First ISCCP Regional Experiment (FIRE) Marine Stratocumulus Colorado State University (CSU) Tethered Balloon Data

The First ISCCP Regional Experiments 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 seek 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 ISCCP data, GCM parameterizations, and higher space and time resolution cloud data. To-date, four intensive field-observation 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.This data set was collected from the Colorado State University tethered platform. The balloon was flown during the FIRE Marine Stratocumulus IFO on San Nicolas Island. The data set has been interpolated to the times of the cloud microphysics data, which has a five second interval between points.

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field	Value
Maintainer	Earthdata Forum
Last Updated	August 11, 2026, 01:35 (UTC)
Created	April 1, 2025, 15:47 (UTC)
accessLevel	public
bureauCode	{026:00}
catalog_conformsTo	https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
harvest_object_id	5f3a7af7-1809-4975-babe-d0f82337bf9a
harvest_source_id	b99e41c6-fe79-4c19-bbc3-9b6c8111bfac
harvest_source_title	Science Discovery Engine
identifier	10.5067/ASDC_DAAC/FIRE/0125
license	https://www.usa.gov/government-works
modified	2026-08-03T22:16:05Z
programCode	{026:000}
publisher	NASA/LARC/SD/ASDC
resource-type	Dataset
source_datajson_identifier	true
source_hash	9f5a2958fab533c842f6d88b07909a5b7b20caf64a5351ddb6ecc76e9d01dc39
source_schema_version	1.1
spatial	["CARTESIAN", [{"WestBoundingCoordinate": -119.41, "EastBoundingCoordinate": -119.39, "SouthBoundingCoordinate": 33.23, "NorthBoundingCoordinate": 33.25}]]
temporal	1987-07-07/1987-07-14
theme	{"Earth Science"}