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Met Office - metDB Data: land SYNOP data


Brief description

SYNOP message from land based stations using WMO code FM 12.

Observation frequency

Hourly observations from stations distributed globally resulting in around 60,000 reports a day.

Delivery and ingest schedule

Data are extracted for the 4 principal synoptic periods (00-06, 06-12, 12-18 and 18-00 UT) and delivered to the BADC at the following times (all in GMT):

Synoptic period Delivery to BADC
0000-0559 1330
0600-1159 1930
1200-1759 0130
1800-2359 0730

Ingest scripts run at the BADC every 20 minutes, converting the incoming files to the self describing BADC-CSV format, but neither the processed or raw data are placed into archive until the following day.

Known problems

There are no known data issues at present.

Additional information

The land SYNOP reports are also available through the MIDAS Land Surface station dataset. The MIDAS data are available hourly for UK stations and 3 hourly for non-UK stations. Data ingested into the Met Office's MIDAS system also under go further quality control checks than occurs with the MetDB data.

Parameter list

The table below provides the list of available parameters in the column order that they appear in the BADC-CSV files in the archive.

Column numberParameterUnit
1Yearyear
2Monthmonth
3Dayday
4Hourhour
5Minuteminute
6Time of receipt yearyear
7Time of receipt monthmonth
8Time of receipt dayday
9Time of receipt hourhour
10Time of receipt minuteminute
11WMO block number1
12WMO station number1
13WMO region1
14Latitudedegrees
15Longitudedegrees
16Station heightm
17Pressure sensor heightm
18Collecting centre1
19Bulletin ID1
20Station type1
21Amendment number1
22Correction number1
23Original wind speed units1
24Wind directiondegrees true
25Wind direction quality control flag1
26Wind speedm/s
27Wind speed quality control flag1
28Air temperatureK
29Air temperature quality control flag1
30Dew point temperatureK
31Dew point temperature quality control flag1
32Relative humidity (only if dew point not present and RH coded)%
33Horizontal visibilitym
34Horizontal visibility quality control flag1
35Vertical visibilitym
36Present weather1
37Present weather quality control flag1
38Past weather periodhour
39Most significant past weather report1
40Most significant past weather report quality control flag1
41Least significant pas weather report1
42Least significant past weather report quality control flag1
43Amount of all cloud present1
44Amount of all cloud present quality control flag1
45Period when max temperature reportedhour
46Maximum air temperatureK
47Period when min temp reportedhour
48Minimum air temperatureK
49Minimum grass temperatureK
50State of ground with/without snow1
51Total snow depthm
52Section 1 rainfall periodhour
53Section 1 rainfall amountkg/m2
54Section 1 rainfall amount quality control flag1
55Section 3 rainfall periodhour
56Section 3 rainfall amountkg/m2
57Section 3 rainfall amount quality control flag1
58Total precipitation past 24 hourskg/m2
59Start of period of max gustminutes
60End of period of max gustminutes
61Highest gust recordedm/s
62Start of period of high mean windminutes
63End of period of high mean windminutes
64Highest mean wind speedm/s
65Pressure at mean sea levelPa
66Pressure at station levelPa
67Standard pressure levelPa
68Geopotential height of agreed levelm
693 hour pressure tendency1
703 Hour pressure tendency quality control flag1
713 hour pressure changePa
723 Hour pressure change quality control flag1
7324 hour pressure changePa
74Type of evapotranspiration instrument1
75Evapotranspiration amountkg/m2
76Sunshine duration in last 24 hourshour
77Sunshine duration in last hourminutes
78Net radiation in last hourJ/m2
79global radiation in last hourJ/m2
80Diffuse radiation in last hourJ/m2
81Long-wave radiation in last hourJ/m2
82Short-wave radiation in last hourJ/m2
83Net short-wave radiation in last hourJ/m2
84Direct solar radiation in last hourJ/m2
85Net radiation in last 24 hoursJ/m2
86global radiation in last 24 hoursJ/m2
87Diffuse radiation in last 24 hoursJ/m2
88Long-wave radiation in last 24 hoursJ/m2
89Short-wave radiation in last 24 hoursJ/m2
90Net short-wave radiation in last 24 hoursJ/m2
91Direct solar radiation in last 24 hoursJ/m2
92Visibility in seaward directionm
93State of sea1
94Temperature measuring method1
95Sea surface temperatureK
96Wave measuring method1
97Height of wind wavesm
98Period of wind wavesseconds
99Primary swell wave directiondegrees
100Primary swell wave periodseconds
101Primary swell wave heightm
102Secondary swell wave directiondegrees
103Secondary swell wave periodseconds
104Secondary swell wave heightm
105Low cloud type (CL)1
106Low cloud type (CL) quality control flag1
107Medium cloud type (CM)1
108Medium cloud type (CM) quality control flag1
109High cloud type (CH)1
110High cloud type (CH) quality control flag1
111Low cloud amount1
112Low cloud amount quality control flag1
113Height of base of cloudm
114High of base of cloud quality control flag1
115Cloud amount (8 groups)1
116Cloud amount quality control flag1
117Cloud type (8 groups)1
118Cloud type quality control flag1
119Height of cloud base (8 groups)m
120Height of cloud base quality control flag1
121Cloud amount (8 groups)1
122Cloud amount quality control flag1
123Cloud type (8 groups)1
124Cloud type quality control flag1
125Height of cloud base (8 groups)m
126Height of cloud base quality control flag1
127Cloud amount (8 groups)1
128Cloud amount quality control flag1
129Cloud type (8 groups)1
130Cloud type quality control flag1
131Height of cloud base (8 groups)m
132Height of cloud base quality control flag1
133Cloud amount (8 groups)1
134Cloud amount quality control flag1
135Cloud type (8 groups)1
136Cloud type quality control flag1
137Height of cloud base (8 groups)m
138Height of cloud base quality control flag1
139Below station cloud amount1
140Below station cloud type1
141Below station cloud base heightm
142Below station cloud base type1
143Above station cloud amount1
144Above station cloud type1
145Above station cloud top heightm
146Above station cloud top type1