Validation Products
Validation products consist of summary statistical information on the reliability and quality of the sounding products. There are separate validation products for NRT and off-line sounding data products. Validation products include:
- Analyses of observation delay (time differences between the observation and the start of dissemination of the level 2 sounding product to users from the SAF)
- Analyses of availability (number of level 2 sounding products made available to users relative to the number of level 1b occultations received by the SAF from the Central Facility)
- Analyses of refractivity quality (differences in level 2 values of refractivity against refractivity synthesised from a NWP model at the same location)
- Analyses of temperature and humidity quality (differences in level 2 temperature and humidity profiles against equivalent NWP model values)
- Other
These products are available in the form of:
- Summary single or tabulated numbers
- Graphical representations - e.g. histogram of delays, time series and geographical maps of temperature differences at selected levels.
Validation products will not be actively disseminated, but are updated and posted on a regular basis (daily for NRT, monthly for offline) on the GRAS SAF web site.
