BUFR TABLE A
(OPERATIONAL AS OF 04 MAY
2011 - WMO VERSION 16.0.0)
LATEST REVISION IS 07/05/2011
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COLOR CODE:
PURPLE - This is awaiting validation by the WMO or has pre-operational status.
LINKS:
BUFR TABLE B – WMO AND LOCAL (NCEP) DESCRIPTORS AS WELL AS THOSE AWAITING VALIDATION BY THE WMO
BUFR TABLE D – THE CATEGORY AND DEFINITION OF DATA SEQUENCES USED BY THE NCEP OBSERVATIONAL DATABASE AND PREPBUFR AND
PREPFITS FILES
BUFR Table A — Data category
(BUFR Section 1: Edition 3, Octet 9; Edition 4, Octet 11)
Code figure
Meaning
0
Surface
data — land
1
Surface
data — sea
2
Vertical
soundings (other than satellite)
3
Vertical
soundings (satellite)
4
Single
level upper-air data (other than satellite)
5
Single
level upper-air data (satellite)
6
Radar data
7
Synoptic
features
8
Physical/chemical constituents
9
Dispersal
and transport
10
Radiological data
11
BUFR tables,
complete replacement or update
12
Surface data
(satellite)
13
Forecasts
14
Warnings
15–19
Reserved
20
Status
information
21
Radiances
(satellite measured)
22
Radar (satellite) but not altimeter and
scatterometer
23
Lidar (satellite)
24
Scatterometry
(satellite)
25
Altimetry
(satellite)
26
Spectrometry
(satellite)
27
Gravity
measurement (satellite)
28
Precision orbit
(satellite)
29
Space
environment (satellite)
30
Calibration
datasets (satellite)
31
Oceanographic
data
32–100
Reserved
101
Image data
(satellite)
102–239
Reserved (see 1
below)
240–254
For experimental use (see 2
below)
FOR BUFR EDITION 3:
255
Indicator for local
use, with sub-category
FOR BUFR EDITION 4:
255
Other category
Note (for BUFR Edition 3): In data category 255, the local data
category may be described by BUFR, Section 1, octet 10.
1 - NCEP is currently using code figures
102-140 to define
BUFR Table A data categories in its PREPBUFR, pseudo-PREPBUFR and
PREPFITS files.
These are defined as follows:
Code figure
Meaning
102
Upper-air
(RAOB, PIBAL, RECCO, DROPS) reports
103
MDCRS
ACARS aircraft reports
104
AIREP, PIREP, AMDAR and TAMDAR aircraft reports
105
Satellite-derived wind reports
106
Wind
profiler reports
107
Vertical
Azimuth Display (VAD) wind reports (from WSR88D radars)
108
POES
satellite sounding reports (retrievals, processed radiances)
109
Surface
land (synoptic, METAR) reports
110
Surface marine (ship, buoy, C-MAN platform) reports
111
Mean
sea-level pressure bogus reports
112
SSM/I retrieval
product reports (reprocessed wind speed, total precipitable water,
rainfall rate)
113
Synthetic
tropical cyclone bogus reports
114
ERS
scatterometer wind reports (reprocessed wind speed)
115
GOES satellite sounding
reports (retrievals, processed radiances)
116
QuikSCAT scatterometer wind
reports (reprocessed)
117
Mesonet surface reports
118
Global
Positioning Satellite-integrated Precipitable Water (GPS-IPW) reports
119
Radio Acoustic
Sounding System (RASS) temperature profile reports
120
WINDSAT scatterometer wind
reports (reprocessed)
121
ASCAT
scatterometer wind reports (reprocessed)
122-140
Reserved
for future use
206
AIRNOW ozone
concentration reports
2 - NCEP is currently using code
figures 241-243 to define
BUFR Table A data categories in its model sounding files.
These are defined as follows:
Code figure
Meaning
241
ETA/NAM
model soundings, RUC model soundings
242
NGM model
soundings
243
GFS model
soundings