SAFARI 2000 Upper Air Temperature and Humidity Profiles from Skukuza

Radiosonde profiles from Skukuza Airport, South Africa, provide vertical atmospheric measurements of temperature, pressure, and humidity from the surface to 30 km altitude. The data were collected during two dry season campaigns in August-September 1999 and August-September 2000 as part of the SAFARI 2000 regional network augmentation. The dataset includes raw measurements and derived parameters like height, dew point, and specific humidity.

Use Cases

• Analyzing vertical temperature gradients and atmospheric stability over southern Africa during the dry season.
• Studying moisture transport and humidity profiles to understand regional hydrological cycles.
• Validating and calibrating regional climate or weather model outputs using in-situ pressure, temperature, and relative humidity data.
• Investigating atmospheric conditions relevant to biomass burning aerosol transport during the SAFARI 2000 campaign.

Strengths

• Data covers two distinct field campaigns across 1999 and 2000, providing temporal context.
• Profiles extend from the surface to 30 km altitude, offering a complete vertical atmospheric column.
• Includes both direct instrument measurements (pressure, temperature, RH) and derived parameters (height, dew point, specific humidity).

Limitations

• Exact row count, dataset size, and complete column list are unknown across all sources.
• Sources conflict on the last update date: one states 2000-09-23, another states 2026-03 12.

Provenance

Source

ORNL_CLOUD (Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center for Biogeochemical Dynamics)

Collection Method

Data collected via Vaisala RS80 radiosonde launches from Skukuza Airport.

Time Range

August 14 - September 3, 1999 and August 24 - September 23, 2000

Freshness

2026-03-12 21:46:10.753160

Geography

Skukuza Airport, South Africa