Articles | Volume 13, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-1107-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-1107-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Data description paper
| 
17 Mar 2021
Data description paper |
| 17 Mar 2021
| 17 Mar 2021
High-resolution in situ observations of atmospheric thermodynamics using dropsondes during the Organization of Tropical East Pacific Convection (OTREC) field campaign
National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO 30301, USA
Mack Goodstein
National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO 30301, USA
Laura Tudor
National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO 30301, USA
Jacquelyn Witte
National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO 30301, USA
Željka Fuchs-Stone
New Mexico Tech, Socorro, NM 87801, USA
Stipo Sentić
New Mexico Tech, Socorro, NM 87801, USA
David Raymond
New Mexico Tech, Socorro, NM 87801, USA
Jose Martinez-Claros
New Mexico Tech, Socorro, NM 87801, USA
Ana Juračić
New Mexico Tech, Socorro, NM 87801, USA
Vijit Maithel
University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA
Justin W. Whitaker
Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
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Soodabeh Namdari, Sanja Dmitrovic, Gao Chen, Yonghoon Choi, Ewan Crosbie, Joshua P. DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Richard A. Ferrare, Johnathan W. Hair, Simon Kirschler, John B. Nowak, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Christiane Voigt, Holger Vömel, Xubin Zeng, and Armin Sorooshian
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We conducted this study to assess the accuracy of airborne measurements of wind, temperature, and humidity, essential for understanding atmospheric processes. Using data from NASA's ACTIVATE campaign, we compared measurements from the Turbulent Air Motion Measurement System (TAMMS) and diode laser hygrometer (DLH) aboard a Falcon aircraft with dropsondes from a King Air, matching data points based on location and time using statistical methods. The study showed strong agreement, confirming the reliability of these methods for advancing climate models.
Masatomo Fujiwara, Bomin Sun, Anthony Reale, Domenico Cimini, Salvatore Larosa, Lori Borg, Christoph von Rohden, Michael Sommer, Ruud Dirksen, Marion Maturilli, Holger Vömel, Rigel Kivi, Bruce Ingleby, Ryan J. Kramer, Belay Demoz, Fabio Madonna, Fabien Carminati, Owen Lewis, Brett Candy, Christopher Thomas, David Edwards, Noersomadi, Kensaku Shimizu, and Peter Thorne
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 2919–2955, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2919-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2919-2025, 2025
Short summary
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We assess and illustrate the benefits of high-altitude attainment of balloon-borne radiosonde soundings up to and beyond 10 hPa level from various aspects. We show that the extra costs and technical challenges involved in consistent attainment of high ascents are more than outweighed by the benefits for a broad variety of real-time and delayed-mode applications. Consistent attainment of high ascents should therefore be pursued across the balloon observational network.
Amit Kumar Pandit, Jean-Paul Vernier, Thomas Duncan Fairlie, Kristopher M. Bedka, Melody A. Avery, Harish Gadhavi, Madineni Venkat Ratnam, Sanjeev Dwivedi, Kasimahanthi Amar Jyothi, Frank G. Wienhold, Holger Vömel, Hongyu Liu, Bo Zhang, Buduru Suneel Kumar, Tra Dinh, and Achuthan Jayaraman
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 14209–14238, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-14209-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-14209-2024, 2024
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This study investigates the formation mechanism of a tropopause cirrus cloud layer observed at extremely cold temperatures over Hyderabad in India during the 2017 Asian summer monsoon using balloon-borne sensors. Ice crystals smaller than 50 µm were found in this optically thin cirrus cloud layer. Combined analysis of back trajectories, satellite, and model data revealed that the formation of this layer was influenced by waves and stratospheric hydration induced by typhoon Hato.
