Advanced Vertical Atmospheric Profiling System Dropsondes (AVAPS) WHyMSIE

The Advanced Vertical Atmospheric Profiling System (AVAPS) dataset consists of vertical atmospheric profile measurements collected by the Advanced Vertical Atmospheric Profiling System (AVAPS) dropsondes released from the NASA G-III Gulfstream aircraft. The observations took place during the Westcoast and Heartland Hyperspectral Microwave Sensor Intensive Experiment (WHyMSIE) field campaign. WHyMSIE aimed to capture a wide variety of thermodynamic, moisture, and planetary boundary layer regimes across a variety of surface types. Comparing hyperspectral microwave retrievals from CoSMIR-H with in situ temperature and humidity information will allow for scientific advancement of remote-sensing techniques into the hyperspectral microwave era and improved understanding of the planetary boundary layer at different measurement scales. 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 October 30, 2024 through November 18, 2024. The dataset consists of data files in ICARTT and netCDF formats. Browse images of the data in a skew-T diagram are available in PNG format.