UARS WINDII: Upper Atmosphere Wind and Temperature Profiles

WINDII, a Michelson interferometer on NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, measured Doppler shifts of visible light to derive daily vertical profiles of wind and temperature. Its data provides meridional and zonal wind components and temperature for the mesosphere and thermosphere between 80 and 300 km altitude with approximately 5 km vertical resolution. Measurements were collected in alternating latitude bands between 40°S to 72°N and 72°S to 40°N over a 36-day satellite yaw cycle.

Use Cases

• Studying atmospheric gravity wave propagation based on wind and temperature perturbations in vertical profiles.
• Validating and improving general circulation models (GCMs) for the upper atmosphere using meridional and zonal wind data.
• Analyzing long-term trends in thermospheric temperature and wind patterns.
• Investigating coupling processes between lower and upper atmospheric layers using co-located wind and temperature measurements.

Strengths

• Provides co-located measurements of wind components and temperature, a key strength for dynamical studies.
• Offers high vertical resolution (~5 km) across a broad altitude range (80-300 km).
• Data is processed with a consistent, documented algorithm (version 11).
• Each data granule is accompanied by a separate parameter file (Level 3LP) containing ancillary and quality information.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable across all sources.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates (1997-08-19 and 2026-04-09) suggest potential metadata inconsistency between platforms.
• Spatial coverage is not global, alternating between two mid-to-high latitude bands.
• Data is stored in a binary record-oriented format, which may require specialized tools for access and analysis.

Provenance

Source

NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) Wind Imaging Interferometer (WINDII) instrument.

Collection Method

Satellite-based remote sensing via a Michelson interferometer measuring Doppler shifts of spectral lines (550-780 nm).

Time Range

The dataset collection period is not explicitly stated in the provided input.

Freshness

2026-04-09 21:17:41.584338

Geography

Latitude bands 40°S to 72°N and 72°S to 40°N, alternating every ~36 days.