This collection contains data from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Mesosphere-Stratosphere-Troposphere (MST) Radar Facility at Capel Dewi, near Aberystwyth in West Wales. The principal measurements made by the MST radar, a 46.5 MHz pulsed Doppler radar), ideally suited for studied of atmospheric winds, waves and turbulence. It is run predominantly in the ST mode (approximately 2 - 20 km altitude) for which MST radars are unique in their ability to give continuous measurements of the three dimensional wind vector at high resolution (typically 2 - 3 minutes in time and 300 m in altitude). Under certain circumstances they can additionally provide information about humidity, static stability (thus allowing monitoring of the altitude and sharpness of the tropopause) and turbulence of at least moderate intensity. Surface meteorological measurements from the radar site, ceilometer data, sky camera images and wind speed and direction recorded from a 10m tower located at Frongoch (6km away) are also available. Other instruments at the facility have included one of the Met Office's boundary layer wind profilers and, on occasion, the NCAS's boundary layer wind profiler. The collection also includes high-resolution radiosonde data from RAF Aberporth, approximately 45 km to the south-west of the radar site, are available for the period April 1990 - June 2000 and data from the RAL Cloud Radar. Facility data are available to all registered users under the UK Open Government License; Met Office data are available under the NERC-Met Office agreement and the RAL Cloud Radar is restricted to registered users at present.

The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Mesosphere-Stratosphere-Troposphere (MST) Radar is operated by the Science and Technology Facilities Council at the Radar Facility's (MSTRF's) site in Capel Dewi, near Aberystwyth, Mid-Wales. The 46.5 MHz pulsed Doppler radar is used primarily for making atmospheric observations over the approximate altitude range 2 - 20 km, i.e. over most of the troposphere and the lower stratosphere - hence the term "ST-mode". Additional observations are made over the approximate altitude range 56 - 96 km, i.e. covering the mesosphere - hence the term "M-mode" (see related dataset). The instrument has been in operation, using the Dopppler Beam Swinging technique (see linked documentation for further details), since late 1989. It was intially operated on a campaign basis, but switched to quasi-continuous observations (i.e. close to 24-7 operation) in late 1997. This dataset includes radial data products, i.e. range profiles along each beam pointing direction, and the "Cartesian" data products that are derived from them in the form of altitude profiles. The latter are used for most purposes. Data products are derived from the version 3 processing scheme, which supersedes earlier versions. Further details can be found via the linked documentation. Radial data products include: signal power (relates to atmospheric structure) radial velocity (relates to wind speed along the beam pointing direction) spectral width (relates to turbulence intensity) Cartesian data products include: horizontal wind components (zonal and meridional) vertical wind velocity vertical beam signal power tropopause altitude vertical beam spectral width radar return aspect sensitivity Note - some files are released marked as '-suspect'. These have been released to permit early access to the data where the majority of data are known to pass quality control, but a small, limited part of the data have been identified as being 'suspect'. An internal remark about the suspect data may be found within the file's metadata 'comments' attribute.

Version 1 processing of data from the Natural Environment Research Council's (NERC) Mesosphere-Stratosphere-Troposphere (MST) Radar near Aberystwyth in West Wales. The principal measurements made by the MST radar are of the three dimensional wind vector over the altitude range 2 - 20 km, with additional measurements from the mesosphere between 65 and 80 km. These data include both the radial beam data plus the resulting Cartesian products. Surface meteorological measurements from the radar site, ceilometer data, sky camera images and wind speed and direction recorded from a 10m tower located 6km away are also available. Other instruments at the facility have included one of the Met Office's boundary layer wind profilers and NCAS's boundary layer wind profiler.

Surface meteorological data are measured by a number of instruments deployed at the Natural Environment Research Council's (NERC) Mesosphere-Stratosphere-Troposphere (MST) Radar Facility, Capel Dewi, near Aberystwyth in West Wales. This dataset consists of data collected by the following suite instruments connected to a Campbell Scientific CR10 Climate Data Logger: Campbell Scientific 107 thermistor temperature probe mounted inside an URS1 unaspirated radiation shield. Accuracy: +/- 0.4 degrees C. Vaisala PTB101B barometric pressure sensor. Accuracy: +/- 2.0 hPa. Vaisala HMP45C temperature and relative humidity probe (from which only the humidity measurements are used) mounted inside an URS1 un-aspirated radiation shield. Accuracy: +/- 0.3%. Environmental Measurements ARG100 tipping bucket raingauge. Kipp and Zonen CM3 thermopile pyranometer (WMO second class). Accuracy: +/- 0.5%. The raingauge is located on the ground. All other sensors are mounted on a post approximately 1 m above the ground. The data logger initially samples the atmospheric temperature, pressure and humidity sensors at 5 s intervals. Mean values are calculated over each 60 s and the outputs from the logger represent minima, means and maxima of these 60 s means over each 10 minute sample period. The data logger is connected to a tipping bucket raingauge (sampled every 1 s, and recording tips for each 0.20 mm accumulation of rain); pyranometer (sampled every every 5 s, recording the down-welling radiation within a hemispheric field of view with a flat response in the spectral range 305 - 2800 nm); The data are available in NASA-Ames formatted files. Independent surface meteorological data are also available from the Vaisala WXT510 instrument also located at the site and are available in the wxt510-precipitation and PTU datasets.

