Global Hawk In-Flight Turbulence Sensor Data from GRIP Experiment

August 15 to September 23, 2010 data was collected by the NOAA Global Hawk In-flight Turbulence Sensor (GHIS) during the Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes (GRIP) experiment. The instrument used two accelerometers per axis, sampling at 1000 Hz and processing to produce mean, maximum, and RMS values at 10 Hz. The dataset was created by the GHRC DAAC to support research into tropical storm formation and hurricane development.

Use Cases

• Analyzing in-flight turbulence levels encountered by the Global Hawk aircraft during hurricane observation missions.
• Studying the relationship between atmospheric conditions and aircraft accelerometer readings (mean, maximum, RMS values) within storm systems.
• Validating and calibrating turbulence models using high-frequency (1000 Hz sampled, 10 Hz processed) sensor data from a known instrument family (Silicon Designs Model 1221).
• Correlating aircraft-measured turbulence with other GRIP campaign data from the DC-8, WB-57, and space-based assets to understand storm lifecycle.

Strengths

• Data originates from a specific, well-documented NASA field campaign (GRIP) with a clear scientific goal of understanding hurricane formation.
• Sensor specifications are detailed, including manufacturer (Silicon Designs, Inc.), model family (1221), frequency response (400-600Hz), and sampling rates (1000 Hz raw, 10 Hz processed).
• The time range is precisely defined across all sources as August 15 to September 23, 2010.

Limitations

• Critical metadata such as row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable across all platform descriptions.
• License information is inconsistently reported, with one source listing 'other-license-specified' and another listing 'None', creating uncertainty for reuse.

Provenance

Source

GHRC_DAAC

Collection Method

Collected via the NOAA GHIS instrument on the Global Hawk Unmanned Airborne System, with data processed onboard and transmitted to ground via UDP packets.

Time Range

Aug 15, 2010 - Sep 23, 2010

Freshness

2026-03-13 01:46:53.281984

Geography

Flight paths associated with the GRIP experiment, originating from NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, California.