First ISCCP Regional Experiment (FIRE) Atlantic Stratocumulus Transition Experiment (ASTEX) Rawinsonde Level 2 Data

The First ISCCP Regional Experiments (FIRE) have been designed to improve data products and cloud/radiation parameterizations used in general circulation models (GCMs). Specifically, the goals of FIRE are (1) to improve the basic understanding of the interaction of physical processes in determining life cycles of cirrus and marine stratocumulus systems and the radiative properties of these clouds during their life cycles and (2) to investigate the interrelationships between the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) data, GCM parameterizations, and higher space and time resolution cloud data. To-date, four intensive field-observation (IFO) periods were planned and executed: a cirrus IFO (October 13 - November 2, 1986); a marine stratocumulus IFO off the southwestern coast of California (June 29 - July 20, 1987); a second cirrus IFO in southeastern Kansas (November 13 - December 7, 1991); and a second marine stratocumulus IFO in the eastern North Atlantic Ocean (June 1 - June 28, 1992). Each mission combined coordinated satellite, airborne, and surface observations with modeling studies to investigate the cloud properties and physical processes of the cloud systems. During the period from June 1 to June 29, 1992, 203 soundings were obtained. At present two forms of data exist - Level I and Level II. Level I are the raw data produced in real time by the software of the Atmospheric Instrumentation Research (AIR) radiosonde system. These data are at irregular pressure and height levels. Level II data consist of processed thermodynamic and wind data at a uniform resolution of 10m, which essentially retains the highest possible vertical resolution in the original data. The Level II thermodynamic data seem to be reasonably free of errors; however, as mentioned in Schubert et. al., (1992) the wind data requires additional filtering before use.

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field	Value
Maintainer	Earthdata Forum
Last Updated	April 20, 2026, 23:41 (UTC)
Created	April 1, 2025, 15:44 (UTC)
accessLevel	public
bureauCode	{026:00}
catalog_conformsTo	https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
harvest_object_id	3d739d66-2a7b-4b0f-be03-1e3418620f8b
harvest_source_id	b99e41c6-fe79-4c19-bbc3-9b6c8111bfac
harvest_source_title	Science Discovery Engine
identifier	10.5067/ASDC_DAAC/FIRE/0050
license	https://www.usa.gov/government-works
modified	2026-04-13T22:16:00Z
programCode	{026:000}
publisher	NASA/LARC/SD/ASDC
resource-type	Dataset
source_datajson_identifier	true
source_hash	5bbb5ed1125aaa56a66a826b479856152a2e3af823547d97b9777c9ca2fc7561
source_schema_version	1.1
spatial	["CARTESIAN",[{"Latitude":33.08,"Longitude":-16.35}]]
temporal	1992-06-01/1992-06-28
theme	{"Earth Science"}