PIANO: Radiosonde Data from Alpine Foehn Field Campaign, Fall/Winter 2017

Radiosonde ascents from two Austrian valleys during a 2017 field campaign studying the erosion of cold air pools by foehn winds. The dataset includes operational daily soundings from Innsbruck Airport and targeted soundings from both Innsbruck and Patsch village during seven Intensive Observation Periods. Data were collected by Universität Innsbruck and Austro Control using Vaisala and GRAW radiosonde systems.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical structure of the atmosphere during foehn breakthrough events based on the high-frequency radiosonde measurements.
• Studying the temporal evolution of cold air pool erosion in Alpine valleys based on the time-series data from multiple Intensive Observation Periods.
• Comparing atmospheric profiles from two different valley locations (Inn Valley and Wipp Valley) based on the dual-site measurement campaign.
• Validating numerical weather prediction models for complex terrain using the detailed in-situ atmospheric profiles.

Strengths

• Data covers seven distinct Intensive Observation Periods (IOPs) for targeted analysis of specific weather events.
• Measurements from two distinct geographic locations (Innsbruck Airport at 578m MSL and Patsch at 962m MSL) allow for spatial comparison.
• High temporal resolution with measurement intervals of 1-2 seconds provides detailed vertical profiles.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

Universität Innsbruck

Collection Method

Field campaign using Vaisala RS92 and GRAW DFM-09 radiosondes launched from automatic and mobile ground stations.

Time Range

Fall and early winter 2017 (Innsbruck: 01 Oct - 12 Dec 2017; Patsch: 04 Nov - 11 Dec 2017)

Geography

Inn Valley (Innsbruck Airport) and Wipp Valley (Patsch village), Austria