Description of the E-Mail Format For the Water Vapor Protocol

The e-mail format for the Water Vapor Protocol is identical to that for the Aerosols Protocol. There are several advantages to using this e-mail format for reporting sun photometer data for the Water Vapor Protocol

If you are working directly with me on a satellite ground validation project, we may have agreed that you should send data reports even on days when you can collect only metadata. GLOBE will not accept such reports, but my software will. However, please do not send just metadata, without voltage values, without consulting with me first.

Note that GLOBE forwards to me a copy of your data entries, even if you use online data entry, in e-mail format.

For each sample number all fields are required. At least three samples are required.

Each set of measurements starts with WV (or wv). A set of measurements may be continued on more than one line if there is not enough space on one line. There were some scattered altocumulus and cirrocumulus clouds observed when these measurements were taken. The sky color was light blue, the sky was somewhat hazy, and the air temperature was 20° C. The station pressure was 1009 mbar and the sea level (weather report) barometric pressure as determined from an online source was 1012 mbar (indicating that this observing site is at an elevation of roughly 30 m). There were 3 short lived contrails that covered less than 10% of the sky. With only 3 sets of voltages recorded, all the values for the last 2 samples must be set to missing. (See the string of 12 X's.) An Earth-observing satellite flew over at 16:08:12 UT with a maximum elevation angle of 67 degrees above the horizon. The case temperature before the first reading was 23.9° C and after the last reading it was 25.1° C. relative humidity was measured with a sling psychrometer, which gave 37% based on a dry bulb temperature of 20° and a wet bulb temperature of 12°.

Because the sky was not obscured this field is represented by an X. When you report barometric pressure, be sure to report actual pressure at your site as "station pressure" in Field 54. If you get barometric pressure from an online, broadcast, or newspaper source, it is invariably sea level pressure, and should be reported as such in Field 55. Note that because classroom aneroid barometers are typically not very accurate, an online or broadcast weather report is the preferred source for sea level barometric pressure values. A common mistake is to report sea level pressure in the station pressure field. Please be careful!

The comment at the end of the format indicates the possibility of cirrus cloud contamination during the measurements.