FIRE Cirrus II Rawinsonde Data from 17 U.S. Weather Stations

This dataset contains National Weather Service rawinsonde observations collected during the second cirrus intensive field observation of the First ISCCP Regional Experiments. Data was gathered from 17 ground stations across the central United States over a 25-day period in late 1991. The project was designed by NASA's Langley Research Center Atmospheric Science Data Center to improve cloud and radiation parameterizations in climate models.

Use Cases

• Validating satellite-derived cloud property estimates against coordinated ground-based measurements.
• Analyzing vertical profiles of atmospheric temperature, humidity, and wind from the listed station codes (e.g., ABQ, DEN, TOP) to study cirrus cloud formation.
• Improving physical process representations in climate models using detailed observations from a focused field campaign.
• Investigating spatial correlations in upper-air data across the 17-site network in the central U.S.

Strengths

• Data originates from a coordinated, multi-platform NASA field campaign designed for model validation.
• Provides observations from 17 distinct National Weather Service stations, enabling spatial analysis.
• Covers a focused 25-day intensive observation period (November 13 to December 7, 1991) for cirrus clouds.

Limitations

• Critical metadata conflicts exist: row count, size, and specific license terms are unknown or listed inconsistently as 'None' or 'other-license-specified'.
• The exact column structure and data format within the ASCII files are not detailed in the provided metadata.
• Data is from a single, historical campaign and is not updated.

Provenance

Source

NASA Langley Research Center Atmospheric Science Data Center (LARC_ASDC)

Collection Method

Coordinated satellite, airborne, and surface observations combined with modeling studies during an intensive field observation.

Time Range

1991-11-13 to 1991-12-07

Freshness

2026-03-13 02:45:43.942155

Geography

17 National Weather Service sites across the central United States, from New Mexico to Illinois and Nebraska to Texas.