FIRE Marine Stratocumulus Tethered Balloon Data from San Nicolas Island

Colorado State University tethered balloon measurements collected during the First ISCCP Regional Experiment (FIRE) Marine Stratocumulus Intensive Field Observation. The data was gathered on San Nicolas Island off the southwestern coast of California between June 29 and July 20, 1987. It has been interpolated to a five-second interval to align with cloud microphysics observations.

Use Cases

• Validate cloud microphysics models based on in-situ stratocumulus measurements.
• Study cloud-radiation interactions during cloud life cycles as described in the FIRE goals.
• Improve satellite data product algorithms based on coordinated surface and airborne observations.
• Analyze physical processes in marine stratocumulus systems for climate model improvement.

Strengths

• Data is part of a coordinated mission combining satellite, airborne, and surface observations.
• Measurements are temporally aligned with cloud microphysics data at a five-second resolution.
• Dataset is hosted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

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 specific field campaign in 1987; temporal coverage is limited.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Collected from a Colorado State University tethered balloon platform during an intensive field observation.

Time Range

June 29 - July 20, 1987

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 02:51:29.655202; freshness should be verified.

Geography

San Nicolas Island, off the southwestern coast of California, USA.