In situ meteorological sounding archives for Arctic studies

Abstract

Two new databases containing Arctic in situ meteorological soundings have been constructed and are now available for distribution to interested researchers. The Historical Arctic Rawinsonde Archive is a comprehensive collection of over 1.2 million rawinsonde soundings north of 65°N. For most stations the record begins in 1958 and extends to 1987; however, for some stations the record begins as early as 1948. The Ptarmigan Dropsonde Archive contains more than 10 000 lower-tropospheric soundings over the Beaufort Sea and western Arctic Ocean during the period 1950-1961. -Authors