Advanced Vertical Atmospheric Profiling System Dropsondes (AVAPS) IMPACTS

The Advanced Vertical Atmospheric Profiling System (AVAPS) IMPACTS dataset consists of vertical atmospheric profile measurements collected by the Advanced Vertical Atmospheric Profiling System (AVAPS) dropsondes released from the NASA P-3 aircraft during the Investigation of Microphysics and Precipitation for Atlantic Coast-Threatening Snowstorms (IMPACTS) field campaign. IMPACTS was a three-year sequence of winter season deployments conducted to study snowstorms over the U.S Atlantic Coast (2020-2023). The campaign aimed to (1) Provide observations critical to understanding the mechanisms of snowband formation, organization, and evolution; (2) Examine how the microphysical characteristics and likely growth mechanisms of snow particles vary across snowbands; and (3) Improve snowfall remote sensing interpretation and modeling to significantly advance prediction capabilities. AVAPS uses a Global Positioning System (GPS) dropsonde to measure atmospheric state parameters (temperature, humidity, wind speed/direction, pressure) and location in 3-dimensional space during the dropsonde’s descent. The AVAPS dataset files are available from January 12, 2020, through February 28, 2023, in ASCII-ict format.

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Maintainer Earthdata Forum
Last Updated August 10, 2026, 23:52 (UTC)
Created April 1, 2025, 14:12 (UTC)
accessLevel public
bureauCode {026:00}
catalog_conformsTo https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
harvest_object_id edbaeec1-5f05-4335-8a31-7be73e6c90fc
harvest_source_id b99e41c6-fe79-4c19-bbc3-9b6c8111bfac
harvest_source_title Science Discovery Engine
identifier 10.5067/IMPACTS/AVAPS/DATA101
license https://www.usa.gov/government-works
modified 2026-08-03T22:16:03Z
programCode {026:000}
publisher NASA/MSFC/GHRC
resource-type Dataset
source_datajson_identifier true
source_hash 9d34daafe0b2fdaac272bbccfec19af9b08674227ef1ac2e4591cd669fa59c29
source_schema_version 1.1
spatial ["CARTESIAN", [{"NorthBoundingCoordinate": 44.17, "WestBoundingCoordinate": -77.815, "EastBoundingCoordinate": -65.44, "SouthBoundingCoordinate": 33.54}]]
temporal 2020-01-12/2023-02-28
theme {"Earth Science"}