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Earth Observing Laboratory
Field Data Archive

WVSS: Water Vapor Sensing System

Summary

Atmospheric water vapor measurements from commercial aircraft are now available to complement the real-time winds and temperatures available from the Aircraft Communication, Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS). The technology of this first-generation system (WVSS-I) is a modified Vaisala thin-film sensor. It is considered to be equal to or better than existing radiosonde humidity data and especially so at the upper levels of the troposphere. A second-generation system (WVSS-II) is in progress.

Objectives:

The WVSS-I project was jointly funded by the NOAA Office of Global Programs (OGP) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The objective of the program was to provide high resolution ascent and descent data in the GCIP region (Mississippi river basin) and to provide high resolution wind, temperature, and water vapor information during ascent and descent from commercial air flights over the continental United States to some users associated with the FAA's Aviation Weather Research Program.

Data access

Datasets from this project

Additional information

GCMD Name V - Z > WVSS-I > Water Vapor Sensing System > f0b86e8e-0de6-4b2b-8433-c32e425727ad
Related links

Temporal coverage

Begin Date 1999-07-01 00:00:00
End Date 2005-12-31 23:59:59

Spatial coverage


Map data from IBCSO, IBCAO, and Global Topography.

Maximum (North) Latitude: 54.00, Minimum (South) Latitude: 24.00
Minimum (West) Longitude: -126.00, Maximum (East) Longitude: -66.00

NSF

This material is based upon work supported by the NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research, a major facility sponsored by the U.S. National Science Foundation and managed by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. National Science Foundation.