RAOB Upper Air (traditional) Retrospective verification

This document is a guide for verifying retro cases against RAOB data in the MATS MariaDB database. These RAOBs come from the ESRL Rawinsonde database originally designed by Mark Govett, and do NOT interact with NCO prepBUFR files directly.

Updated: February 20, 2026
POC: MATS Service account (mats.gsl@noaa.gov)

Reload RAOBS¶

NOTE: This step is necessary only if your retro time period is more than two years ago. RAOBs are archived outside of the database beyond that point. If your retro period is within the two year window, please skip this section

1. Log onto model-verif-prod.gsd.esrl.noaa.gov as the amb-verif role account (if you do not have access, please ask a MATS team member to either reload RAOBs for you, or work with ITS to add to you to the role account)

2. Run the following command:

   ~amb-verif/ruc_uaverif/load_raobs_retro2.pl {start_epoch} {end_epoch}

3. These will age off at the start of every month due to automated data management scripts, so this process may need to be repeated

Process Retro grids¶

1. Log onto the HPC (Jet or Hera) where your output grids are stored as the “role.amb-verif” role account. If you cannot become role.amb-verif, please let us know and we will have you added.

2. Go to the directory ~role.amb-verif/RR_uaverif/RR_retro. If your retro is not already linked, create the soft links to the cycle-level directory of your output with a case name of your choosing to highlight the experiment, with the available conventions:

   ln -s {case_cycle_directory} {experiment_name}

3. Go to the ~role.amb-verif/RR_uaverif directory and run the following command:

    process_retro4.pl {experiment_name} {start_epoch} {end_epoch} {dp-to-rh-calculator} {reprocess? 0 - no, 1 - yes}

4. Results should appear on MATS the following morning, but a metadata scan can be run to expedite the process. As role.amb-verif on Hera, run “~/mats_metadata/update_metadata_upperair.py {case_name}”. If you see a >0 number of records (‘numrecs’) found in the output, your retro is stored in the database with metadata enabled.

5. The final step is to refresh the metadata inside the MATS client using the following URL: “https://gsl.noaa.gov/mats/upperair/refreshMetadata”. Once complete, return to the upperair app home page and check the data source drop down for your retro. If present, you are free to create plots.

If you encounter any issues during any of the steps outlined here, either on Jet or Hera, please contact the MATS team (mats.gsl@noaa.gov)