CAMEX-4 Aerosonde UAV Atmospheric Measurements

CAMEX-4 Aerosonde data contains temperature, humidity, and atmospheric pressure measurements collected by an unmanned aerial vehicle to study the boundary layer below traditional hurricane reconnaissance altitudes. The Aerosonde UAV, with a 2.9-meter wingspan and 14 kg weight, collected this data by flying at altitudes from near the surface to 21,000 feet for up to 30 hours. NASA produced this dataset during the CAMEX-4 campaign, with metadata updates noted as recently as 2026.

Use Cases

• Analyzing vertical profiles of temperature, humidity, and pressure in the hurricane boundary layer.
• Studying atmospheric dynamics at altitudes below those typically covered by manned reconnaissance aircraft.
• Validating and improving numerical weather prediction models for tropical cyclones using in-situ UAV measurements.
• Researching the engineering performance and data collection capabilities of long-endurance, small UAV platforms.

Strengths

• Data was collected by a specialized UAV platform capable of long-duration (up to 30 hour) flights at precise altitudes.
• Measurements target a critical but difficult-to-sample region—the atmospheric boundary layer below 21,000 feet.
• The dataset's presence on multiple government platforms (Data.gov, NASA Earthdata) signals its importance and curation.

Limitations

• Specific column names, row counts, and dataset size are not provided by any source, limiting detailed analysis.
• Sources conflict on the last updated date, with NASA Earthdata listing 2001 and Data.gov listing 2026, creating uncertainty about metadata maintenance.
• The license is ambiguously listed as 'other-license-specified' on Data.gov and is null on NASA Earthdata.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Measurements gathered by air pressure, temperature, and humidity probes onboard an Aerosonde unmanned aerial vehicle, controlled by dual computers and navigated by GPS.

Time Range

Campaign period for CAMEX-4 (Convection and Moisture Experiment), likely 2001.

Freshness

2026-03-13 07:07:31.748402

Geography

Coverage area for the CAMEX-4 field campaign, typically focused on tropical Atlantic regions.