CAMEX-3 Airborne Atmospheric Profiles from 1998 Campaign

Half-second measurements of temperature, humidity, pressure, wind speed, and wind direction were collected during dropsonde descents. This dataset provides vertical atmospheric profiles from the third Convection And Moisture EXperiment (CAMEX-3) field campaign, which studied tropical cyclones from Patrick Air Force Base, Florida, in August and September 1998. Data is provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Use Cases

• Analyzing vertical wind shear profiles using wind speed and direction data to understand tropical cyclone intensity changes.
• Studying the thermodynamic structure of storms by correlating temperature, humidity, and pressure measurements at different altitudes.
• Validating and improving numerical weather prediction models with in-situ atmospheric state parameter observations.
• Investigating moisture transport within tropical systems using humidity and dew point temperature profiles.

Strengths

• Data provides high-temporal-resolution vertical profiles with measurements recorded every half second during dropsonde descent.
• Campaign focused on a specific, scientifically critical phenomenon—tropical cyclones—over a defined two-month period in 1998.
• Cross-platform presence on Data.gov and NASA EarthData indicates recognized importance and curation by authoritative sources.

Limitations

• Key quantitative details like total row count, file size, and exact column names are unavailable across all sources.
• There is a significant conflict in the 'last updated' metadata, with one source listing 2026-03 13 and another 1998-09-22.
• The license is ambiguously listed as 'other-license-specified' without explicit terms provided.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Airborne measurements collected via dropsonde and GPS receivers from a DC-8 aircraft.

Time Range

August 1998 to September 1998

Freshness

2026-03-13 07:12:56.426365

Geography

Region around Patrick Air Force Base, Florida, and surrounding tropical cyclone areas.