FIRE ASTEX: Ship-Based Atmospheric Soundings from the Valdivia, 1992

Radiosonde data collected from the ship Valdivia during the Atlantic Stratocumulus Transition Experiment from May 28 to June 22, 1992. The dataset contains interpolated atmospheric profiles with variables including pressure, temperature, humidity, and wind. It was produced by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to improve cloud and radiation models.

Use Cases

• Validate cloud life cycle simulations in climate models based on high-resolution atmospheric profiles.
• Study marine stratocumulus cloud interactions using temperature, humidity, and wind data.
• Improve satellite data product algorithms by comparing in-situ radiosonde measurements.
• Analyze atmospheric boundary layer transitions over the ocean during the specified time period.

Strengths

• Data covers a focused 26-day field campaign with a specific scientific objective.
• Includes three interpolated data products (5-second, 20-meter, and 2-millibar resolutions) for different analysis needs.
• Each record contains 10 measured or derived atmospheric variables, as listed in the description.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data is from a single ship location and a one-month period in 1992, limiting spatial and temporal generality.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Collected via radiosonde launches from the ship Valdivia.

Time Range

1992-05-28 to 1992-06-22

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 02:53:39.216283; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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