Sanja Dmitrovic, Johnathan W. Hair, Brian L. Collister, Ewan Crosbie, Marta A. Fenn, Richard A. Ferrare, David B. Harper, Chris A. Hostetler, Yongxiang Hu, John A. Reagan, Claire E. Robinson, Shane T. Seaman, Taylor J. Shingler, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Holger Vömel, Xubin Zeng, and Armin Sorooshian
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3515–3532, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3515-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3515-2024, 2024
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This study introduces and evaluates a new ocean surface wind speed product from the NASA Langley Research Center (LARC) airborne High-Spectral-Resolution Lidar – Generation 2 (HSRL-2) during the NASA ACTIVATE mission. We show that HSRL-2 surface wind speed data are accurate when compared to ground-truth dropsonde measurements. Therefore, the HSRL-2 instrument is able obtain accurate, high-resolution surface wind speed data in airborne field campaigns.
Luis F. Millán, Matthew D. Lebsock, Ken B. Cooper, Jose V. Siles, Robert Dengler, Raquel Rodriguez Monje, Amin Nehrir, Rory A. Barton-Grimley, James E. Collins, Claire E. Robinson, Kenneth L. Thornhill, and Holger Vömel
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 539–559, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-539-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-539-2024, 2024
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In this study, we describe and validate a new technique in which three radar tones are used to estimate the water vapor inside clouds and precipitation. This instrument flew on board NASA's P-3 aircraft during the Investigation of Microphysics and Precipitation for Atlantic Coast-Threatening Snowstorms (IMPACTS) campaign and the Synergies Of Active optical and Active microwave Remote Sensing Experiment (SOA2RSE) campaign.
Yunqian Zhu, Robert W. Portmann, Douglas Kinnison, Owen Brian Toon, Luis Millán, Jun Zhang, Holger Vömel, Simone Tilmes, Charles G. Bardeen, Xinyue Wang, Stephanie Evan, William J. Randel, and Karen H. Rosenlof
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 13355–13367, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13355-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13355-2023, 2023
Short summary
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The 2022 Hunga Tonga eruption injected a large amount of water into the stratosphere. Ozone depletion was observed inside the volcanic plume. Chlorine and water vapor injected by this eruption exceeded the normal range, which made the ozone chemistry during this event occur at a higher temperature than polar ozone depletion. Unlike polar ozone chemistry where chlorine nitrate is more important, hypochlorous acid plays a large role in the in-plume chlorine balance and heterogeneous processes.
Michael Kiefer, Dale F. Hurst, Gabriele P. Stiller, Stefan Lossow, Holger Vömel, John Anderson, Faiza Azam, Jean-Loup Bertaux, Laurent Blanot, Klaus Bramstedt, John P. Burrows, Robert Damadeo, Bianca Maria Dinelli, Patrick Eriksson, Maya García-Comas, John C. Gille, Mark Hervig, Yasuko Kasai, Farahnaz Khosrawi, Donal Murtagh, Gerald E. Nedoluha, Stefan Noël, Piera Raspollini, William G. Read, Karen H. Rosenlof, Alexei Rozanov, Christopher E. Sioris, Takafumi Sugita, Thomas von Clarmann, Kaley A. Walker, and Katja Weigel
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We quantify biases and drifts (and their uncertainties) between the stratospheric water vapor measurement records of 15 satellite-based instruments (SATs, with 31 different retrievals) and balloon-borne frost point hygrometers (FPs) launched at 27 globally distributed stations. These comparisons of measurements during the period 2000–2016 are made using robust, consistent statistical methods. With some exceptions, the biases and drifts determined for most SAT–FP pairs are < 10 % and < 1 % yr−1.
