IMPACTS Aircraft Water Vapor Measurements for Snowstorms

Water vapor mixing ratio and relative humidity data were collected by two diode laser hygrometers on a NASA P-3B aircraft during the 2023 IMPACTS campaign. The project studied snowband formation and evolution over the U.S. Atlantic Coast from 2020 to 2023. Data files are available for flights from January 13 to February 28, 2023, in ASCII format.

Use Cases

• Analyzing water vapor mixing ratio variations within snowbands.
• Calculating relative humidity with respect to ice and liquid water using derived temperature and pressure.
• Studying the vertical and horizontal distribution of atmospheric moisture during winter storms.
• Validating and improving remote sensing and numerical model outputs for snowfall prediction.

Strengths

• Data combines measurements from two separate instruments to optimize accuracy, dynamic range, and coverage.
• Measurements cover a specific 47-day winter campaign focused on high-impact snowstorms.
• Data is part of a multi-year, targeted NASA Earth Venture Suborbital project (IMPACTS).

Limitations

• Specific column names, row counts, and file sizes are not provided by any source.
• Sources conflict on license information (other-license-specified vs. null) and last updated date (2026 vs. 2023).

Provenance

Source

NASA P-3B research aircraft, GHRC DAAC.

Collection Method

Combined measurements from zenith-mounted and short-path diode laser hygrometers, using ambient data from the TAMMS instrument suite.

Time Range

2023-01-13 to 2023-02-28

Freshness

2026-03-13 03:15:48.000288

Geography

U.S. Atlantic Coast region.