for their useful comments and cooperation.

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Affiliations

  1. National Center for Agro-Meteorology, Seoul National University, Building #36 (Room 109), 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul, 151-744, South Korea

    Seung-Jae Lee & Joon Kim

  2. National Institute of Meteorological Research, Seoul, 156-720, South Korea

    Chun-Ho Cho

Authors
  1. Seung-Jae Lee
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  2. Joon Kim
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  3. Chun-Ho Cho
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Correspondence to Seung-Jae Lee.

Appendix. A sample code using cURL library

Appendix. A sample code using cURL library

The following FORTRAN code gets radiosonde data of 0600UTC (1500LST) 18 May 2012 at Osan (47122) in South Korea from the radiosonde database in the department of atmospheric science, University of Wyoming.

figure a

The variable "url" contains a target site address which indicates radiosonde data to be transferred into a local computer. This simple code should be easily applicable to other kinds of meteorological data available in the form of text on a web site.

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Lee, SJ., Kim, J. & Cho, CH. An automated monitoring of atmospheric mixing height from routine radiosonde profiles over South Korea using a web-based data transfer method. Environ Monit Assess 186, 3253–3263 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-014-3615-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-014-3615-y

Keywords

  • Mixing height
  • Mixed layer
  • Radiosonde
  • cURL