Armin Sorooshian, Mikhail D. Alexandrov, Adam D. Bell, Ryan Bennett, Grace Betito, Sharon P. Burton, Megan E. Buzanowicz, Brian Cairns, Eduard V. Chemyakin, Gao Chen, Yonghoon Choi, Brian L. Collister, Anthony L. Cook, Andrea F. Corral, Ewan C. Crosbie, Bastiaan van Diedenhoven, Joshua P. DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Sanja Dmitrovic, Eva-Lou Edwards, Marta A. Fenn, Richard A. Ferrare, David van Gilst, Johnathan W. Hair, David B. Harper, Miguel Ricardo A. Hilario, Chris A. Hostetler, Nathan Jester, Michael Jones, Simon Kirschler, Mary M. Kleb, John M. Kusterer, Sean Leavor, Joseph W. Lee, Hongyu Liu, Kayla McCauley, Richard H. Moore, Joseph Nied, Anthony Notari, John B. Nowak, David Painemal, Kasey E. Phillips, Claire E. Robinson, Amy Jo Scarino, Joseph S. Schlosser, Shane T. Seaman, Chellappan Seethala, Taylor J. Shingler, Michael A. Shook, Kenneth A. Sinclair, William L. Smith Jr., Douglas A. Spangenberg, Snorre A. Stamnes, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Christiane Voigt, Holger Vömel, Andrzej P. Wasilewski, Hailong Wang, Edward L. Winstead, Kira Zeider, Xubin Zeng, Bo Zhang, Luke D. Ziemba, and Paquita Zuidema
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 3419–3472, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3419-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3419-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The NASA Aerosol Cloud meTeorology Interactions oVer the western ATlantic Experiment (ACTIVATE) produced a unique dataset for research into aerosol–cloud–meteorology interactions. HU-25 Falcon and King Air aircraft conducted systematic and spatially coordinated flights over the northwest Atlantic Ocean. This paper describes the ACTIVATE flight strategy, instrument and complementary dataset products, data access and usage details, and data application notes.
William G. Read, Gabriele Stiller, Stefan Lossow, Michael Kiefer, Farahnaz Khosrawi, Dale Hurst, Holger Vömel, Karen Rosenlof, Bianca M. Dinelli, Piera Raspollini, Gerald E. Nedoluha, John C. Gille, Yasuko Kasai, Patrick Eriksson, Christopher E. Sioris, Kaley A. Walker, Katja Weigel, John P. Burrows, and Alexei Rozanov
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 3377–3400, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3377-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3377-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This paper attempts to provide an assessment of the accuracy of 21 satellite-based instruments that remotely measure atmospheric humidity in the upper troposphere of the Earth's atmosphere. The instruments made their measurements from 1984 to the present time; however, most of these instruments began operations after 2000, and only a few are still operational. The objective of this study is to quantify the accuracy of each satellite humidity data set.
Stipo Sentić, Peter Bechtold, Željka Fuchs-Stone, Mark Rodwell, and David J. Raymond
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 3371–3385, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-3371-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-3371-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The Organization of Tropical East Pacific Convection (OTREC) field campaign focuses on studying convection in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean. Observations obtained from dropsondes have been assimilated into the ECMWF model and compared to a model run in which sondes have not been assimilated. The model performs well in both simulations, but the assimilation of sondes helps to reduce the departure for pre-tropical-storm conditions. Variables important to studying convection are also studied.
Bruce Ingleby, Martin Motl, Graeme Marlton, David Edwards, Michael Sommer, Christoph von Rohden, Holger Vömel, and Hannu Jauhiainen
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 165–183, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-165-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-165-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Radiosonde descent data could provide extra profiles of the atmosphere for forecasting and other uses. Descent data from Vaisala RS41 radiosondes have been compared with the ascent profiles and with ECMWF short-range forecasts. The agreement is mostly good. The descent rate is very variable and high descent rates cause temperature biases, especially at upper levels. Ascent winds are affected by pendulum motion; on average, the descent winds are smoother.
Daan Hubert, Klaus-Peter Heue, Jean-Christopher Lambert, Tijl Verhoelst, Marc Allaart, Steven Compernolle, Patrick D. Cullis, Angelika Dehn, Christian Félix, Bryan J. Johnson, Arno Keppens, Debra E. Kollonige, Christophe Lerot, Diego Loyola, Matakite Maata, Sukarni Mitro, Maznorizan Mohamad, Ankie Piters, Fabian Romahn, Henry B. Selkirk, Francisco R. da Silva, Ryan M. Stauffer, Anne M. Thompson, J. Pepijn Veefkind, Holger Vömel, Jacquelyn C. Witte, and Claus Zehner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 7405–7433, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7405-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7405-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We assess the first 2 years of TROPOMI tropical tropospheric ozone column data. Comparisons to reference measurements by ozonesonde and satellite sensors show that TROPOMI bias (−0.1 to +2.3 DU) and precision (1.5 to 2.5 DU) meet mission requirements. Potential causes of bias and its spatio-temporal structure are discussed, as well as ways to identify sampling errors. Our analysis of known geophysical patterns demonstrates the improved performance of TROPOMI with respect to its predecessors.
