NAMMA Raw DC-8 Dropsonde: High-Resolution Atmospheric Profiles

NASA's 2006 NAMMA campaign deployed a DC-8 aircraft to capture detailed vertical profiles of pressure, temperature, humidity, and winds over West Africa. These high-resolution GPS-located dropsondes tracked the evolution of African Easterly Waves and Mesoscale Convective Systems from August 7 to September 12, 2006. The data provides a foundational record for studying monsoon dynamics and regional water and energy budgets.

Use Cases

• Validating and improving numerical weather prediction models based on high-resolution vertical profiles of wind, temperature, and humidity.
• Analyzing the structure and evolution of African Easterly Waves (AEWs) using time-series atmospheric data.
• Studying the thermodynamic environment of Mesoscale Convective Systems (MCSs) over continental western Africa.
• Assessing regional water and energy budget impacts during the West African monsoon season.

Strengths

• Data originates from a NASA-led field campaign, ensuring a high standard of collection and calibration.
• Provides high-resolution vertical profiles from an integrated, GPS-located dropsonde system, capturing detailed atmospheric conditions.
• Covers a specific, scientifically critical time period (August 7 - September 12, 2006) during the West African monsoon.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable across all sources.
• The listed last update date of 2026-04-10 on Data.gov is a future date and conflicts with the actual data collection period, indicating a potential metadata error.
• Documentation and licensing details are sparse or inconsistently reported ('other-license-specified' vs. 'None').

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Collected via the DC-8 dropsonde system during the NASA African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analyses (NAMMA) field campaign.

Time Range

August 7, 2006 through September 12, 2006

Freshness

2006-09-12 16:09:20 (nasa_earthdata)

Geography

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