Global Upper Air Meteorological Observations from 1958-1963

Historical upper air meteorological data collected globally over a 5-year period from 1958 to 1963. This small dataset was created by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and archived at the National Climatic Data Center. It was later incorporated into the larger, quality-controlled Comprehensive Aerological Data Set (CARDS).

Use Cases

• Analyzing historical trends in upper air pressure and temperature over the 5-year period.
• Studying global patterns of relative humidity and wind speed/direction in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
• Comparing raw data from DSI-6308 with the quality-controlled CARDS (DSI-6305) dataset to understand data processing impacts.
• Reconstructing historical atmospheric profiles using the major parameters of pressure, temperature, humidity, and wind.

Strengths

• Global spatial coverage for atmospheric observations.
• Covers a specific 5-year time period from 1958 to 1963.

Limitations

• The dataset itself was not quality controlled by the NCDC, unlike the larger CARDS dataset it was merged into.
• Small size and historical nature may limit its utility compared to modern, processed datasets.
• The original description advises most users to opt for the larger, quality-controlled DSI-6305 dataset instead.

Provenance

Source

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), archived at the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC).

Collection Method

Created by MIT from meteorological upper air observations; specific collection instruments unknown.

Time Range

1958 to 1963.

Freshness

Data collection ended in 1963; it is a historical archive.

Geography

Global.