IPHEx Radiosonde Atmospheric Profile Data from North Carolina

NASA's GPM Ground Validation UNCA Upper Air Radiosonde IPHEx dataset contains vertical atmospheric profiles measured during the 2014 Integrated Precipitation and Hydrology Experiment. Data was collected from April 29 to June 12, 2014, in North Carolina to study warm-season orographic precipitation. Measurements include pressure, geometric height, temperature, relative humidity, dew point, wind direction, and wind speed at various tropospheric levels.

Use Cases

• Validating satellite precipitation estimates from the GPM mission using in-situ atmospheric column measurements.
• Analyzing relationships between vertical wind, temperature, humidity profiles and surface precipitation in complex terrain.
• Studying the structure of warm-season atmospheric conditions over mountainous regions like the Southern Appalachians.
• Calibrating or improving numerical weather prediction models with high-resolution upper-air observational data.

Strengths

• Data provides a focused, 45-day time series during a key field campaign (IPHEx) for studying a specific meteorological phenomenon.
• Includes seven core atmospheric variables (pressure, height, temperature, humidity, dew point, wind direction, speed) for a complete vertical profile.
• Supported by NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission, indicating use for high-profile satellite validation.

Limitations

• Exact row count and total dataset size are not specified across any source.
• Sources conflict on the last update date: Data.gov lists 2026-03-13, while NASA Earthdata lists 2014-06 12.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Collected via radiosonde launches during the GPM Ground Validation Integrated Precipitation and Hydrology Experiment (IPHEx).

Time Range

April 29, 2014 through June 12, 2014

Freshness

2026-03-13 01:58:38.340099

Geography

North Carolina, USA, specifically regions of complex terrain targeted by the IPHEx campaign.