DCOTSS: Balloon Measurements of Stratospheric Ozone and Water Vapor Over North America

NASA's Dynamics and Chemistry of the Summer Stratosphere (DCOTSS) campaign collected balloon data from four U.S. launch sites. The data, which includes ozone and water vapor measurements, aims to study the impact of North American Monsoon thunderstorms that transport pollutants into the stratosphere. Data collection is ongoing, with the current release featuring the first of two ~8-week deployments.

Use Cases

• Modeling stratospheric ozone depletion based on in-situ ozone and water vapor measurements.
• Analyzing convective transport from thunderstorms based on trace gas profiles mentioned in the description.
• Studying the spatial and temporal dynamics of the North American Monsoon Anticyclone based on multi-location balloon flights.
• Investigating radiative and chemical processes in the lower stratosphere based on pollutant transport data.

Strengths

• Data collected from four distinct geographic locations in the U.S., providing spatial coverage.
• Includes specific measurements of ozone and water vapor trace gases.
• Campaign involved two ~8-week science deployments, suggesting temporal depth.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data collection is ongoing; the current product only features the first deployment.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Balloon data collected during the DCOTSS sub-orbital field campaign.

Time Range

Early to late summer deployments.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 03:00:42.339058; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Balloon launches from Boulder, CO; Salina, KS; Corpus Christi, TX; and Grand Forks, ND, focusing on the North-Western Hemisphere.