HS3 Global Hawk Dropsonde Atmospheric Profiles for Hurricane Research

NASA's Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) Global Hawk AVAPS Dropsonde System dataset provides high-vertical-resolution in-situ profiles of the atmosphere. Collected by NCAR's Advanced Vertical Atmospheric Profiling System from the Global Hawk aircraft, it measures pressure, temperature, humidity, and winds to study tropical storm processes and the Saharan Air Layer. The dataset is hosted by the GHRC DAAC and appears on multiple government platforms, with metadata updates as recent as 2026.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical structure of wind speed and direction within and around hurricanes.
• Investigating the role of humidity and temperature profiles in tropical cyclone formation and intensification.
• Studying the influence of the Saharan Air Layer (SAL) on storm dynamics using atmospheric pressure and temperature data.
• Validating and improving numerical weather prediction models with in-situ dropsonde measurements.
• Assessing the relationship between deep convection in a storm's inner core and environmental conditions from vertical profiles.

Strengths

• Provides high-vertical-resolution in-situ measurements with documented instrument precision (e.g., temperature +-0.2°C, wind +-1 ms-1).
• Data was collected during the targeted HS3 campaign, which had specific scientific goals for studying hurricane processes.
• Its presence on multiple authoritative platforms (NASA Earthdata and Data.gov) signals its importance and reliability for the research community.

Limitations

• Key descriptive details like row count, dataset size, and a complete column list are unavailable from all sources.
• There is a conflict in the 'last updated' metadata, with one source showing 2014 and others showing 2026, indicating potential inconsistency in record maintenance.
• The license is ambiguously listed as 'other-license-specified' without explicit terms provided.

Provenance

Source

National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) / GHRC DAAC

Collection Method

Collected in-situ by AVAPS dropsondes deployed from the Global Hawk aircraft during the HS3 campaign and transmitted via satellite.

Time Range

During the HS3 campaign (specific years not provided in sources).

Freshness

2026-03-13 01:26:35.845252

Geography

Areas flown by the Global Hawk during the HS3 campaign, likely focusing on the Atlantic basin and regions influenced by the Saharan Air Layer.