St. Croix Radiosondes CPEX-AW: Atmospheric Profiles for Satellite Calibration

St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, was the location for this radiosonde dataset collected during the Convective Processes Experiment – Aerosols & Winds (CPEX-AW) field campaign from August 19 to September 14, 2021. It provides vertical profiles of atmospheric pressure, temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and wind direction from DFM-09 instruments. The primary purpose was the post-launch calibration and validation of the European Space Agency's ADM-Aeolus wind Lidar satellite.

Use Cases

• Validating satellite-derived wind profiles from ADM-Aeolus based on in-situ radiosonde wind speed and direction measurements.
• Analyzing vertical atmospheric structure for weather models using profiles of pressure, temperature, and humidity.
• Studying tropical atmospheric dynamics and convection during the CPEX-AW campaign timeframe.
• Conducting instrument inter-comparison studies between the DFM-09 radiosonde and other observational platforms.

Strengths

• Data originates from a joint NASA-ESA field campaign with a clear calibration/validation purpose for a major satellite mission.
• Covers a specific, well-documented 27-day time range from August 19 to September 14, 2021.
• Available in both netCDF and ASCII formats with supporting browse imagery, facilitating analysis.

Limitations

• Column names and exact row counts are not provided in any source, limiting immediate understanding of data structure.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates exist between sources (2026-04-09 on datagov vs. 2021-09-14 on nasa_earthdata).
• The license is specified only as 'other-license-specified' without detailed terms.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and European Space Agency (ESA) via the CPEX-AW campaign.

Collection Method

Measurements taken from the DFM-09 Radiosonde instrument launched from St. Croix.

Time Range

August 19, 2021 through September 14, 2021

Freshness

2026-04-09 21:54:13.826327

Geography

St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands