Fine Scale Atmospheric Processes and Structures (FISAPS)

The objective of the FISAPS activity is to realise the full potential of high vertical-resolution radiosonde data (HVRRD) archived worldwide by providing coordination for the growing community of HVRRD users and improving access to HVRRD.

This page acts as a portal to the various repositories of HVRRD available online around the world, as well as information and updates on research and the status of operational upper air networks.

For questions regarding data access, or to provide updated information for this page please contact Peter Love.

Access to High Vertical Resolution Radiosonde Data

United Kingdom

Data for the United Kingdom including Gibraltar, St Helena and the Falkland Islands from 1990 onward are available for registered users at the British Atmospheric Data Centre (BADC):

Also available at BADC are data for UK Antarctic stations Halley and Rothera:

USA

Data from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s upper air network include stations across the contiguous states as well as Alaska, Hawaii, Caribbean and tropical western Pacific. Between 2005 and 2011 the network was progressively upgraded from the 6-second resolution MicroART radiotheodelite system to the 1-second GPS based Radiosonde Replacement System (RRS).

RRS 1-second data for all stations post-transition up to the present are archived separately from the MicroART data at:

MicroART 6-second data for all stations pre-transition are archived in two formats. DSI-9948 data files comprise a meteorological data section and a position section containing azimuth, elevation and slant range data. These are available for the period 1995 up to transition to RRS. DSI-6211 are DSI-9948 data processed to provide derived parameters, zonal and meridional wind components, wind speed, wind direction, lat, lon, and ascent rate. These are available for the period 1998 up to transition to RRS. Both formats are available at:

Data from USA Antarctic stations McMurdo and South Pole are archived by  the Antarctic Meteorological Research Centre at the University of Wisconsin and are available subject to data policy for researchers at:

Norway

Open access to data from Norwegian Meteorological Institute stations beginning in 1994 can be found at:

GRUAN – GCOS Reference Upper Air Network

The Global Climate Observing System Reference Upper Air Network has been mandated by its parent organisations (UNEP, IOP, ICSU and WMO) to make long-term reference quality measurements of essential climate variables in support of

  • Detection and attribution of trends and variability in upper air climate
  • Numerical weather prediction and reanalyses
  • Atmospheric process studies
  • Calibration and validation of satellite observations

GRUAN is an excellent resource for both reference quality high resolution radiosonde data as well as information on best practice for radiosonde calibration and launch procedures and data quality control.

Data for 16 GRUAN stations worldwide beginning in 2006 are available subject to data policy at:

 BSRN – Baseline Surface Radiation Network

The BSRN is aimed at detecting important changes in the Earth’s radiation field at the Earth’s surface which may be related to climate changes. Radiation measurements are stored together with collocated surface and upper-air meteorological observations and station metadata at the World Radiation Monitoring Center (WRMC). Users who agree to the Data Release Guidelines can apply for access. Radiosonde data resolution varies by station and are available via ftp at WRMC-BSRN or through PANGAEA:

 Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research

The Alfred Wegener Institute conducts long-term upper air monitoring at Neumayer Station, Antarctica, and from the Research Vessel Polarstern. Information and links to the data hosted by PANGAEA can be found at:

WOUDC – World Ozone and Ultraviolet Radiation Data Centre

The WOUDC hosts ozone measurements from a variety of different instruments including ozonesondes and other in situ platforms at many locations world wide. Ozonesonde data usually include high resolution data from regular radiosonde instrumentation, although soundings are less frequent than most operational upper air stations. Access subject to WMO Data Policy is at: