SYNOP message from land based stations using WMO code FM 12.
Hourly observations from stations distributed globally resulting in around 60,000 reports a day.
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):
| Synopic 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.
There are no known data issues at present.
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.
The table below provides the list of available parameters in the column order that they appear in the BADC-CSV files in the archive.
Each station report is a separate record in the file consisting of header information about the station and data section. The header section contains the following information:
| Header Elements | Descriton | |||
| location | latitude and longitude | |||
| height | Station Height (m) | |||
| observation_station | WMO station ID | |||
| Station_type | G | wmo code table 002001 | $stationType | |
| type_of_measuring_equipment | G | wmo code table 002003 | $measuringEquipmentType | |
| type_of_antenna | G | wmo code table 002101 | $antennaType | |
| beamwidth | G | $beamwidth | degrees | |
| mean_frequency | G | $meanFrequency | Hz | |
| range_gate_length | G | $rangeGateLength | m | |
| mean_speed_estimation | G | wmo code table 025020 | $meanSpeedEstimation | |
| wind_computation_enhancement | G | wmo code table 025021 | $windComputationalEnhancement | |
| rass_computation_correction | G | wmo code table 025093 | $rassComputationCorrection | |
| averaging_time_period | G | $averageTimePeriod | minutes | |
| pressure_at_mean_sea_level | G | $mslp | Pa |
| Column number | ParameterUnit | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Year | year |
| 2 | Month | month |
| 3 | Day | day |
| 4 | Hour | hour |
| 5 | Minute | minute |
| 6 | Time of receipt year | year |
| 7 | Time of receipt month | month |
| 8 | Time of receipt day | day |
| 9 | Time of receipt hour | hour |
| 10 | Time of receipt minute | minute |
| 11 | WMO block number | 1 |
| 12 | WMO station number | 1 |
| 13 | WMO region | 1 |
| 14 | Latitude | degrees |
| 15 | Longitude | degrees |
| 16 | Station height | m |
| 17 | Pressure sensor height | m |
| 18 | Collecting centre | 1 |
| 19 | Bulletin ID | 1 |
| 20 | Station type | 1 |
| 21 | Amendment number | 1 |
| 22 | Correction number | 1 |
| 23 | Original wind speed units | 1 |
| 24 | Wind direction | degrees true |
| 25 | Wind direction quality control flag | 1 |
| 26 | Wind speed | m/s |
| 27 | Wind speed quality control flag | 1 |
| 28 | Air temperature | K |
| 29 | Air temperature quality control flag | 1 |
| 30 | Dew point temperature | K |
| 31 | Dew point temperature quality control flag | 1 |
| 32 | Relative humidity (only if dew point not present and RH coded) | % |
| 33 | Horizontal visibility | m |
| 34 | Horizontal visibility quality control flag | 1 |
| 35 | Vertical visibility | m |
| 36 | Present weather | 1 |
| 37 | Present weather quality control flag | 1 |
| 38 | Past weather period | hour |
| 39 | Most significant past weather report | 1 |
| 40 | Most significant past weather report quality control flag | 1 |
| 41 | Least significant pas weather report | 1 |
| 42 | Least significant past weather report quality control flag | 1 |
| 43 | Amount of all cloud present | 1 |
| 44 | Amount of all cloud present quality control flag | 1 |
| 45 | Period when max temperature reported | hour |
| 46 | Maximum air temperature | K |
| 47 | Period when min temp reported | hour |
| 48 | Minumum air temperature | K |
| 49 | Minumum grass temperature | K |
| 50 | State of ground with/without snow | 1 |
| 51 | Total snow depth | m |
| 52 | Section 1 rainfall period | hour |
| 53 | Section 1 rainfall amount | kg/m2 |
| 54 | Section 1 rainfall amount quality control flag | 1 |
| 55 | Section 3 rainfall period | hour |
| 56 | Section 3 rainfall amount | kg/m2 |
| 57 | Section 3 rainfall amount quality control flag | 1 |
| 58 | Total precipitation past 24 hours | kg/m2 |
