Quality control algorithms used in the Automated Surface Observing System

Quality control (QC) algorithms balance the requirement of reporting accurate data without eliminating extreme actual conditions. The Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS) QC algorithms have been developed with this balance in mind. ASOS's QC algorithms perform checks on the goodness of the data by ensuring: (1) data are reported within the sensor's operational range; (2) ample data are available from the sensor to report the parameter; (3) rate of change which is indicative of a sensor failure is not reported; and (4) cross sensor data comparisons are performed to provide a "reasonableness" check of the reported data. This paper explains the single- and multi-sensor QC algorithms used by ASOS.