UK Bare Soil Minimum Temperature data - Columns in the TMSL table

Table Description - Columns in the TMSL table - How to start filtering the rows of data out

The surface observation data are in a simple ASCII format.

Table Description:

This entity contains bare soil minimum temperatures recorded at 09Z each day. MIDAS stores rows in this table using climatological station number, i.e. id_type = 'DCNN'. ob_end_time = '0900, and ob_hour_count = 12, are constants, and are not included as attributes. These temperatures have not been reported since 1970.

Columns in the TMSL table:

For the convenience of users, the TMSL file column headers are available for download in Excel or as a comma separated text file

PK Attribute Description / Units / Precision
* id_type Identifier type
* id  
* ob_date Date of observation
* version_num Observation version number - Use the row with '1', as this has been quality checked by the Met Office
* met_domain_name Message type
  src_id Unique source identifier or station site number
  rec_st_ind State indicator for the record**
  min_soil_temp Minimum soil temperature
Unit=1 deg C, to the nearest 0.1 deg C
  min_soil_temp_q Quality code - minimum soil temperature**


** Details available to registered users only.

More information about the Met Office surface data is available in the documentation provided by the Met Office.

How to start filtering the rows of data out:

  1. As the data arrive at the Met Office it undergoes quality control to check that the data are correct and consistent with the surrounding data points. Whether the process has occured or not is indicated by the version number (1 is the one to use as indicated in the table above).

  2. To show the progress of the data through the quality control the various variables will have an associated _q value (e.g. min_soil_temp_q). This _q value will have different values for each record (see details in table above).

  3. While the Met Office MIDAS system overwrites the existing entry in their database the BADC's MIDAS entries do not as the BADC takes snapshots of the the MIDAS database from time to time leading to duplicate entries occuring in our archive. If duplicate records are found, check the associated meto_stmp_time to determine which record is the most recent one - this is the one to use and the other(s) can be ignored.