VPTS CSV

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VPTS CSV is a community developed data exchange format for biological signals detected by weather radars. VPTS (vertical profile time series) express the density, speed and direction of biological signals such as birds, bats and insects within a weather radar volume, grouped into altitude layers (height) and measured over time (datetime).

VPTS CSV is a tabular format (rows and columns), allowing data to be expressed as CSV files. Columns/fields are defined below using Table Schema properties. The format aims to be simple rather than comprehensive, containing the most important information, rather than all the available metadata.

VPTS CSV is maintained at https://github.com/aloftdata/vpts-csv.

Example

radar,datetime,height,u,v,w,ff,dd,sd_vvp,gap,eta,dens,dbz,dbz_all,n,n_dbz,n_all,n_dbz_all,rcs,sd_vvp_threshold,vcp,radar_latitude,radar_longitude,radar_height,radar_wavelength,source_file
KBGM,2016-09-01T00:02:00Z,0,,,,,,,TRUE,,,,,0,0,0,0,11,2,,42.19972,-75.98472,519,10.6,s3://noaa-nexrad-level2/2016/09/01/KBGM/KBGM20160901_000212_V06
KBGM,2016-09-01T00:02:00Z,200,,,,,,,TRUE,,,,,0,0,0,0,11,2,,42.19972,-75.98472,519,10.6,s3://noaa-nexrad-level2/2016/09/01/KBGM/KBGM20160901_000212_V06
KBGM,2016-09-01T00:02:00Z,400,,,,,,2.81,TRUE,30.8,2.8000000000000003,1.54,3.77,326,356,22485,28416,11,2,,42.19972,-75.98472,519,10.6,s3://noaa-nexrad-level2/2016/09/01/KBGM/KBGM20160901_000212_V06
KBGM,2016-09-01T00:02:00Z,600,4.14,3.84,12.17,5.65,47.2,2.8,FALSE,46.9,4.263636363636364,3.36,0.5,9006,13442,65947,104455,11,2,,42.19972,-75.98472,519,10.6,s3://noaa-nexrad-level2/2016/09/01/KBGM/KBGM20160901_000212_V06

Requirements

The key words MUST, MUST NOT, REQUIRED, SHALL, SHALL NOT, SHOULD, SHOULD NOT, RECOMMENDED, MAY, and OPTIONAL in this document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119.

  • Data MUST include the names of the fields (e.g. as a header row).
  • Data MUST refer to fields using the names defined below.
  • Data MUST at least include the required fields (indicated with * below).
  • Data MUST use this CSV dialect when expressed as CSV. See CSV dialect documentation.
  • nodata values SHOULD be expressed as empty values.
  • undetect values SHOULD be expressed as NaN.
  • Field values SHOULD match the data types as defined below.
  • Field values SHOULD meet the constraints as defined below, except for NaN and empty values.
  • Data SHOULD be ordered by datetime, height and source_file within a radar.
  • Data SHOULD have the same heights for all datetimes of a radar.
  • Fields SHOULD be organized in the order presented below.

Fields

Source: https://github.com/aloftdata/vpts-csv/blob/main/vpts-csv-table-schema.json

Name Definition Type
radar *

Radar identifier.

Constraints
  • required: true

Example: KBGM

string
datetime *

Nominal date and time of the measurement, as an ISO 8601 formatted string in UTC.

Constraints
  • required: true

Example: 2016-09-01T00:02:00Z

datetime
height *

Lower bound of the altitude bin in m above sea level.

Constraints
  • required: true
  • minimum: -200
  • maximum: 25000

Example: 600

Also known as: HGHT, bin_lower 		integer
u

Ground speed component west to east in m/s.

Constraints
  • minimum: -100
  • maximum: 100

Example: 4.14

number
v

Ground speed component south to north in m/s.

Constraints
  • minimum: -100
  • maximum: 100

Example: 3.84

number
w

Vertical speed in m/s.

Example: 12.17

number
ff

Horizontal ground speed in m/s.

Constraints
  • minimum: 0
  • maximum: 100

Example: 5.65

Also known as: speed 		number
dd

Ground speed direction in degrees clockwise from north.

Constraints
  • minimum: 0
  • maximum: 360

Example: 47.2

Also known as: direction 		number
sd_vvp

VVP radial velocity standard deviation in m/s.

Constraints
  • minimum: 0
  • maximum: 100

Example: 2.8

Also known as: rmse 		number
gap

Angular data gap detected.

Example: FALSE

boolean
eta

Animal reflectivity in cm^2/km^3.

Constraints
  • minimum: 0
  • maximum: Inf

Example: 46.9

Also known as: linear_eta 		number
dens

Animal density in animals/km^3.

Constraints
  • minimum: 0
  • maximum: Inf

Example: 4.263636363636364

number
dbz

Animal reflectivity factor in dBZ.

Constraints
  • minimum: -Inf
  • maximum: 100

Example: 3.36

number
dbz_all

Total reflectivity factor (bio + meteo scattering) in dBZ.

Constraints
  • minimum: -Inf
  • maximum: 100

Example: 0.5

Also known as: DBZH 		number
n

Number of data points used for the ground speed estimates (quantities u, v, w, ff, dd).

Constraints
  • minimum: 0

Example: 9006

integer
n_dbz

Number of data points used for reflectivity-based estimates (quantities dbz, eta, dens).

Constraints
  • minimum: 0

Example: 13442

integer
n_all

Number of data points used for the radial velocity standard deviation estimate (quantity sd_vvp).

Constraints
  • minimum: 0

Example: 65947

integer
n_dbz_all

Number of data points used for the total reflectivity estimate (quantity dbz_all).

Constraints
  • minimum: 0

Example: 104455

Also known as: nbins 		integer
rcs

Radar cross section per bird in cm^2.

Constraints
  • minimum: 1e-15
  • maximum: Inf

Example: 11

number
sd_vvp_threshold

Lower threshold in radial velocity standard deviation (profile quantity sd_vvp) in m/s. Biological signals with sd_vvp < sd_vvp_threshold are set to zero. Defaults to 2 m/s for C-band radars and 1 m/s for S-band radars if not specified.

Constraints
  • minimum: 0
  • maximum: 100

Example: 2

number
vcp

Volume coverage pattern, unitless. Documented on Wikipedia for NEXRAD.

Also known as: scan_strategy 		integer
radar_latitude *

Latitude of the radar location in decimal degrees, using the WGS84 datum. Constant for all records from the same radar.

Constraints
  • required: true
  • minimum: -90
  • maximum: 90

Example: 42.19972

number
radar_longitude *

Longitude of the radar location in decimal degrees, using the WGS84 datum. Constant for all records from the same radar.

Constraints
  • required: true
  • minimum: -180
  • maximum: 180

Example: -75.98472

number
radar_height *

Height of the center of the radar antenna in m above sea level. Constant for all records from the same radar.

Constraints
  • required: true
  • minimum: -200
  • maximum: 9000

Example: 519

integer
radar_wavelength *

Wavelength of the radar in cm. Constant for all records from the same radar. Most C-band radars operate at approximately 5.3 cm wavelength, most S-band radars at 10.6 cm.

Constraints
  • required: true
  • minimum: 0.1
  • maximum: 100

Example: 10.6

number
source_file

URL or path to the source file from which the data were derived.

Constraints
  • pattern: ^(?=^[^./~])(^((?!\.{2}).)*$).*$

Example: s3://noaa-nexrad-level2/2016/09/01/KBGM/KBGM20160901_000212_V06

string