FIRE ASTEX: Oceanus Ship Radiosonde Atmospheric Profiles from June 1992

Three sets of interpolated radiosonde soundings collected from the Oceanus ship between June 3 and June 23, 1992. The data, part of the First ISCCP Regional Experiment, were designed to improve cloud and radiation models for climate research. Each file contains up to 1500 lines of measurements including height, pressure, temperature, humidity, and wind.

Use Cases

• Validate cloud life cycle models based on detailed atmospheric profiles of temperature and humidity.
• Study marine stratocumulus cloud interactions using time-series ascent rate and pressure data.
• Improve satellite data product algorithms by correlating in-situ wind speed and direction with ISCCP observations.
• Analyze atmospheric transitions over the ocean using the 5-second, 20-meter, and 2-millibar interpolated sounding sets.

Strengths

• Data spans a focused 21-day campaign in June 1992, providing a coherent temporal snapshot.
• Three interpolation levels (5-second, 20-meter, 2-millibar) offer flexibility for analysis at different resolutions.
• Each profile contains up to 1500 data lines with 10 measured variables, including ascent rate and mixing ratio.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data is from a single ship location, which may limit spatial representativeness.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Radiosonde launches from the Oceanus ship.

Time Range

June 3, 1992 to June 23, 1992

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 02:54:46.763063; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Atlantic Ocean, location specified by launch latitude and longitude in each file.