Sreeharsha Hanumanthu, Bärbel Vogel, Rolf Müller, Simone Brunamonti, Suvarna Fadnavis, Dan Li, Peter Ölsner, Manish Naja, Bhupendra Bahadur Singh, Kunchala Ravi Kumar, Sunil Sonbawne, Hannu Jauhiainen, Holger Vömel, Beiping Luo, Teresa Jorge, Frank G. Wienhold, Ruud Dirkson, and Thomas Peter
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 14273–14302, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-14273-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-14273-2020, 2020
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During boreal summer, anthropogenic sources yield the Asian Tropopause Aerosol Layer (ATAL), found in Asia between about 13 and 18 km altitude. Balloon-borne measurements of the ATAL conducted in northern India in 2016 show the strong variability of the ATAL. To explain its observed variability, model simulations are performed to deduce the origin of air masses on the Earth's surface, which is important to develop recommendations for regulations of anthropogenic surface emissions of the ATAL.
Holger Vömel, Herman G. J. Smit, David Tarasick, Bryan Johnson, Samuel J. Oltmans, Henry Selkirk, Anne M. Thompson, Ryan M. Stauffer, Jacquelyn C. Witte, Jonathan Davies, Roeland van Malderen, Gary A. Morris, Tatsumi Nakano, and Rene Stübi
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 5667–5680, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-5667-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-5667-2020, 2020
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The time response of electrochemical concentration cell (ECC) ozonesondes points to at least two distinct reaction pathways with time constants of approximately 20 s and 25 min. Properly considering these time constants eliminates the need for a poorly defined "background" and allows reducing ad hoc corrections based on laboratory tests. This reduces the uncertainty of ECC ozonesonde measurements throughout the profile and especially in regions of low ozone and strong gradients of ozone.
Ilann Bourgeois, Jeff Peischl, Chelsea R. Thompson, Kenneth C. Aikin, Teresa Campos, Hannah Clark, Róisín Commane, Bruce Daube, Glenn W. Diskin, James W. Elkins, Ru-Shan Gao, Audrey Gaudel, Eric J. Hintsa, Bryan J. Johnson, Rigel Kivi, Kathryn McKain, Fred L. Moore, David D. Parrish, Richard Querel, Eric Ray, Ricardo Sánchez, Colm Sweeney, David W. Tarasick, Anne M. Thompson, Valérie Thouret, Jacquelyn C. Witte, Steve C. Wofsy, and Thomas B. Ryerson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 10611–10635, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10611-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10611-2020, 2020
Stephanie Evan, Jerome Brioude, Karen Rosenlof, Sean M. Davis, Holger Vömel, Damien Héron, Françoise Posny, Jean-Marc Metzger, Valentin Duflot, Guillaume Payen, Hélène Vérèmes, Philippe Keckhut, and Jean-Pierre Cammas
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 10565–10586, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10565-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10565-2020, 2020
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The role of deep convection in the southwest Indian Ocean (the 3rd most active tropical cyclone basin) on the composition of the tropical tropopause layer (TTL) and the climate system is less understood due to scarce observations. Balloon-borne lidar and satellite measurements in the southwest Indian Ocean were used to study tropical cyclones' influence on TTL composition. This study compares the impact of a tropical storm and cyclone on the humidification of the TTL over the SW Indian Ocean.
Cited articles
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Short summary
We provide an extensive data set of in situ vertical profile observations for pressure, temperature, humidity, and winds from 648 NCAR NRD41 dropsondes during the Organization of Tropical East Pacific Convection (OTREC) field campaign. The measurements were taken during 22 flights of the NSF/NCAR G-V research aircraft in August and September 2019 over the eastern Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. The data allow a detailed study of atmospheric dynamics and convection over the tropical ocean.
We provide an extensive data set of in situ vertical profile observations for pressure,...
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