Surface wind measurements are available from the Vaisala WXT510 surface meteorology instrument deployed at the Natural Environment Research Council's (NERC) Mesosphere-Stratosphere-Troposphere (MST) Radar Facility, Capel Dewi, near Aberystwyth in West Wales from 2007 to 2015. Wind speed and direction are measured by a WINDCAP (R) sensor which consists of an array of three equally-spaced ultrasonic transducers. These transducers are situated approximately 11 cm apart in a horizontal plane, leading to minimum, mean, and maximum values of speed and direction to be recorded. Data are available in netCDF formatted data files to all CEDA registered users under the UK Open Government licence. This instrument has since been replaced by a Vaisala WXT520 surface meteorology instrument at the site. Note - the wind data from this instrument are known to be highly constrained by the valley topography in which the instrument is sited. As such it should not be used as a representation of the broad scale wind field, but may be of interest to those wishing to study valley flows.

Surface pressure, temperature and humidity data (PTU) were collected by a Vaisala WXT510 instrument located at the Natural Environment Research Council's (NERC) Mesosphere-Stratosphere-Troposphere (MST) Radar Facility, Capel Dewi, near Aberystwyth in West Wales. Rainfall rate data from this instrument are also available as a separate dataset within the MST Radar Facility dataset collection. The WXT-510 instrument at the site began operational recording in December 2007 and ceased in January 2015, subsequently being replaced by a Vaisala WXT-520 instrument. The WXT520 data are also available from CEDA as part of the MST Radar Facility's dataset collection. Independent surface meteorological data are also collected from a suite of instruments by a Campbell Scientific CR10 Climate Data Logger. These data are available as a separate dataset within the MST Radar Facility dataset collection.

Images from the sky camera mounted at the Natural Environment Research Council's (NERC) Mesosphere-Stratosphere-Troposphere (MST) Radar Facility, Capel Dewi, near Aberystwyth in West Wales. Images are in jpeg format.

Version 0 processing of data from the Natural Environment Research Council's (NERC) Mesosphere-Stratosphere-Troposphere (MST) Radar near Aberystwyth in West Wales represents processing scheme in place from the early 1990s until 2007. The principal measurements made by the MST radar are of the three dimensional wind vector over the altitude range 2 - 20 km, with additional measurements from the mesophere between 65 and 80 km. The data in this dataset include echo power as well as radial and vector winds components. Surface meteorological measurements from the radar site, ceilometer data, sky camera images and wind speed and direction recorded from a 10m tower located 6km away are also available. Other instruments at the facility have included one of the Met Office's boundary layer wind profilers and NCAS's boundary layer wind profiler.

The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Mesosphere-Stratosphere-Troposphere (MST) Radar is operated by the Science and Technology Facilities Council at the Radar Facility's (MSTRF's) site in Capel Dewi, near Aberystwyth, Mid-Wales. The 46.5 MHz pulsed Doppler radar is used primarily for making atmospheric observations over the approximate altitude range 2 - 20 km, i.e. over most of the troposphere and the lower stratosphere - hence the term "ST-mode". Additional observations are made over the approximate altitude range 56 - 96 km, i.e. covering the mesosphere - hence the term "M-mode" (see related dataset). The instrument has been in operation, using the Dopppler Beam Swinging technique (see linked documentation for further details), since late 1989. It was intially operated on a campaign basis, but switched to quasi-continuous observations (i.e. close to 24-7 operation) in late 1997. This dataset includes radial data products, i.e. range profiles along each beam pointing direction, and the "Cartesian" data products that are derived from them in the form of altitude profiles. The latter are used for most purposes. Data products are derived from the version 3 processing scheme, which supersedes earlier versions. Further details can be found via the linked documentation. Radial data products include: signal power (relates to atmospheric structure) radial velocity (relates to wind speed along the beam pointing direction) spectral width (relates to turbulence intensity) Cartesian data products include: horizontal wind components (zonal and meridional) vertical wind velocity vertical beam signal power tropopause altitude vertical beam spectral width radar return aspect sensitivity

Surface precipitation measurements from the precipitation sensor on the Vaisala WXT510 instrument deployed at the Natural Environment Research Council's (NERC) Mesosphere-Stratosphere-Troposphere (MST) Radar Facility, Capel Dewi, near Aberystwyth in West Wales. These data are available to any registered CEDA user under the UK Open Government Licence. Surface pressure, temperature and humidity data (PTU) from this instrument are also available as a separate dataset within the MST Radar Facility dataset collection. The WXT-510 instrument at the site began operational recording in December 2007 and ceased in January 2015, subsequently being replaced by a Vaisala WXT-520 instrument. The WXT520 data are also available from CEDA as part of the MST Radar Facility's dataset collection. Independent surface meteorological data are also collected from a suite of instruments by a Campbell Scientific CR10 Climate Data Logger. These data are available as a separate dataset within the MST Radar Facility dataset collection.