FIRE ASTEX: Atlantic Stratocumulus Radiosonde Data from June 1992

Porto Santo radiosonde data collected from the ship Oceanus between June 3 and June 23, 1992. The dataset contains interpolated atmospheric profiles with measurements of pressure, temperature, humidity, and wind, designed to improve cloud and radiation models. It was created by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration as part of the First ISCCP Regional Experiments.

Use Cases

• Validate cloud life cycle simulations in climate models based on the detailed atmospheric profiles.
• Analyze marine stratocumulus cloud transitions based on temperature, humidity, and pressure data.
• Study atmospheric boundary layer dynamics based on high-resolution wind speed and direction measurements.
• Improve satellite data product algorithms based on the correlation between in-situ soundings and ISCCP data mentioned in the description.

Strengths

• Data collection is precisely dated from June 3 to June 23, 1992.
• Atmospheric profiles include multiple interpolated resolutions (5-second, 20-meter, 2-millibar).
• Each record contains up to 11 measured variables, including ascent rate, height, 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 and a three-week period in 1992, which may limit generalizability.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Radiosonde launches from the research vessel Oceanus.

Time Range

June 3, 1992 to June -23, 1992

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 02:54:34.137314; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Atlantic Ocean, location specified by launch latitude and longitude.