| 59 | Start of period of max gust | minutes |
| 60 | End of period of max gust | minutes |
| 61 | Highest gust recorded | m/s |
| 62 | Start of period of high mean wind | minutes |
| 63 | End of period of high mean wind | minutes |
| 64 | Highest mean wind speed | m/s |
| 65 | Pressure at mean sea level | Pa |
| 66 | Pressure at station level | Pa |
| 67 | Standard pressure level | Pa |
| 68 | Geopotential height of agreed level | m |
| 69 | 3 hour pressure tendency | 1 |
| 70 | 3 Hour pressure tendency quality control flag | 1 |
| 71 | 3 hour pressure change | Pa |
| 72 | 3 Hour pressure change quality control flag | 1 |
| 73 | 24 hour pressure change | Pa |
| 74 | Type of evapotranspiration instrument | 1 |
| 75 | Evapotranspiration amount | kg/m2 |
| 76 | Sunshine duration in last 24 hours | hour |
| 77 | Sunshine duration in last hour | minutes |
| 78 | Net radiation in last hour | J/m2 |
| 79 | global radiation in last hour | J/m2 |
| 80 | Diffuse radiation in last hour | J/m2 |
| 81 | Long-wave radiation in last hour | J/m2 |
| 82 | Short-wave radiation in last hour | J/m2 |
| 83 | Net short-wave radiation in last hour | J/m2 |
| 84 | Direct solar radiation in last hour | J/m2 |
| 85 | Net radiation in last 24 hours | J/m2 |
| 86 | global radiation in last 24 hours | J/m2 |
| 87 | Diffuse radiation in last 24 hours | J/m2 |
| 88 | Long-wave radiation in last 24 hours | J/m2 |
| 89 | Short-wave radiation in last 24 hours | J/m2 |
| 90 | Net short-wave radiation in last 24 hours | J/m2 |
| 91 | Direct solar radiation in last 24 hours | J/m2 |
| 92 | Visibility in seaward direction | m |
| 93 | State of sea | 1 |
| 94 | Temperature measuring method | 1 |
| 95 | Sea surface temperature | K |
| 96 | Wave measuring method | 1 |
| 97 | Height of wind waves | m |
| 98 | Period of wind waves | seconds |
| 99 | Primary swell wave direction | degrees |
| 100 | Primary swell wave period | seconds |
| 101 | Primary swell wave height | m |
| 102 | Secondary swell wave direction | degrees |
| 103 | Secondary swell wave period | seconds |
| 104 | Secondary swell wave height | m |
| 105 | Low cloud type (CL) | 1 |
| 106 | Low cloud type (CL) quality control flag | 1 |
| 107 | Medium cloud type (CM) | 1 |
| 108 | Medium cloud type (CM) quality control flag | 1 |
| 109 | High cloud type (CH) | 1 |
| 110 | High cloud type (CH) quality control flag | 1 |
| 111 | Low cloud amount | 1 |
| 112 | Low cloud amount quality control flag | 1 |
| 113 | Height of base of cloud | m |
| 114 | High of base of cloud quality control flag | 1 |
| 115 | Cloud amount (8 groups) | 1 |
| 116 | Cloud amount quality control flag | 1 |
| 117 | Cloud type (8 groups) | 1 |
| 118 | Cloud type quality control flag | 1 |
| 119 | Height of cloud base (8 groups) | m |
| 120 | Height of cloud base quality control flag | 1 |
| 121 | Cloud amount (8 groups) | 1 |
| 122 | Cloud amount quality control flag | 1 |
| 123 | Cloud type (8 groups) | 1 |
| 124 | Cloud type quality control flag | 1 |
| 125 | Height of cloud base (8 groups) | m |
| 126 | Height of cloud base quality control flag | 1 |
| 127 | Cloud amount (8 groups) | 1 |
| 128 | Cloud amount quality control flag | 1 |
| 129 | Cloud type (8 groups) | 1 |
| 130 | Cloud type quality control flag | 1 |
| 131 | Height of cloud base (8 groups) | m |
| 132 | Height of cloud base quality control flag | 1 |
| 133 | Cloud amount (8 groups) | 1 |
| 134 | Cloud amount quality control flag | 1 |
| 135 | Cloud type (8 groups) | 1 |
| 136 | Cloud type quality control flag | 1 |
| 137 | Height of cloud base (8 groups) | m |
| 138 | Height of cloud base quality control flag | 1 |
| 139 | Below station cloud amount | 1 |
| 140 | Below station cloud type | 1 |
| 141 | Below station cloud base height | m |
| 142 | Below station cloud base type | 1 |
| 143 | Above station cloud amount | 1 |
| 144 | Above station cloud type | 1 |
| 145 | Above station cloud top height | m |
| 146 | Above station cloud top type | 1 |