Met Office MIDAS data - Message Types

It is convenient to distinguish between:

  • an observation, a group of one or more meteorological elements, plus some location and time information; other data items are added to an observation before it is encoded into a message.
  • a message, meteorological information encoded into a pre-defined format for exchange between meteorological centres
  • a report, some form of summary of (meteorological) data.

Data contained in messages and reports are structured to facilitate the extraction of selected data from the archive, the selection being based on location, time and meteorological element (where an element is a single meteorological variable such as wind speed, cloud cover or relative humidity). The tables do not store the incoming reports and data files, just the information held by them. (The tables do hold information on how the data were received i.e. met domain or message type.)

Some reports are automatically and routinely ingested into the database. Others only become available on an intermittent basis and are processed accordingly.

Message type Description Available in MIDAS Available elsewhere in BADC
AWSDLY Daily values from non-standard AWS Yes -
AWSHRLY Hourly values from non-standard AWS Yes -
AWSRADT/ESAWRADT Hourly radiation values from AWS/ESAWS Yes -
AWSSOIL/ESAWSOIL Soil temperatures from AWS/ESAWS Yes -
AWSWIND/ESAWWIND Wind observations from AWS/ESAWS Yes -
BATHY Elements from FM 63-IX BATHY message - -
BUOY Elements from FM 18-X BUOY message - -
CARLOS Monthly & annual climatological averages,calculated by NCIC Yes -
CARLOSEX This domain constrains met_element values in the Carlos Station_Exceedence table - -
CAWS Hourly values from non-standard AWS - -
CHECK Check readings - -
CLM-UAN CLIMAT upper air normals Yes -
CLMSN Monthly & annual climatological averages, & check values for sfc CLIMAT messages Yes -
CLMSPN Monthly & annual precipitation averages, & check values for sfc CLIMAT messages Yes -
CLMULN CLIMAT u/a standard isobaric surface check values for a month & stn Yes -
CLMUML Elements from CLIMAT u/a messages at a standard isobaric surface Yes -
CLMUMR Elements from CLIMAT u/a messages at ground level Yes -
CLMURN Long period monthly surface averages for a CLIMAT upper air stn Yes -
CLM71 Monthly & annual climatological averages, & check values for sfc CLIMAT Yes -
CLM71-06 Elements from FM 71-VI CLIMAT message Yes -
CLM71-11 Elements from FM 71-XI CLIMAT message, post 1994 Yes -
CLM72SHP Elements from FM 72-VI CLIMAT SHIP message - -
CLM75TMP Elements from FM 75/6-VI CLIMAT TEMP/SHIP messages Yes -
CURRENT Directions and speeds of marine currents - -
DLY3208 Elements from Metform 3208 - Monthly Return of Daily Obs Yes -
DRADR35 MetO1 Form R35 elements - Dly Totals of Radiation/Sunshine Yes -
DRIFTER Elements from FM 18-X Ext DRIFTER message from drifting buoys. - -
GLBLWXOB GLBL_WX_OB table. 3-hrly synoptic reports from overseas stations. Yes -
HCM Elements from HCM reports Yes -
HSUN3445 Elements from Metform 3445 - Hourly values of Sunshine Duration - -
HWNDAUTO Elements from automatic wind recording devices - -
HWND6910 Elements from Metform 6910 - Analysis of Anemograms - -
MARCUR MARINE-CURRENT table. Directions and speeds of marine currents - -
MAROB MARINE-OB table. Elements from marine messages - -
METAR Elements from full FM 15-V METAR message Yes -
MODLERAD Hourly radiation values from MODLE Yes -
MOSFCELM Monthly climatological values from CLM-71 messages or derived from ob values - -
MOSFCREC Mo_Sfc_Rec table. Header for monthly surface climatological values - -
NCM Elements from NCM reports Yes -
PLAT Elements from PLAT marine messages - -
RADTOB RADT-OB table. Radiation values currently being reported Yes -
RIG Surface weather elements from moveable rigs - -
RNDYOB RAIN-DRNL-OB table. Daily rainfall values Yes -
RNHROB RAIN-HRLY-OB table. Hourly rainfall observations Yes -
RNSHRLY RAIN-SUBHRLY-OB table. Tip values from automatic rain recorders Yes -
RUNWAY Runway measurements, e.g. visual range - -
SHIP Marine surface obs, code type is ‘FM 13-XI SHIP’. No 8-groups - -
SHIP-AUX Marine surface obs, abbreviated list of elements, e.g. MARID, from trawlers, etc - -
SHIP-LV Marine surface obs, from Light Vessel messages - -
SHIP-NVY Marine surface obs, code type is ‘SHIP’, 8-groups, from Navy ships - -
SHIP-OWS Marine surface obs, code type is ‘SHIP’, 8-groups, from Ocean Weather Ships - -
SOILOB Daily & hourly soil temperatures at 5, 10, 20, 30, 50 & 100cm Yes -
SREW Hourly Rainfall values Yes -
SSER Rainfall values from SSER loggers - -
SYNOP Elements from full FM 12-VII SYNOP message Yes -
TDYOB TEMP-DRNL-OB table. Daily temperature extremes Yes -
TEMPMNSL Bare soil minimum temperatures Yes -
TESAC Elements from FM 64-IX TESAC message - -
TRACKOB FM62-VIII TRACKOB. Values of sea temp, salinity, current speed & direction - -
UAPLT Upper air pilot wind message, e.g. FM 32-PILOT - Radiosonde
UAPLTSHP Upper air pilot wind message from ship, e.g. FM 33-V - Radiosonde
PILOT SHIP - - Radiosonde
UASNDG UA_SOUNDING table. Non-repeating elements of an u/a ascent, e.g. sonde type - -
UASNDGPT UA_SOUNDING_POINT table. Repeating values of an upper air ascent - -
UATMP Upper air temp message, e.g. FM 35-V TEMP - Radiosonde
UATMPSHP Upper air temp message from ship, e.g. FM 36-V TEMP SHIP - Radiosonde
WADRAIN Daily rainfall values from Water Authorities Yes -
WAHRAIN Hourly rainfall values from Water Authorities Yes -
WAMRAIN Monthly rainfall values from Water Authorities Yes -
WINDMEAN WIND-MEAN-OB table. Wind parameters measured during one or more hours Yes -
WX_EVT Weather event. Defines the list of weather events for CARLOS - -
WXDYOB WEATHER-DRNL-OB table. Daily weather values Yes -
WXHROB WEATHER-HRLY-OB table. Hourly weather values Yes -