NAMMA DC-8 Dropsonde Atmospheric Profiles from West Africa

West African and Cape Verde Islands atmospheric profiles collected during the 2006 NASA African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analyses campaign. The dataset contains vertical column measurements from GPS-located dropsondes deployed from a DC-8 aircraft. It was created to characterize African Easterly Waves and Mesoscale Convective Systems and their impacts on regional water and energy budgets.

Use Cases

• Analyzing vertical profiles of atmospheric pressure, temperature, and humidity to study monsoon thermodynamics.
• Tracking African Easterly Wave evolution using upper-air wind and temperature measurements.
• Investigating Mesoscale Convective System structure with surface and upper-level wind data.
• Studying regional water vapor budgets using dew point temperature and humidity indicators.
• Validating satellite or model data with high-accuracy, GPS-located in-situ atmospheric soundings.

Strengths

• Data originates from a NASA field campaign with a specific scientific mission to study African monsoon systems.
• Measurements are from an integrated, highly accurate, GPS-located atmospheric profiling system.
• Covers a focused geographic region (West Africa and Cape Verde Islands) during a key monsoon season.

Limitations

• Key technical details like row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable across all platforms.
• There is a significant conflict in the 'last updated' metadata, with dates ranging from 2006 to 2026.
• License is ambiguously specified as 'other-license-specified' without clear terms.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Science Mission Directorate.

Collection Method

Collected by a DC-8 dropsonde system deploying parachute radiosondes during the NAMMA aircraft campaign.

Time Range

August 2006

Freshness

2026-03-12 23:32:46.992814

Geography

Continental western Africa and the Cape Verde Islands, 350 miles off the coast of Senegal.