CAMEX-4 NOAA WP-3D Aircraft Video Recordings

CAMEX-4 NOAA WP-3D VIDEO V1 contains airborne video data collected by a NOAA weather reconnaissance aircraft during the fourth Convection and Moisture Experiment campaign. The dataset includes forward, left, right, and downward view recordings in SVHS format, captured from August 16 to September 25, 2001, based out of Jacksonville Naval Air Station, Florida. Videos are recorded in a compressed time mode where one minute of real time is represented by approximately five seconds of footage.

Use Cases

• Analyzing storm structure and cloud formations from the four distinct aircraft camera angles.
• Serving as visual ground truth for correlating with concurrent radar and microphysical data collected during the same flights.
• Studying the temporal evolution of weather events using the time-compressed video format.
• Supporting educational or public outreach materials with real airborne footage of hurricane-related weather systems.

Strengths

• Provides synchronized multi-angle visual coverage (forward, left, right, downward) of atmospheric conditions.
• Data was collected during a defined, focused field campaign (CAMEX-4) over a six-week period in 2001.
• The time-compression of video (approx. 12.5x normal speed) facilitates review of longer-duration events.

Limitations

• Specific column names, row counts, and dataset size are not documented on any platform.
• Sources conflict on the last updated date, listing both 2001-09-19 and a future date of 2026-03 -13.
• Access requires direct contact with the data center (GHRC), indicating potential availability hurdles.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), collected via NOAA weather reconnaissance WP-3D aircraft.

Collection Method

Recorded on SVHS tapes from cameras mounted on the aircraft during the CAMEX-4 field campaign.

Time Range

2001-08 16 to 2001-09-25

Freshness

2001-09-19 23:59:00

Geography

Operations based out of Jacksonville Naval Air Station, Florida; coverage area likely includes Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico regions targeted by CAMEX-4.